The 2025 State of AI
FreemiumPersonal AI assistant with real-world agency, persistent memory, and its own identity.
By Tanmay Verma, Founder · Last verified 06 Jul 2026
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Added 6d ago
77/100Safe BetIn short
The 2025 State of AI — Personal AI assistant with real-world agency, persistent memory, and its own identity. Best for Tech enthusiasts wanting a personal AI assistant with real-world agency, Power users who automate email, scheduling, and social media, Developers comfortable with open-source self-hosting and CLI. Free to start; paid plans from $50/mo.
Is The 2025 State of AI actually worth it?
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Editorial Verdict
Best for
Tech enthusiasts wanting a personal AI assistant with real-world agencyPower users who automate email, scheduling, and social mediaDevelopers comfortable with open-source self-hosting and CLIIndividuals seeking a private, customizable AI companion
Not ideal for
Users wanting a simple app-based chat interface onlyThose unwilling to configure skills or learn assistant managementPeople needing extensive cloud IDE or code execution featuresUsers who rely on voice-first assistants with minimal setup
Vellum is the most ambitious personal AI assistant we've seen, offering genuine autonomy and deep integrations. Its complexity is a barrier for casual users, but for those willing to invest time, it's incredibly powerful—especially for automating email, scheduling, and social media. The open-source model and transparent credit-based pricing are refreshing. Compared to ChatGPT or Mem, Vellum offers deeper real-world agency, but at the cost of a steeper learning curve. It's best for tech enthusiasts who want a customizable, proactive AI companion, not for those seeking a simple chat interface.
Skip The 2025 State of AI if Skip Vellum if you want a simple app-based AI chat interface without configuring skills, managing credits, or learning assistant management—its power comes with complexity.
Compare with: The 2025 State of AI vs Poke (Interaction Co.), The 2025 State of AI vs Poolside AI, The 2025 State of AI vs Juicebox PeopleGPT
Last verified: July 2026
What's new in The 2025 State of AI
Checked 3 days agoAcross the latest 2 updates: 2 changelog entries.
ChangelogChangelog·8 days agoNewest
v0.10.4: memory system overhaul, rebuilt Slack rendering, plugins GA
Assistant can now write and edit its own skills based on memory; Slack UI renders images, tables, and markdown; heartbeat enabled by default; plugins installable via GitHub URL.
ChangelogChangelog·14 days ago
v0.10.3: guided onboarding, MCP server management, plugin publishing
New web onboarding suggests plugins and connects Google Calendar; MCP settings moved under Integrations; plugins publish CLI command added; advisor streams live.
What independent users actually report about The 2025 State of AI
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
42 mentions across 4 sources (Hacker News, Product Hunt, Bluesky, Lemmy).
40% positive60% critical
Recurring strengths
- +Proactive heartbeat checks reminders up to 10 times daily.
- +Self-writing skills autonomously from memory and past interactions.
- +Real-world actions: send emails, make calls, post on social media.
- +Build web apps from conversation (e.g., habit tracker).
- +Native Slack rendering supports tables and images.
Recurring frustrations
- −Extremely limited direct user feedback available online.
- −Name collision with other reports causes confusion in search and discussion.
- −Setup complexity may overwhelm non-technical users.
- −Reliability and support quality completely unverified by community.
- −No dedicated community forums or active GitHub issue tracker visible.
Patterns worth knowing
Name collision with industry reports dilutes tool identity
Seen on Hacker News, Bluesky, Lemmy
Product Hunt launch generated positive but shallow buzz
Seen on Product Hunt
Almost no in-depth user feedback exists
Seen on Product Hunt, Hacker News, Bluesky, Lemmy
Learning curve
intermediateProductive in ~A few hours
Hidden costs people mention
- • Pay-as-you-go inference credits can accumulate beyond subscription
- • Self-hosting requires own infrastructure and maintenance overhead
Viability Score
77/100
Safe BetHow likely is The 2025 State of AI to still be operational in 12 months? Based on 4 signals — momentum (how recently it shipped), wrapper dependency, revenue model, and web presence.
