Desktop AI assistant for Mac and Windows.
What is a desktop AI assistant?
Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is a desktop AI assistant for Mac, Windows, and Linux that lives one shortcut away from the work on your laptop. It sees the current screen, connects through 35 live app connectors, and remembers context so you do not start from scratch. Press Cmd+/ on Mac or Ctrl+/ on Windows and Linux, and a floating bar reads your current screen, then connects over OAuth to Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, Google Calendar, and more. It keeps persistent memory across sessions and is GDPR-aligned, with a free tier plus paid plans. Reading, summarizing, and drafting are free; sending, posting, and deleting wait for your approval. Honest alternatives by job: Raycast for a launcher on Mac and Windows, Microsoft Copilot for Office-only work, the ChatGPT and Claude desktop apps for pure chat, and Apple Intelligence for on-device basics. Scroll down for the full comparison and setup guide.
Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is a desktop AI assistant that lives one shortcut away from the work on your laptop. It sees the current screen, connects to your apps, remembers context, and helps without forcing every question into a blank chat window.
It is built for macOS and Windows, with screen-aware AI, persistent memory, 30+ connectors, privacy controls, voice mode, dictation, and a floating bar that appears when you ask for help.
Use Jarvis for emails, spreadsheets, documents, designs, dashboards, research, calendars, Slack threads, Notion pages, GitHub work, and the small AI moments that happen all day.
What separates a desktop AI assistant from a chat window with a hotkey: it should appear over your current app instead of pulling you to a browser tab, see what is on your screen without copy-paste, remember your work across sessions, and act in the apps where the work lives. Jarvis ships all four; most tools that claim the label ship one or two.
The category splits into three shapes. Chat apps (ChatGPT Desktop, Claude Desktop) are destinations with strong reasoning that you bring context to. Ecosystem add-ons (Microsoft Copilot, Apple Intelligence, Raycast AI) are strong inside one vendor’s stack and weak outside it. Floating assistants (Jarvis, Highlight, Cluely) live next to your work — the shape this page is about.
Pricing for Jarvis: free plan with 40 requests every week plus a 7-day full Pro trial with no card, then Pro at $16/month ($144/year) or Unlimited at $32/month, in USD. The app is built by LOGICLUB SMART SRL, an EU company in Sibiu, Romania; user data and the database are stored in the EU, and prompts and screenshots are never used to train models.
The ranked list below is the short version; the full reviews with per-tool pricing, platforms, and limitations live in the best desktop AI assistant 2026 guide linked underneath.
The jobs a desktop assistant actually earns its keep on: summarizing the email thread on screen and drafting the reply, explaining an error message without retyping it, turning the bug you are looking at into a Linear or GitHub ticket, asking what changed in a spreadsheet, catching up on a muted Slack channel, and prepping for the meeting that starts in ten minutes from Calendar plus Gmail context. Each of those requires screen context or a connector — which is exactly what a browser-tab chatbot lacks.
Trying it costs nothing: the download is free on all three platforms, account creation needs no card, and the 7-day full Pro trial plus the ongoing 40 free weekly requests are enough to know within a week whether the floating-bar shape fits how you work.
Desktop assistant versus browser chatbot, concretely: with a chatbot, answering "what does this error mean" takes a screenshot, a tab switch, an upload, and a paste-back; with a desktop assistant it takes one hotkey. The chatbot forgets your context between sessions; the assistant remembers that the Acme thread matters and that you sign off "Best, M.". The chatbot can tell you what to do in Linear; the assistant opens the ticket. Multiply that gap across a workday and it is the difference between using AI occasionally and using it constantly.
The best desktop AI assistants in 2026, ranked
- Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) — screen-aware floating bar with memory, 30+ connectors, and voice on Mac, Windows, and Linux; free plan available
- ChatGPT Desktop — strong reasoning chat app for Mac and Windows with an Option+Space launcher
- Claude Desktop — strong writing quality and Computer Use, in a chat-window shape
- Microsoft Copilot — embedded across Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams for Microsoft 365 subscribers
- Highlight AI — floating assistant built around continuous screen and audio capture
- Raycast AI — AI layered onto the Mac launcher, $10/month Pro
- Apple Intelligence — on-device OS features for M-series Macs, free with macOS
- Cluely — real-time meeting and interview overlay
| Assistant | Screen-aware | Persistent memory | App connectors | Platforms | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) | Yes — on-demand screenshot | Yes | 30+ | Mac, Windows, Linux | Free / $16/mo Pro / $32/mo Unlimited |
| ChatGPT Desktop | Partial — supported apps only | Partial | Few | Mac, Windows | Free tier; regional paid plans |
| Claude Desktop | No (Computer Use is separate) | No | Few | Mac, Windows | $20/mo ($17/mo annual) |
| Microsoft Copilot | Within Microsoft 365 apps | Partial | Microsoft 365 | Windows | Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription |
| Highlight AI | Yes — continuous capture | Yes | Few | Mac, Windows | Free tier + paid |
| Raycast AI | No | No | Launcher extensions | Mac | $10/mo Pro |
| Apple Intelligence | Partial — first-party apps | No | Apple apps | Mac (M-series), iOS | Free with OS |
| Cluely | Yes — meeting overlay | No | Few | Mac, Windows | Subscription |
Frequently asked questions
- Is a desktop AI assistant different from a chatbot?
- Yes. A chatbot is a destination — you leave your work, explain context, paste material, and bring the answer back. A desktop AI assistant runs on your OS, sees the current window, and has memory and connectors. The question reaches it with most of the context already attached.
- Does it replace ChatGPT or Claude?
- It replaces the workflow of using them. Jarvis routes to strong frontier models behind the scenes; you stop opening a tab and rebuilding context. If you have favorite chat tools, you can keep them and use Jarvis for the everyday "while I am in this app" questions.
- Do I need to give it access to everything?
- No. Connectors are opt-in, one at a time, with the OAuth scopes you approve. Screen reading happens only when you summon Jarvis. You can run it with zero connectors and still get value from screen + memory.
- Does it work offline?
- Model calls require internet because the frontier models run in the cloud. Memory, connector tokens, and preferences are stored locally and resync when you are back online.
- How is this different from Copilot or Apple Intelligence?
- Copilot is tied to Microsoft 365; Apple Intelligence is tied to Apple. Jarvis is cross-platform, model-agnostic, and connects to both ecosystems plus everything outside them — Notion, Slack, GitHub, Figma, Linear, Spotify, and more.
- Can I use AI on my desktop?
- Yes. Desktop AI assistants install like any other app and sit on top of what you are already doing. Jarvis opens with Cmd+/ on macOS or Ctrl+/ on Windows and Linux, reads the screen when asked, and acts in 30+ connected apps. The free plan is 40 requests weekly.
- Is there an AI that can control your desktop?
- Yes. Some assistants go past chat and take actions for you in apps and on screen. Jarvis reads the active window when you ask, then performs work through 30+ OAuth connectors like Gmail, Slack, Notion and GitHub. Screenshots are taken only on request and discarded after the turn.
- Is there a desktop AI agent?
- Yes. A desktop AI agent runs locally as an app but calls a cloud model to reason, so it can chain several steps for one request. Jarvis works this way on macOS, Windows 10+ and Linux, using our GDPR-aligned backend and 30+ app connectors to finish tasks.
- What is AI desktop assistant?
- A desktop AI assistant is an app that lives on your computer, sees what you are working on, and acts across your other apps instead of living in a browser tab. Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is the leading example: a floating bar summoned with Cmd+/, with 30+ connectors and a free weekly tier.
Desktop AI assistant
