Meta gives away its AI agent while OpenAI charges $100 a month

#What happened

Both Meta and OpenAI unveiled AI agents in September, drawing attention with childlike mascots meant to soften privacy concerns around software that handles tasks on users' behalf. The two companies took opposite pricing paths: Meta offers free access to Muse, while OpenAI charges $100 a month for Dots. Bloomberg reported on Oct 13 that OpenAI's dots are represented by a group of geometric shapes wearing berets and bow ties, while Meta's Muse features Jolly, a red-cheeked furry yeti.

#The pricing details

Muse's core service is free, like Meta's social media products. Meta also sells Muse Wonder, a closed paid model for higher performance, priced at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens, with a $100 subscription for higher usage limits. Meta plans to differentiate free and paid tiers on model performance.

#Traction so far

The Muse app passed 7 million downloads in the US within a month, according to Sensor Tower. Meta's shares have risen more than 20% since the agent's debut, while bank and travel agency shares fell on fears users could compare rates and book trips themselves. OpenAI unveiled Dots with a plan starting at $100 a month; initial growth has been slower, targeting existing users who rely on OpenAI tools for work like coding and research.

#Why it matters

OpenAI frames Dots around work tasks; Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang says Muse targets personal use cases first, such as shopping for furniture, booking dinner reservations and filling out school paperwork. Citizens Bank analyst Andrew Boone says the pricing split reflects what each company can afford: Meta's ad business subsidizes compute for a free product, while OpenAI, already supporting more than 1 billion ChatGPT users, is burning billions building infrastructure ahead of an IPO next year and cannot give away a compute-intensive agent free.

#Source links

• Seoul Economic Daily: Meta gives away its AI agent while OpenAI charges $100 a month

Verified October 15, 2026