Grok Bot Explained: Features, Pricing, and the Claude Update
Late on October 6, Elon Musk posted that Grok Bot would start using "the best back end model for any given task," and the first model he named was Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5. That's an odd thing to read about a product with "Grok" in its name, and it sent people searching for what Grok Bot even is.
I went through SpaceXSI's launch post, the Grok Bot docs, the changelog, and Cursor's plan pages on October 11, and checked every price against a first-party page, since the list of plans that include Grok Bot has changed a few times since launch.
The short answer: Grok Bot gives you a small team of AI teammates that work on their own cloud computer around the clock, it comes bundled with plans you might already pay for, and you can try it free for a week before you decide whether it earns a spot in your day.
What is Grok Bot? The 30-second answer
Grok Bot is SpaceXSI's app for running always-on AI teammates: Bots with names, jobs, and memory that do real work on a cloud computer while you're away. SpaceXSI (the company formerly called xAI, and more recently SpaceXAI) launched it in beta on August 11, 2026, and built it with Cursor.
SpaceXSI's own one-liner calls it "your team of always-on agents," which is a fair summary. Each Bot keeps its own conversation and learned context, so it gets more useful the longer you work with it, a bit like the AI teammates other companies are racing to build.
Here's the quick version:
If you're wondering how this differs from plain Grok, it comes down to talking versus doing. Grok is the chatbot you ask questions. Grok Bot is where you hand off work, like clearing an inbox or filing expenses, and come back later to find it done.
What's new: Grok Bot will pick the best model for each task
Musk's post went up late on October 6 (Pacific time). Here it is in full:
The next morning he added a little more detail: simple questions will route to small, fast models, and questions with complex answers will route to large models. So the idea is a router that picks a model for each job, with Claude Opus 5.5 as one of the options for the hard stuff.
What's already confirmed
Some of this was baked into Grok Bot before the post. The docs say plainly that "Cursor manages model selection, so there is no model picker," and the security page adds that the serving mix "can change over time with no fixed vendor set guaranteed."
Two more details from the security docs matter for your bill: your usage analytics show which model served each request, and billing follows whichever model served it.
What SpaceXSI hasn't said anywhere I could find is which model Grok Bot runs on by default. It did say it trained Grok 4.7 to natively understand the Grok Bot harness, but no product page names a model.
What SpaceXSI hasn't confirmed yet
As of October 11, there's no changelog entry, docs update, or news post about the change, so a few things are still open:
- Whether Opus 5.5 is live for everyone: replies on X said the rollout had started, and Musk's own wording was "going forward."
- Whether Midjourney and Suno are switched on: at least one user replied that Suno wasn't available in their Bot yet.
- Whether you'll get any say in the model: nothing announced suggests a picker is coming.
- Whether usage limits change: if a bigger model serves more of your requests, it could plausibly eat your weekly allowance faster, and SpaceXSI hasn't said.
One report claimed every Bot now runs on Opus 5.5, but it traces back to a single X reply that has since been deleted. Musk's post describes per-task routing, so that's the safer way to think about it.
How Grok Bot works
Grok Bot makes more sense once you picture it as a small office: a few named teammates, one shared computer, and a group chat where they hand work to each other.
1. Bots with names, jobs, and memory
You start by creating a Bot with a short name, one primary job, and a description of how it should work. The docs describe a Bot as "a durable AI teammate with a name, a job, its own conversation, and working context that develops over time."
SpaceXSI's examples of jobs include inbox management, expenses, recruiting, bug fixes, and operations. You talk to a Bot by typing, dictating, or starting a voice chat, and it can send you voice memos back (handy, or a little eerie, depending on your relationship with voice notes).
Each Bot remembers your preferences, its role, and summaries of past work. That memory stays with the Bot, so your expenses Bot won't suddenly start chiming in about recruiting.
2. One shared cloud computer
Every Bot works on a persistent cloud computer with a browser, a file system, and a terminal. It keeps running when you close the app or your laptop, so a Bot can grind through a task overnight.
The computer belongs to your account and every Bot shares it. Signed-in sessions, files, and command-line credentials are visible to all of your Bots, and each Bot gets its own screen on that machine to work in parallel, one computer-use task per Bot at a time.
3. Connectors, plus computer use for everything else
Bots use connectors where they exist and operate the computer like a person everywhere else, which is how they handle sites with no API. Connectors install as plugins from a Marketplace, apply across your whole account, and include the same MCP servers, plugins, and skills Cursor supports.
When a site asks for a password, a two-factor code, a CAPTCHA, or a payment check, the Bot hands that step back to you to finish.
4. Skills, routines, and teach-by-demo
A skill is a reusable set of instructions, and all your Bots share one skills library. A routine tells one Bot when to run a workflow, on a schedule or when something happens, like a new Slack message or a GitHub notification. Each Bot can own up to 50 routines.
