Dela vs Muse (Meta): Which AI Chief of Staff Fits You?

Pick Muse if you want a free, general-purpose agent from Meta that books travel, fills out forms, and buys things, and that you can reach from your phone, your laptop, or WhatsApp. Pick Dela if your workload is mostly email, calendar, Slack, and texts on a Mac or Windows desktop, and you want push-to-talk voice control, on-device speech-to-text, and an approval card before anything goes out in your name.

Both products give each user a private cloud agent that keeps working after you close the app, so they overlap more than most assistants do. The differences are in where you use them, what they connect to, and how they're priced. Product details were checked on 2026-10-17 and may have changed since.

What each product is

Muse is Meta's consumer personal AI agent. Its job is to take actions for you: sending email, booking travel, filling out forms, and negotiating on your behalf^[1]. It runs on a dedicated cloud virtual machine for each user, the "Muse Secure VM", which has its own browser, and it keeps working on longer tasks after you close the app^[2]. It remembers details about you and makes suggestions without being asked^[3].

Dela is an AI chief of staff built for the work you do at a computer. Every user gets a dedicated, always-on cloud agent on their own private server^[4]. You can talk to it from any app with a push-to-talk hotkey^[5]. It connects to Gmail and Outlook, Google and Microsoft calendars, Slack, and iMessage/SMS^[6]. It also has a server-side browser for web tasks^[7] and long-term memory of your preferences, contacts, and writing style^[8].

In short, Muse is a broad consumer agent that's especially good at errands and purchases. Dela is a communications and productivity assistant built around a desktop workflow.

Platforms and availability

• Muse: Tasks carry across your phone, laptop, and WhatsApp^[9]. There is reportedly a Mac app (direct download) that can organize files, fill forms, and pull from Messages, Calendar, and Notes with your permission^[10]. Meta doesn't mention a Windows app^[11]. At launch Muse is available only in the US, and support for AI glasses is listed as "coming soon"^[12].
• Dela: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows, plus an iPhone companion app^[13].

If you work on a Windows PC, or you're outside the US, that may settle it. If you live in WhatsApp, Muse's support for it is a real convenience.

How you interact with it

Muse follows you across devices, so you can start a task on your phone and pick it up on your laptop or in WhatsApp^[9]. That fits people who handle errands from wherever they happen to be.

Dela is built around voice at the desk. Hold a global hotkey in any app, say what you want, and Dela drafts, sends, or delegates it^[5]. Speech-to-text runs entirely on your device (WhisperKit on Mac, whisper.cpp on Windows), so raw audio never leaves your machine^[14]. The dictation learns your vocabulary and your style corrections over time^[15]. So Dela is also a dictation tool you can use anywhere you type, even when you aren't delegating a task.

Email, calendar, and messaging

This is where the two differ most.

Dela names its integrations: Gmail and Outlook email, Google and Microsoft calendars, Slack, and iMessage/SMS^[6]. Scheduled briefings and inbox catch-ups summarize what needs your attention and draft replies in advance^[16]. Because Dela learns your writing style^[8], those drafts should need fewer edits over time. It can also produce documents and slide decks, and you can save repeated workflows as reusable "skills"^[17].

Muse can send email^[1], and you can set its access per app, for example read-only email versus permission to send on your behalf^[18]. Meta's announcement describes its integrations in general terms and doesn't name specific email or calendar providers such as Gmail or Outlook^[19]. Reportedly, the Mac app can pull from Apple's Messages, Calendar, and Notes with your permission^[10].

If you rely on a specific stack, such as Outlook plus Slack, Dela's documented support is easier to check before you commit. Muse is stronger for actions beyond communication: travel, forms, and negotiation^[1].

Approvals and safety

Both products are careful about acting for you, and Muse has some notable safeguards here.

• Muse asks for confirmation before sensitive actions such as sending email or making purchases. A separate "Sentinel" agent must approve anything sent to the internet, and there's a full audit trail of past and planned actions^[20]. Checkout uses one-time-use cards from Link by Stripe, and the agent doesn't see your passwords or payment details^[21]. Support for 1Password and Shop Pay isn't live yet^[22].
• Dela drafts replies and messages for your approval before anything is sent on your behalf. Every outgoing action shows an approval card^[23]. You stay in the loop on every message, not just on actions an algorithm flags as sensitive.

If shopping is a big part of what you'll delegate, Muse's Stripe-based checkout is purpose-built for it. If your main worry is an AI emailing your boss or a client, Dela's approve-every-message default is a simple rule you can rely on.

Privacy

Each product runs on a dedicated per-user cloud environment: the Muse Secure VM^[2] and Dela's private server^[4].

Meta says a "Muse Confidential VM", where you hold the encryption key, is planned for later in 2026. Until then, the current VM is not cryptographically inaccessible to Meta^[22].

Dela's main privacy feature is on the voice side. Transcription happens on your device, and raw audio never leaves your machine^[14]. For people who dictate sensitive work, keeping audio off the cloud is a concrete benefit.

Models

Dela lets you choose the Claude model (Haiku, Sonnet, or Opus) on every plan^[24]. That means you can pick speed for quick replies or more capability for complex tasks. Meta doesn't document an equivalent model choice for Muse in the sources we reviewed.

Pricing

Muse:

• Free: $0. Meta says it's "free for most of what people need", with a usage limit that refreshes. Meta doesn't publish the exact allowance^[25].
• Paid plans: Meta confirms they exist but lists no prices. According to press reports, there's a "Power" plan at $20/month^[26] and a "Maximum" plan at $100/month^[27].
• There's no trial, but the free tier is permanent^[28].

Dela:

• Plus: $9.99/month or $99.90/year, with unlimited AI dictation (fair use)^[29].
• Base: $49.99/month or $499.90/year. This is the plan that includes your own private assistant^[30].
• Top: $99.99/month or $999.90/year, with the largest allowance for the heaviest workloads^[31].
• Free trial: 1,500 credits over 7 days. Cancel before it ends and you're never charged^[32].

Muse has a real advantage on entry price: a permanent free tier. Dela's full assistant starts at a higher price and is aimed at people whose inbox and calendar take up enough of their day to justify it. See pricing for current plan details.

Side-by-side comparison

Who should pick which

Choose Muse if you:

• Want to start for free and keep a permanent free tier^[25].
• Mostly delegate errands such as travel, forms, and purchases, and value safe checkout without sharing card details^[21].
• Want to reach your agent from WhatsApp^[9].
• Live in the US^[12].

Choose Dela if you:

• Work on Windows, or on a Mac and want the same assistant on both^[13].
• Spend your day in Gmail or Outlook, Slack, and texts, and want daily briefings with replies already drafted^[16].
• Want to speak to any app with a hotkey, with audio that stays on your device^[14].
• Want to approve every message before it's sent^[23].
• Want to choose which Claude model handles your work^[24].

Bottom line

Muse is a capable, free-to-start agent for errands and purchases, with serious safeguards around actions that go out to the internet. Dela is the stronger fit if your bottleneck is communication. It covers named email, calendar, Slack, and text integrations, works on both Mac and Windows, uses private on-device voice, and puts an approval card on every outgoing action. To see whether it actually clears your inbox, download Dela and try it with the 7-day trial.