CopilotKit Soar vs OpenAI dots: Self-Hosted AI Coworkers for Your Business

OpenAI's dots are AI coworkers built into ChatGPT. Each dot has its own cloud computer, connects to thousands of apps and keeps working in the background.

CopilotKit Soar gives your company self-hosted AI coworkers that run on your own servers. Your teams reach them in Slack, Microsoft Teams, the Soar app and they connect to the tools you already use.

Soar is fully customizable and works with any agent harness and any model. It keeps learning from how your teams work, and our engineers set it up under your brand.

For a business, the difference comes down to who the AI coworkers belong to, where they run, which agents and models power them, and which tools they connect to.

What are OpenAI dots

At DevDay, OpenAI introduced dots: always-on AI coworkers that get their own cloud computer and keep working after you close the chat. Each dot has a browser you can watch and take over, and it connects to over 4,000 apps through OpenAI's plugins. You can reach a dot in ChatGPT, Slack, Microsoft Teams or on a voice call.

Dots come with Pro and Business Premium plans, and Enterprise workspaces can turn on a beta. Today, each dot belongs to one user. OpenAI is also piloting specialist dots that companies set up with their own identity and access.

What is CopilotKit Soar

Over the past few months, we open-sourced our own versions of the big AI coworker products, including OpenDots for dots. CopilotKit Soar turns that core into one business-ready product for companies that want AI coworkers on their own terms.

Your teams share AI coworkers that use your apps, finish real work and get better the more they're used. Each coworker can get its own computer and follows the rules your IT team writes.

Our forward deployed engineers:

• Deploy Soar on your servers, from a single machine to Kubernetes on EKS, AKS or GKE
• Make it look like your own product, with your branding and your coworkers
• Build your first AI coworker with you and provide dedicated support as your team grows

OpenAI dots vs CopilotKit Soar at a glance

Both give your team AI coworkers with a computer of their own that finish work in the background. The differences show up in who owns them, where they run and how much of the stack you control.

1. Where it runs
   • dots: each dot works on its own OpenAI cloud computer
   • Soar: on your own servers, from one machine with Docker to Kubernetes with Helm
2. Who it belongs to
   • dots: each dot belongs to one user, with company-owned specialist dots in pilot
   • Soar: AI coworkers belong to the company, so a whole team can share one
3. Data
   • dots: OpenAI encrypts dot content in storage and in transit, and doesn't train on Business, Enterprise or Edu data by default
   • Soar: files and stored credentials stay on your servers, and your admins set how long the audit trail is kept
4. What it learns
   • dots: you can't view or edit individual dot memories, and deleting the dot is how you clear them
   • Soar: every approved skill is a plain SKILL.md file you can download with the CLI
5. Agents and models
   • dots: run on OpenAI's own agent and GPT-6 Astra
   • Soar: any agent that speaks AG-UI (Agent-User Interaction Protocol) joins as a coworker, on OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or local models through any OpenAI-compatible server
6. Apps and tools
   • dots: over 4,000 apps through OpenAI's plugins
   • Soar: Google Drive, Notion, a few hundred apps through Composio and any MCP server your admins approve
7. Approvals
   • dots: Custom Rules decide what a dot does on its own and what it asks you first, and Auto-review checks actions that could affect your accounts
   • Soar: every action is checked against your IT team's rules before it runs, sensitive actions wait for a person, and every decision is recorded
8. Sign-in and audit
   • dots: Enterprise admins decide when the beta turns on, and each user follows their dot's tasks in an Activity View
   • Soar: Google, Microsoft, Okta, SAML and OIDC sign-in, SCIM 2.0, and an audit trail that streams to your SIEM over OpenTelemetry
9. Brand and setup
   • dots: part of OpenAI's ChatGPT experience
   • Soar: set up by our engineers to look like your own product

CopilotKit Soar's AI coworkers learn from your teams

Dots keep memories, though you can't open or edit them. In Soar, everything a coworker learns is visible and reviewable.

With User Memories, each coworker keeps your people's preferences and project context across conversations, for one user or shared across a project. Your team can list, update or remove any memory.

With CLiF, your team can show a coworker a task once in the browser, and Soar learns and repeats it, all on your own servers. Admins manage learning centrally, and each coworker learns in its own container.

With Automatic Learning in CopilotKit Intelligence, Soar also reads your coworkers' finished threads, finds the patterns and proposes each insight as a skill. Every skill is a SKILL.md your team reviews, and it reaches your coworkers only after a person approves it.

OpenAI dots or CopilotKit Soar: which fits your company

Dots fit teams already on ChatGPT who want always-on agents with OpenAI's models and apps.

CopilotKit Soar fits companies that:

• Need AI coworkers on their own infrastructure, shared across teams
• Want to choose their own agents and models
• Need a record of every action their coworkers take

CopilotKit Soar vs OpenAI dots FAQ

1. What's the difference between CopilotKit Soar and OpenAI dots?

Each dot runs on an OpenAI cloud computer and belongs to one user. CopilotKit Soar runs on your own servers, gives teams shared AI coworkers, and lets you choose the agents and models behind them.

2. Can CopilotKit Soar be self-hosted?

Yes. Soar runs on a single machine with Docker, or on Kubernetes with Helm on EKS, AKS, GKE or your own cluster. Each dot works on its own OpenAI cloud computer.

3. Is there an open source version of dots?

Yes. OpenDots is CopilotKit's open-source version of dots, a template developers build on. CopilotKit Soar is the version companies run, with setup on your servers, your branding and support from our engineers.

4. Can a whole team share a CopilotKit Soar coworker?

Yes. Soar's AI coworkers belong to the company, so a team can share one in the Soar app, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Today, each dot in ChatGPT belongs to one user.

5. Can admins see what CopilotKit Soar has learned?

Yes. Every learned skill is a SKILL.md your team reviews and approves before any coworker uses it. With dots, you can't view or edit individual dot memories.

6. How do I get CopilotKit Soar?

Soar is in early access. Book a meeting at copilotkit.ai/soar and our engineers will build your first AI coworker with you.

Get started

CopilotKit Soar brings self-hosted AI coworkers to every team, on your servers and under your rules. To see everything it can do, refer to the CopilotKit Soar product page.

To learn more:

• CopilotKit Soar launch blog
• OpenAI dots: chatgpt.com/features/dots
• CopilotKit Intelligence: copilotkit.ai/copilotkit-intelligence
• AG-UI: docs.ag-ui.com
• Automatic Learning: docs.copilotkit.ai/learning

Read more of our comparison blogs on CopilotKit Soar and other AI coworker products:

• CopilotKit Soar vs Grok Bot
• CopilotKit Soar vs Meta Muse
• CopilotKit Soar vs Claude
• CopilotKit Soar vs Cursor
• CopilotKit Soar vs OpenClaw
• CopilotKit Soar vs Hermes Agent

If you want to see Soar in action, we suggest booking a demo. Our engineering team will build your first AI coworker with you and provide dedicated support as your team grows.

Stop renting your AI. Own it.

Follow CopilotKit on Twitter for updates. If you get stuck, reach out in the CopilotKit or AG-UI communities.