The neat part is teach-by-demo: you walk through a browser task once on the Bot's computer (recordings run up to 10 minutes), and the Bot turns it into a skill you can review and test before you schedule it. SpaceXSI says this is rolling out gradually, and it isn't available on mobile.
5. Group chats, Team Bots, and handoffs
Your Bots can message each other, pass a task along, and work together in group chats of two to six Bots. SpaceXSI's launch post suggests a "chief of staff" Bot on top with a specialist for each lane, which is a setup pattern you build yourself.
Two newer additions round it out:
- Team Bots (September 28): publish one Bot for your whole team, usable in the app or in Slack. Each teammate gets a private chat, the Bot acts with that person's own access, and usage comes out of their allowance. It's in public beta on Teams and Enterprise plans.
- A proactive primary Bot (October 2): the Bot you star now spots work it can take off your plate and offers to do it.
Coding work gets handed to Cursor's cloud agents. If you want an AI that writes code in your terminal, that's Grok Build, SpaceXSI's coding agent, which is a separate product.
Grok Bot pricing: is Grok Bot free?
Grok Bot is free to try, and after that it comes bundled with paid Cursor and SuperGrok plans. There's no standalone Grok Bot subscription, so what you pay is the price of the plan it comes with, anywhere from $20 to $300 a month.
The free trial is a usage credit with a 7-day window, so heavy use can burn through it before the week is up. (One catch: Cursor says Android has no in-app trial, so start on desktop or iPhone.)
These are all the ways in, with prices from x.ai/bot, Cursor's pricing page, and Cursor's Grok Bot plan guide as of October 11, 2026:
A few rules worth knowing before you pay for anything:
- SuperGrok Lite doesn't include Grok Bot. You need SuperGrok ($30) or higher.
- Plans don't stack. A Cursor plan plus a linked SuperGrok account won't add up to more Grok Bot usage.
- Linking is permanent. Once you link a SuperGrok or X Premium+ account to a Cursor account, you can't unlink it or move it, so sign in with the right one first.
- Grok Bot has its own usage. SpaceXSI says work you hand off to a Bot doesn't count against your existing Grok or Cursor usage.
- Usage resets weekly. When the weekly grant runs out, you can keep going on on-demand usage, billed through Cursor at token cost.
- The iPhone app charges more. Buying Cursor plans in the iOS app costs $25.99 for Pro, $77.99 for Pro+, and $259.99 for Ultra.
If you want the cheapest paid route, Cursor Pro at $20 a month is it. If you already pay for SuperGrok, linking it gets you in without a second subscription, and our Grok pricing breakdown covers the rest of those plans.
Why Grok Bot bills can climb
Grok Bot works while you sleep, which is the whole point, and also the reason a bill can surprise you. Routines run on schedule, Bots keep going after you close the laptop, and once your weekly grant is gone, on-demand usage is billed by the token.
Billing also follows whichever model served each request, so if more of your work starts routing to larger models after Musk's October 6 post, the same tasks could cost more. Set an on-demand monthly limit in Cursor before you schedule anything that runs every hour. It isn't a hard stop, though: a Bot that's already working can finish its run past the limit.
Where you can use Grok Bot (and how to start)
Grok Bot runs as a desktop app on macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows, and Linux, plus a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Your Bots and conversations sync across all of them, and Team Bots also work in Slack. I couldn't find a browser version anywhere in the docs.
One trap: the iOS and Android links in x.ai's main menu open the Grok chat app. The Grok Bot apps are separate listings on the App Store and Google Play, and the desktop downloads live on x.ai/bot.
Getting set up takes a few minutes:
1. Download the desktop app
The desktop app has the full feature set, including teach-by-demo, so start there and add the phone app later for checking in.
2. Sign in with a Cursor account
Grok Bot runs on Cursor accounts. If you pay for SuperGrok or X Premium+ and not Cursor, you link that subscription to a Cursor account (and since that link is permanent, double-check which account you're signed into).
3. Create your first Bot
Give it a short name, one primary job, and a description of how you want it to work. One clear job beats a vague "help me with stuff."
4. Hand it something small and watch
Pick a low-stakes task, like summarizing unread newsletters or pulling numbers into a spreadsheet, and open the Bot's screen to watch it work. You'll learn quickly where it needs better instructions.
Is Grok Bot safe? Limits worth knowing
Grok Bot has sensible guardrails, and a few sharp edges you should know about before you connect your work accounts. Most of the risk comes from the shared computer.
- Every Bot sees everything on the computer. Logins, files, and credentials are shared across all your Bots, and the docs put it bluntly: "Do not use separate Bots as a security boundary."
- Approvals are yours to set. When a Bot hits a sensitive action, you can allow it once, always allow it, or deny it, and SpaceXSI recommends approval boundaries around sending messages, publishing, purchases, and deleting data.
- Auto Review is a helper. It uses a model to check actions before they run, and the approvals docs say it should complement least privilege and explicit approvals.
- "Stop now" doesn't undo anything. It halts the Bot, but actions it already finished stay finished.
