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Kaer vs Vellum

Vellum or Kaer: which AI assistant fits?

Vellum is a personal AI assistant you can run on your own Mac or in its cloud. Kaer is an AI assistant for a business, with roles, approvals and an audit trail. Note that Vellum's pricing page says its Personal Assistant Platform is shutting down on 2 November 2026. Every Vellum fact below is from Vellum's own pages.

Kaer vs Vellum. Vellum facts are from Vellum’s own pages, linked in each row and read on 21 October 2026. Prices change: the vendor’s page wins.
Compared onKaerVellum
What it isAI assistants for a business: email, calendars, business software and their own sandboxed browser.“A personal AI assistant for your busywork.” vellum.ai
Where it runsOn Kaer's isolated machines: nothing to install, a fresh machine for each run.“By default, your assistant runs locally”; in Vellum Cloud, “an isolated container provisioned exclusively for you”. vellum.ai
Free to startStarter is free: 2 messages every week, no card.“Start free.” vellum.ai/pricing
Paid plansKaer Now $7.99, Core $15, Pro $43 or Max $99 a month, each with included credits (kaer.ai/pricing).$30, $100 or $200 a month by computer size, with usage in credits at $1 = 1 credit. vellum.ai/pricing
ApprovalsStops before anything consequential: the message before it sends, the invoice before it is issued (kaer.ai/security).High-stakes actions “require explicit approval until you mark them as trusted”. vellum.ai
AvailabilityAvailable now (kaer.ai/pricing).“Vellum's Personal Assistant Platform is shutting down on November 2nd, 2026.” vellum.ai/pricing
Open sourceNo. Kaer is a hosted service.“Vellum is open-source, so you can inspect the code yourself.” vellum.ai

Pick Vellum if

  • You want the assistant on your own hardware, open source, with your data on your machine.
  • It is for your own life admin as much as work, across Mac, iOS, Android, Telegram and Slack.
  • You want to choose the model yourself, including open-weight models through Ollama.

Pick Kaer if

  • It is for a business: roles, approvals before consequential steps, and an audit log of every action.
  • The work includes websites with no API, done on an isolated machine that is wiped after the run.
  • You want a business mailbox included and internal tools built, not just tasks run.

Common questions

Is Kaer a Vellum alternative?
If the job is business work — enquiries, quotes, invoices, back-office portals — yes. If you want a personal assistant that runs on your own Mac, Vellum is built for that and Kaer is not.
Do both ask before acting?
Yes. Vellum asks for explicit approval on high-stakes actions until you mark them as trusted. Kaer stops before anything consequential — the message before it sends, the invoice before it is issued — and records every action.

Other comparisons

Hand it one job.

The fastest way to compare is to give Kaer something you would rather not do today.