Grok Bot alternatives: open-source, free and hosted AI teammates

Grok Bot alternatives at a glance

Facts from each product's site, docs and pricing page, checked November 13, 2026. Prices in USD. Grok Bot: Premium $30, Super $100 and Ultra $200 a month, billed monthly, with weekly usage included and extra usage billed on token cost. More in our Grok Bot guide.

AI coworkers from Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI

Hosted, like Grok Bot, and included with plans many teams already have. All three are compared in AI coworker tools.

• Claude Cowork: Anthropic's agent for knowledge work. You describe an outcome and it works through research, documents, spreadsheets and slides in your files, connected apps and a browser. Tasks run in Anthropic's cloud and keep going with your laptop closed, and scheduled tasks run hourly, daily, weekly or on weekdays. Choose it if you already pay for Claude and want multi-step work returned as files. See Claude Cowork vs Grok Bot and Claude Cowork alternatives.
• Copilot Cowork: an agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot that sends email, schedules meetings, edits Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and posts in Teams, with an approval dialog before sensitive actions. Its model picker includes GPT, Claude and Grok models, depending on tenant settings. Choose it if your work lives in Outlook, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. Guide: Copilot Cowork.
• ChatGPT Work: a Work mode in ChatGPT that plans a task, uses your files, plugins, the web, a browser and code, and returns something to review. It shares usage limits with Codex; Plus ($20 a month) and Pro (from $100 a month) get it on desktop, web and mobile. Choose it if a task has a clear outcome and several sources or steps. Guide: ChatGPT Work.

A hosted assistant for office work

• Lindy: one shared assistant rather than several Bots. It handles inbox, calendar, meetings, research and follow-ups, and you use it from Slack, email, iMessage, phone calls and a Chrome extension in Gmail. Anything with outside impact, such as sending an email, waits for your approval, and Routines run on a schedule or an event. Every active user takes a paid seat, including people who only @mention it in Slack. Choose it if your team wants an assistant it can @mention in Slack for reports, research and CRM updates. Guide: Lindy; more in Lindy alternatives.

Open-source Grok Bot alternatives on GitHub

You run these yourself and bring your own model keys. Star counts are from GitHub on November 13, 2026.

• OpenBot (github.com/CopilotKit/OpenBot, 11,652 stars): like Grok Bot, each Bot gets a computer of its own, with a browser, files and tools, plus routines, approvals and an activity log. It runs as a desktop app for Mac and Windows or on Kubernetes for a team, and connects your own agents through AG-UI. Choose it if you want AI coworkers you can self-host and customize under MIT. See OpenBot vs Grok Bot.
• OpenWorker (github.com/andrewyng/openworker, 19,050 stars): a desktop app in open beta for macOS and Windows. Actions are approval-gated by default, every tool call is recorded, scheduled tasks cover things like morning briefs and weekly reports, and you can mention it in Slack and get the reply in the thread. Choose it if you want an agent on your own machine, including with a local model. Guide: OpenWorker.
• Hermes Agent (github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent, 262,923 stars): Nous Research's personal agent. Its Bot Mode turns profiles into named Bots, each with its own chat, role, model, memory, skills and avatar, and they message each other directly. It answers in Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and email. Choose it if you want several specialist Bots on your own machine or server. See Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent.

How to choose a Grok Bot alternative

1. Start from what you already pay for

   A paid Claude plan includes Claude Cowork; ChatGPT plans include Work (limited on Free and Go); Copilot Cowork needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot license plus Copilot Credits.

2. Decide where it runs

   Grok Bot, Claude Cowork, Copilot Cowork, ChatGPT Work and Lindy run in the vendor's cloud. OpenWorker runs on your machine, OpenBot on your laptop or Kubernetes, and Hermes Agent on your machine or a server.

3. Check where your team talks

   Grok Bot works in Slack, Microsoft Teams and calls. In Slack you can also use Lindy, OpenWorker, Hermes Agent, and connectors or plugins in Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work. Copilot Cowork works in Outlook and Teams.

4. Look at how it asks before acting

   Grok Bot checks in when approval is needed and can send sensitive actions through Auto Review. Lindy waits for approval on anything with outside impact, OpenWorker gates actions by default, Claude Cowork has Manual and Auto modes, and Copilot Cowork shows an approval dialog.

What people on Hacker News say about Grok Bot alternatives

On November 13, 2026, we read 7 Hacker News threads that discuss Grok Bot, from August to November 2026, one page at a time. Reddit threads could only be found through search results, so we list them by title and don't summarize them; this is a sample of public discussion, not a survey.

• Complaints about usage limits came up in 3 of the threads we read (August 2026, November 2026, November 2026). Users say Bots that run all the time use up the weekly allowance fast, and the November threads discuss Grok Bot's lower limits.
• Open-source agents you run yourself came up in 2 of the threads we read (August 2026, November 2026). Users named Hermes Agent in both and OpenClaw in the August one; in that thread they describe both as more configurable than a hosted bot, and some say OpenClaw needs frequent fixing. See Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent and Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw.
• Building your own setup came up in 2 of the threads we read (August 2026, November 2026): a coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex plus a few scripts, or models through OpenRouter. Users there say a setup like this covers most of the job for much less money. See Grok Bot vs Claude Code.
• Doubts about what Grok Bot adds came up in 2 of the threads we read (August 2026, November 2026). Some users say they can't think of a task they would hand it, and others see it as a hosted version of open-source agents like OpenClaw, with a browser added.
• On Reddit, threads titled Alternative to Grok bot (r/GrokBot), Grokbot alternative (r/GrokBot) and Is Grok Bot worth it? (r/cursor) came up in search results. We list the titles only; we haven't read these threads.

Bots for your apps. AI employees for your codebase.

Crewmark is an issue tracker for a team of AI employees. Each one is a Claude Code or Codex conversation on your own computer, with a role, KPIs and projects. It wakes on a heartbeat during its working hours, takes issues from a shared board, and when it needs a review or permission it sets the issue to Needs action and asks there. It has no built-in Slack, GitHub or Linear integration: agents use the tools and logins on their own computer.

It's open source under GPL-3.0 and free for 1 project with up to 3 AI employees. You keep paying your agent provider as usual, and your computer has to stay on for heartbeats. Plans are on the pricing page.

1. Pick a role

   Start from the AI employee roles, such as software engineer or SEO specialist, and write its KPIs and projects.

2. Put the work on a board

   Assign issues to the employee or to people, and make regular ones repeat daily, weekly or monthly.

3. Set its hours

   Choose working hours and a heartbeat between 15 minutes and 24 hours. Jobs with setup are in Claude Code use cases and Codex use cases.

Grok Bot alternatives FAQ