- Sites can block it. A site can block automation or demand a human step, and the Bot will hand that back to you.
- One computer-use task per Bot at a time. Parallel work means more Bots.
- Your data follows Cursor's settings. Training opt-out follows your Cursor privacy settings, and with Privacy Mode on, your data isn't used for training. Accounts on Legacy Privacy Mode have to switch before using Grok Bot.
- On Cursor Teams, it's on for everyone. Grok Bot is enabled by default for every member, and there's no switch to turn it off.
My rule of thumb: connect only the accounts a Bot needs for its job, and keep approvals on for anything that sends, buys, or deletes until you've watched it work for a while.
Grok Bot vs Grok Build, Claude Tag, and ChatGPT dots
Grok Bot landed in the middle of a busy few months for always-on AI teammates, and the names blur together fast. This table lines it up against SpaceXSI's other agent and the two big rivals:
The closest match is ChatGPT dots, which OpenAI launched on September 29. According to SiliconANGLE's DevDay report, each dot runs on GPT-6 Astra with its own cloud computer, and one dot comes with a Pro or Business Premium plan.
Anthropic's Claude Tag lives inside Slack, so it suits teams that want a teammate in their existing channels more than a separate app. And if your interest is code, our comparison of how Grok Build stacks up against Claude Code is the better read.
One footnote on the family tree: Cursor has been part of SpaceX since August 14, which helps explain why Grok Bot uses Cursor accounts, runs its computers in Cursor's cloud, and is sold through Cursor plans.
Is Grok Bot worth it?
For a lot of people, yes, mostly because there's so little risk in finding out. If you already pay for Cursor Pro or SuperGrok, Grok Bot costs you nothing extra to try, and the docs are unusually clear about what it can and can't do.
What Grok Bot does well
- Work keeps going without you: routines and background tasks run with your laptop closed.
- It handles sites without an API: computer use fills in where connectors don't exist.
- Teach-by-demo is a fast way to explain a messy task: showing beats writing a long prompt.
- Teams get a real sharing model: Team Bots keep each person's chats private and use each person's own access.
- The model question is handled for you: routing to models like Opus 5.5 could make Bots better at hard tasks without you lifting a finger.
Where Grok Bot falls short
- Costs are hard to predict: usage is weekly and token-based, and neither SpaceXSI nor Cursor publishes exact allowances.
- The shared computer needs care: one compromised login is visible to every Bot on your account.
- You can't pick the model: if you want a specific model for a specific job, Grok Bot won't let you choose.
- Facts are still moving: the launch post has been edited since August, and the October model change hasn't reached the docs yet.
Try Grok Bot if you already pay for Cursor or SuperGrok, have repetitive browser work with no clean API, or want several specialized assistants working in parallel.
Skip it for now if you handle sensitive accounts you can't isolate, need a hard monthly budget, or want an AI teammate in Slack without a Teams or Enterprise plan.
For that last group, Claude Tag and dots both work in Slack, and Lindy, an AI teammate that lives in your company's Slack, is another option worth a look.
Give Grok Bot one boring job first
Grok Bot does a lot for the price of a plan you might already have, and the move to per-task model routing means it may get smarter without you changing a thing. The best way to judge it is with one job you're tired of doing yourself.
- Start the free trial on desktop and set an on-demand spending limit in Cursor before you build anything.
- Create one Bot with one job, connect only the accounts that job needs, and keep approvals on.
- Watch the first few runs, then check your usage analytics to see which models served the work and what it cost.
If that first Bot saves you an hour a week without surprising you on the bill, add a second one and let them start handing work to each other.
FAQ
Is Grok Bot free?
Grok Bot is free to try with a trial usage credit that lasts up to 7 days. After that, Grok Bot needs a paid plan: Cursor Pro, Pro+, Ultra, or Teams, or a linked SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus, SuperGrok Heavy, or X Premium+ subscription.
How much does Grok Bot cost?
Grok Bot costs nothing on top of the plan that includes it, since there's no separate subscription. The cheapest route is Cursor Pro at $20 a month, followed by SuperGrok at $30 a month, and extra usage past your weekly allowance is billed by token cost.
Does Grok Bot use Claude now?
Grok Bot will use Claude Opus 5.5 for some tasks, according to Elon Musk, who posted on October 6 that it will pick "the best back end model for any given task." SpaceXSI hasn't updated its docs yet, there's no model picker, and your usage analytics show which model served each request.
What's the difference between Grok and Grok Bot?
Grok is SpaceXSI's chatbot, and Grok Bot is its app for AI teammates that do work for you. Grok answers questions in a chat window, while Grok Bot runs named Bots on a cloud computer that use apps, follow routines, and keep working when you're offline.
How does Grok Bot compare to ChatGPT dots?
Grok Bot and ChatGPT dots are both always-on AI agents with their own cloud computers. Dots run on GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams for Pro and Business Premium plans, while Grok Bot uses its own desktop and mobile apps, comes with Cursor and SuperGrok plans, and picks the model for each task.
