BoltAI vs Chatbox

BoltAI

• Mac users who want a native app instead of a browser tab
• People who prefer a one-time license to a monthly subscription
• Users with API keys for several providers or local models in Ollama

Chatbox

• People who want the same chat app on desktop, phone and browser
• Users with their own API keys who prefer to pay providers per use
• Trying hosted GPT, Claude and Gemini models on a low-priced plan

BoltAI

• The price covers the app only: you need your own API keys, and each AI provider bills usage separately.
• It runs on macOS 13 or later. Windows is listed as coming soon, and the iPhone, iPad and Android apps are in beta with sign-up through a form.
• Updates, Cloud Sync and mobile access last one year per purchase. After that the app keeps working locally, but sync and mobile pause until you renew.
• Teams and companies are required to buy the Team license, which starts at 5 seats at $99 per seat.

Chatbox

• Work Mode and the knowledge base are desktop only; the web and mobile apps offer regular chat.
• On the hosted service, advanced models, the knowledge base and MCP services need Pro or Pro+. Lite and Free are limited to standard models.
• Hosted usage is metered in compute points that reset monthly (daily on Free). Extra points are sold as add-on packs valid for 3 months.
• A license works on up to 5 devices at the same time, and switching plans means buying the new plan from the pricing page.

BoltAI

Your own keys and local models

Connects with your API keys to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Mistral, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock and others, and to local models through Ollama and LM Studio. No AI credits are bundled.

Instant Chat and ShotSolve

A global shortcut opens a chat overlay on top of any app, and ShotSolve sends a screenshot to a vision model for an explanation, a fix or a summary.

Instant Dictation and AI Workflows

Push-to-talk dictation works in any text field with cloud or local models, and AI Workflows run one-click actions and in-place text transforms inside other apps.

Agents, projects and prompt library

Reusable agents carry their own instructions, knowledge and tools. Projects share context across chats, chats can be forked, and saved prompts are inserted with a shortcut.

MCP tools and code execution

Connects to local and remote MCP servers with individual tools switched on or off, and supports web search, code execution and Claude skills for Office documents and PDFs.

Local storage with optional Cloud Sync

Chats are kept in a local SQLite database and API keys can be encrypted with a passphrase. Optional Cloud Sync shares chats, agents and projects with other devices.

Chatbox

Your own keys or hosted models

Add API keys for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter and other providers, run local models through Ollama or LM Studio, or subscribe to Chatbox AI for hosted models on one bill.

Work Mode

On desktop, an agent works in a loop of thinking and tool calls: it runs code, reads and writes files, calls MCP servers and queries knowledge bases until the task is done.

File and image chat

Attach PDFs, Word documents, images and code to a conversation so the model can summarize them and answer questions about their content.

Real-time web search

Chat can search the internet for current information. It is toggled from the toolbar in Chat Mode and managed from the control panel in Work Mode.

Local knowledge base

The desktop app stores documents in a local knowledge base the AI can search. Each file must be under 50 MB, in formats such as PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, CSV and EPUB.

Image generation and rich output

Generates images from a text description and renders Markdown, LaTeX formulas, Mermaid diagrams and code with a live preview.

BoltAI

• Essential$79

  one-time, 1 device, one year of updates

  For students and hobbyists: every app feature on 1 Mac, with 512 MB of cloud storage for sync and no mobile device.

• Pro$99

  one-time, 2 desktop devices + 1 mobile, one year of updates

  For freelancers and professionals: every app feature, 1 GB of cloud storage and 1 mobile device. Shown as a bundle valued at $200.

• Pro+$199

  one-time, 3 desktop devices + 2 mobile, one year of updates

  For use across more devices: every app feature, 5 GB of cloud storage and 2 mobile devices at once.

• Team Perpetual$99

  per seat, one-time, 5-seat minimum

  One device per seat with 10 GB of shared team storage, the mobile app during its beta and priority support. Optional renewal is $79 per seat per year.

Chatbox

• Free$0

  Hosted service for light use: 10,000 compute points reset daily, standard models, web search, 5 generated images and a trial of Work Mode.

• Lite$3.50

  per month, billed annually ($3.99 billed monthly)

  2,000,000 compute points a month on standard models, 25 generated images, web search and Work Mode. No advanced models, knowledge base or MCP services.

• Pro$16.70

  per month, billed annually ($19.99 billed monthly)

  12,000,000 compute points a month, advanced GPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok models, 100 generated images, the knowledge base and MCP services.

• Pro+$33.33

  per month, billed annually ($39.99 billed monthly)

  30,000,000 compute points a month and 200 generated images, with the same models and features as Pro.

BoltAI

• Lifetime license

  Perpetual license from $79

  Every license is a one-time purchase that keeps working after its year of updates ends: Essential is $79, Pro $99 and Pro+ $199, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• Education

  50% off for students and educators

  Emailing BoltAI from a university address gets a discount code for 50% off, which makes the Essential license $39.50. The 40% renewal discount still applies afterwards.

• Other savings

  40% off renewals for individual licenses

  Individual licenses can renew updates and sync for another year at 60% of the original list price, and the discount does not expire. Team licenses get no renewal discount.

Chatbox

• Annual discount

  Lower monthly rate with annual billing

  Billed annually, Lite is $3.50 a month instead of $3.99, Pro $16.70 instead of $19.99 and Pro+ $33.33 instead of $39.99, a saving of about 12% to 17%.