Comparisons, field guides, and notes on building a personal AI agent that works everywhere you do
Yes to both — Cowork runs on iOS, Android, Windows, web and a Chrome side panel. But four capabilities stay desktop-only, and there's a trap with local files that catches people out.
Cowork isn't sold separately. It's included with every paid Claude plan — $20 Pro, $100 Max 5x, $200 Max 20x — and not available on Free. What changes between tiers is usage, not features.
Short answer: use whichever you already pay for. If you pay for both, Cowork for work on your own files and machine, Work for producing finished documents. Full breakdown of pricing, platforms and limits below.
On web, flip the toggle at the top of the page to Work. On mobile, use the dropdown. On desktop, pick ChatGPT from the top-left menu then Work. It's free on desktop. Here's what to do with it.
Agent, tool call, MCP, context window, approval gate, computer use, surface, handoff. The vocabulary of personal AI agents, each defined in a sentence or two you could say out loud.