ChatGPT Dots is OpenAI's always-on personal agent, and you can message your dot in Slack and Microsoft Teams. If your team needs one agent that everyone can send requests to, the alternatives fall into a few kinds: a shared agent built for Slack and Teams (Runbear), a shared bot inside a vendor's own ecosystem (OpenAI's @ChatGPT, Grok Bot Team Bots), an enterprise search and agent platform (GoSearch), and another personal agent (Meta Muse). Zapier MCP adds actions to an agent you already use.
Plans and features below were checked on October 18, 2026. The post was first published on October 7, and Dots and its rivals are still changing quickly.
Why people look for a ChatGPT Dots alternative
Dots launched on September 29, 2026. Three limits come up most often.
- Access is limited. Per OpenAI's Dots documentation (as of October 2026), Dots are available on Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 for users over 18 outside the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, and are rolling out worldwide on Business Premium and Enterprise. On Enterprise they are off until a workspace admin turns them on, and access is gradual, so an eligible account may not see Dots yet. You create a dot in the ChatGPT mobile app, desktop app or a desktop browser; mobile web is not supported.
- The cost after launch is not settled. OpenAI says your plan includes an allowance for deeper work, with extended limits for the first month after launch, and it has not published what follows. Conversations with your dot do not count toward ChatGPT usage limits, but tasks it starts in Work or Codex count toward those products' limits.
- A dot is personal. Wired notes that agents can be tricked or can share information you did not intend, and that your ChatGPT model-training setting carries over to Dots. In Slack you can DM your dot or mention it in a channel you added it to, and by default it responds to you; you can tell it to engage with others, and adding it to a channel does not start monitoring. That is a poor fit when a whole team needs to send requests to the same agent.
ChatGPT Dots alternatives compared
| Runbear | GoSearch | Meta Muse | Zapier MCP | Grok Bot Team Bots | |
| Best for | A shared agent for a team in Slack or Teams | Company-wide search, answers and workflows | One person's tasks and errands | Giving an agent actions across many apps | Cursor teams that want one shared Bot in Slack |
| Where it runs | Slack and Microsoft Teams | GoSearch web app and browser, plus agents you can use in Slack or Teams | Muse app on web, Mac, iOS and Android (US and Canada) | Inside an MCP-enabled AI client | Slack (the docs do not mention Microsoft Teams) |
| Pricing model | Credits, not seats: Team $99/month, Business $399/month | Free plan; Pro $20 per user/month; Enterprise by quote | Free tier plus paid subscription plans | Plans by Zapier; sharing a server needs a Team or Enterprise plan | Each teammate's own Grok Bot allowance (on Cursor Teams, from that seat's plan) |
| Permissions | Per-user or shared auth, chosen per tool | Permission-aware answers based on source permissions | Per connector: read-only or full action | Governed by the user's connections and permissions | OAuth tools use the asker's account; key or token tools share one Bot credential |
| Who it answers | @mentions and DMs in channels it is added to | People using the GoSearch agent | Its owner | The AI client that calls it | Teammates on the Bot's Cursor team who linked Slack |
| Reach | 2,000+ tools | 100+ workplace apps | Dozens of connectors, plus a Zapier connector | 9,000+ apps and 40,000 actions | Tools the team connects to the Bot |
Runbear: a shared agent for Slack and Teams
Disclosure: Runbear is our product. Runbear puts named agents such as @HR or @SalesOps in the Slack or Microsoft Teams channels your team already uses, and teammates can @mention one in a channel or DM it. Most tool connections can use per-user or shared auth, so a shared agent can act with each asker's own permissions in tools such as Salesforce or HubSpot. Knowledge sources such as Notion, Google Drive, Confluence and SharePoint are synced through the account of the member who connected them, and that indexed knowledge is shared by everyone who can use the agent.
It is priced by usage, not seats. Team is $99/month for 20,000 credits and five builders; Business is $399/month for 100,000 credits and adds bring-your-own model key, SAML SSO and an audit log of configuration changes. Credits depend on the model each task uses, and on the default runtime you pick Claude, GPT or Gemini per agent. See shared AI agents for teams for how a team sets this up.
Where Runbear fits less well: it is built for team requests in Slack and Teams, not for one person's errands across their personal accounts, and usage pricing means you watch a credit balance instead of a seat count.
@ChatGPT: OpenAI's shared option for Slack and Teams
If your company wants to stay with OpenAI, the team option is @ChatGPT rather than Dots. Per OpenAI's help center (as of October 2026), @ChatGPT is available to Business, Enterprise and Edu users in Slack and Microsoft Teams. An admin sets it up, chooses its instructions and tool connections, and it runs through an account configured for the assistant, with your Slack or Teams account identifying who asked. Workspaces that already had the ChatGPT Slack app upgrade the install to grant the extra scopes it needs.
Limits: it needs a paid ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu plan, models are OpenAI only, and per OpenAI's admin guide it does not respond to single-channel or multi-channel Slack guests. Our Runbear vs ChatGPT page compares the two in detail.
Grok Bot Team Bots: a shared bot for Cursor teams
xAI added Team Bots on September 28, 2026, in public beta on Teams and Enterprise plans. A Team Bot is published to a whole team, gets its own Slack app, and answers when someone @mentions it in a channel, then follows that thread. Per the Team Bots docs (as of October 2026), OAuth tools use the asking teammate's own account, while key or token tools share one Bot credential.
