Carly vs ChatGPT Dots: Which Always-On Agent Fits?
ChatGPT Dots are OpenAI’s always-on agents. You give your dot a goal and it works toward it around the clock on its own cloud computer, using the apps you connected in ChatGPT. Carly is an AI assistant and agent builder that works inside your email, calendar and the apps your business runs on.
Both keep working when you are not watching. They wake up for different reasons.
The quick answer: a dot if you already pay for ChatGPT Pro, your work runs through ChatGPT, Codex and Slack, and you want a project kept moving between check-ins. Carly if you want agents with their own email address that start the moment an email, a booking or a form arrives, for well under $100. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
Carly vs ChatGPT Dots at a glance
| Carly | ChatGPT Dots | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Email, calendar, CRM and team workflows | Long-running goals inside ChatGPT |
| Starts work | On an event, a schedule or a request | On a message, a reminder, a recurring check or background research |
| Its own email address | Yes, every agent you build | No, it sends as you |
| How many agents | As many as you build | One per account at launch |
| Where you use it | Web, text, email, ChatGPT, Claude | ChatGPT, Slack, Teams |
| Connects to | Thousands of apps | 4,000+ ChatGPT plugins |
| Availability | Anywhere | Not on Pro in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK |
| Pricing | Free workflows; agents from $35/mo | Included with Pro from $100/mo or Business Premium |
What a dot is built for
OpenAI launched dots at DevDay on September 29, 2026, on GPT-6 Astra. A dot takes on an ongoing responsibility and keeps making progress between conversations. It runs several projects at once on its own cloud computer, hands work to Codex and ChatGPT Work, and can use your laptop if you allow it. OpenAI’s lead example is a dot that noticed a tester had forgotten to invoice a publication, prepared the invoice and sent it once he approved.
Before a dot sends an email or changes a file, a safety system called Auto-review checks the step against your rules. Custom Rules let you decide what it does without asking, what needs pre-approval and what it hands back to you.
What Carly is built for
Carly’s day starts in your inbox. Connect every Google and Microsoft account you have and it triages, drafts replies in your voice and sends them from the right address. It finds times across all of your calendars, with booking pages for the people who need a slot. The deal moves in HubSpot, the task lands in Linear, the note lands in the Carly CRM.
Then come workflows. An email from a key account, a form submission, a lead changing stage, a Monday at 8am: each can start a run with an AI step in the middle. Every agent you build gets its own email address and, on a business account, its own phone number.
Its own inbox, or yours
A dot has no email address of its own at launch. Every email it sends goes out as you, and nobody can CC it on a thread.
Carly agents work the other way. Claire runs client onboarding at a design agency. Her intake agent has its own address, so new clients email it directly. It collects the brief, books the kickoff on the right designer’s calendar, opens the project in Asana and sends the welcome packet with the contract attached. Claire sees the summary. Nobody had to forward anything.
What wakes it up
OpenAI documents three ways a dot starts without a new message: reminders, recurring checks and read-only background research. It does not describe a dot waking because a form came in or a deal changed stage. ChatGPT automations gained event triggers from supported plugins the same day, and OpenAI has not said whether a dot can own one.
Carly starts on the event. The email lands, the meeting gets booked, the row appears in the spreadsheet, and the workflow runs within minutes.
Pricing
Your first dot is included with ChatGPT Pro at $100, $200 or $500 a month, or a Business Premium seat. Free, Go and Plus subscribers do not get one. Carly runs Zapier-style workflows free, and AI agents start at $35 a month. Get started here.
Which should you choose?
- You already pay for Pro and want a project kept moving through ChatGPT, Codex and Slack: a dot
- You want an agent clients can email or CC directly: Carly agents
- You want work to start when an email, booking or form arrives: Carly workflows
- You are on ChatGPT Plus, or on a personal plan in Europe or the UK: Carly, and add the Carly plugin in ChatGPT
- You want more than one agent, each with its own job: Carly
The wider field, including Meta Muse, Hark and Lindy, is in ChatGPT Dots alternatives.
FAQ
Can I use Carly inside ChatGPT?
Yes. Add the Carly plugin in ChatGPT and your chats reach every inbox and calendar you connected to Carly, along with the workflows and agents you built there.
Can a ChatGPT dot have its own email address?
Not at launch. A dot uses your connected email, so messages go out as you. Every Carly agent gets its own address.
Do I need ChatGPT Pro for Carly?
No. Carly works with any ChatGPT plan, or without ChatGPT at all on the web and by text. Zapier-style workflows are free, and AI agents start at $35 a month.
Are ChatGPT dots available in the UK?
Not on Pro, which excludes the EEA, Switzerland and the UK at launch. Business Premium gets them in every supported region. See ChatGPT Dots in the UK and Europe.
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See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