Limits: it answers only people who have linked their Slack account to Cursor and are on the Bot's Cursor team, so anyone who has not linked a Cursor account on the Bot's team, guests included, gets no answer. Each teammate's requests count against their own Grok Bot allowance, which on Cursor Teams comes from that seat's plan (Cursor plans). xAI's docs cover Slack and do not mention Microsoft Teams. More in Runbear vs Grok Bot.
GoSearch: company knowledge first
GoSearch positions itself around the company's knowledge layer rather than one person's conversation. GoSearch says it connects more than 100 workplace apps, returns permission-aware answers, and supports no-code custom agents that you can use in Slack or Teams. It lets you pick your LLM of choice and lists SOC 2 Type II compliance. Per its pricing page (as of October 2026), pricing starts with a free plan, Pro is $20 per user per month, and Enterprise is quoted.
Meta Muse: a personal agent with a free tier
Muse is the closest consumer rival to Dots. It has a free tier and paid subscription plans; Meta's announcements do not list prices, and third-party reports differ. Meta lists dozens of connectors, including Dropbox, Notion and Slack, and Zapier says its connector will add 9,000+ apps as Meta rolls it out. It asks before consequential actions.
For a team in Slack, the gap is the channel. Slack is a connector Muse can use, but Meta does not describe Muse as an agent your team can @-mention in a channel, and Microsoft Teams is not on its connector list. Muse is also limited to the US and Canada.
Zapier MCP: the action layer
Zapier MCP is not an agent. It is a hosted MCP endpoint that lets an AI client run actions in 9,000+ apps, limited to the apps and actions you approve. Zapier says its connector is available in Muse, with a staged rollout. Pick it when you already have an agent and need it to act in more places. It does not give you a Slack-native teammate by itself.
How to choose
- Your team shares one agent in Slack or Teams, each person has different access, and you want to choose the model: Runbear.
- Your company is standardized on ChatGPT Business or Enterprise and wants OpenAI's own shared assistant: @ChatGPT.
- Your team already works in Cursor and only needs Slack: Grok Bot Team Bots.
- Your first problem is finding company knowledge: GoSearch.
- You want a personal agent for yourself, and a free tier matters: Meta Muse.
- You want to keep an agent you already have and add more actions: Zapier MCP.
- You want OpenAI's always-on personal agent and are on an eligible plan: Dots itself.
Run one real request through two options before you decide. For a wider list of Slack-native tools, see Best AI Agents for Slack in 2026.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to ChatGPT Dots?
Meta Muse has a free tier, and GoSearch has a free plan. Dots requires an eligible paid ChatGPT plan. Runbear's pricing page says you can start free, and its paid Team plan is $99/month.
Is there a ChatGPT Dots alternative for Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Runbear agents run in Microsoft Teams as well as Slack, @ChatGPT works in both for ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, and GoSearch agents can be used in Teams. You can also message your own dot in Teams, but by default it responds to you. Grok Bot Team Bots and Meta Muse do not list Microsoft Teams (as of October 2026).
Which Dots alternative can my whole team use in one Slack channel?
Runbear, @ChatGPT and Grok Bot Team Bots are all built to be @mentioned by a team in a channel. They differ on who gets an answer: a Runbear agent always answers @mentions and DMs in the channels it is added to, @ChatGPT does not answer Slack guests, and a Team Bot answers only teammates on its Cursor team who linked Slack.
Do these alternatives use per-user permissions?
Runbear lets most tool connections use per-user or shared auth. @ChatGPT runs through an assistant account and identifies who asked. Grok Bot Team Bots use the asker's account for OAuth tools and one shared credential for key or token tools. GoSearch describes permission-aware answers based on source permissions, Muse sets permissions per connector, and a dot uses its owner's connections.
Is ChatGPT Dots available to everyone?
No. As of October 2026 it is limited to Pro 100, Pro 200, Pro 500, Business Premium and Enterprise, Pro excludes the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Enterprise starts off until an admin enables it, and rollout is gradual.
Sources
- The Verge, OpenAI launches Dots, its Muse competitor: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1002033/openai-dots-launch-muse-competitor
- WIRED, OpenAI's Dots Are Always-On AI Agents: https://www.wired.com/story/openai-dots-always-on-ai-agents-that-proactively-help
- OpenAI, Dots documentation: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots
- OpenAI Help, Manage dots in ChatGPT workspaces: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001554-manage-dots-in-chatgpt-workspaces
- OpenAI Help, About ChatGPT Pro tiers: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9793128-about-chatgpt-pro-tiers
- Meta, Introducing Muse for small business: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/introducing-muse-small-business/
- GoSearch pricing: https://www.gosearch.ai/product/pricing
- GoSearch agents: https://www.gosearch.ai/product/agents
- Zapier, Meta Muse AI agent: https://zapier.com/blog/muse-ai
- Zapier, Meta selects Zapier as named Connector inside Muse: https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-connector-in-muse
- xAI, Team Bots: https://x.ai/news/team-bots
- xAI docs, Grok Bot Team Bots: https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/team-bots
- Cursor Help, Grok Bot plans: https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/plans
- OpenAI Help, ChatGPT with Slack and Microsoft Teams: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001536-chatgpt-with-slack-and-microsoft-teams
- OpenAI Help, Setting up and managing ChatGPT in Slack and Microsoft Teams: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001538-setting-up-and-managing-chatgpt-in-slack-and-microsoft-teams
- Runbear pricing: https://runbear.io/pricing
- Runbear for teams: https://runbear.io/teams