momentum
55
funding runway
80
website health
90
wrapper dependency
100
Last calculated: July 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Proactive heartbeat checks reminders up to 10x/day
- Personal knowledge base remembers preferences and facts
- Self-writing skills: assistant creates and edits its own skills from memory
- Native Slack rendering: tables, images, and markdown in messages
- Phone calls with assistant's own voice
- Email management: read, triage, draft, and send (own or connected inbox)
- Social media posting and thread reading (X/Twitter)
- Web app building from conversation (e.g., habit tracker)
- Browser extension for acting on open tabs
- Voice interaction: push-to-talk or always-listening
- Calendar integration for daily briefings and scheduling (Google Calendar)
- Plugin marketplace: install third-party plugins (v0.10.4 GA)
- MCP server management for custom tooling
- Subagent coordination for multi-step tasks
- Open-source self-hosting (Mac, GitHub)
About The 2025 State of AI
FreemiumIntermediateAPI availableWeb · Desktop · API · CLI
Vellum is a personal AI assistant platform that gives you a cloud-hosted assistant with its own email address, subdomain, and the ability to act autonomously—sending emails, making phone calls, posting to social media, and building web apps. It's designed for tech enthusiasts and power users who want a customizable, proactive assistant that can manage your email, calendar, Slack, Linear, and more. Setup takes minutes: you name your assistant, shape its personality, and it progressively reveals capabilities. Vellum uses a skill-based architecture where the assistant can even write its own skills from memory. Key features include a proactive heartbeat that checks reminders up to 10 times daily (v0.10.4), a personal knowledge base, voice interaction (push-to-talk or always-listening), and a browser extension. The platform is open-source with self-hosting options. Recent updates (v0.10.4) overhauled the memory system, allowing the assistant to autonomously write and edit skills. Pricing is freemium: a free Base tier with limited compute and storage, and a Pro tier ($50/mo) for larger machines and storage, with pay-as-you-go credits for inference and third-party APIs.
Behind the Verdict
Vellum stands out because it doesn't just chat—it acts. With its own email address and subdomain, it can send emails, make phone calls, post to X/Twitter, and even build web apps from a conversation. The proactive heartbeat (up to 10 times daily in v0.10.4) checks reminders and pushes updates to Slack, making it genuinely useful for daily ops. The self-writing skills feature is a differentiator: your assistant can create new abilities based on past interactions. However, this power comes with complexity. Setting up integrations like Google Calendar, Slack, and Linear requires some initial configuration, and the credit-based billing for inference (LLM calls, web search, image generation) can be a hidden cost for heavy users. The free Base tier is limited (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM, 4 GiB storage), so you'll likely need the Pro tier ($50/mo plus machine add-ons) for serious use. Also, the assistant's heartbeat is capped at 10 runs per day even on Pro. If you're comfortable with open-source self-hosting, Vellum offers full data control. For less technical users who just want a simple chat interface, alternatives like ChatGPT or Claude might be better. Overall, Vellum is a powerful tool for tech enthusiasts who enjoy configuring their AI assistant and want real-world automation.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas The 2025 State of AI actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Productivity-focused professional
You wake up and Vellum sends you a Slack summary of today's calendar, weather, and top news. You ask it to check your email and draft replies to two urgent messages.
Outcome: Your morning briefing and email triage are done in minutes without opening any app.
Developer building a side project
You ask Vellum to build a habit tracker web app. It creates a working app with a database and UI in the conversation. You later ask it to deploy it to a custom subdomain.
Outcome: You get a functional web app without writing any code.
Social media manager
You tell Vellum 'post a thread about our new feature on X.' It drafts, posts, and later summarizes replies. It also reads a competitor's post and drafts a response.
Outcome: Social media engagement happens autonomously, saving hours per week.
Use Cases
- Automate your morning routine: Vellum pulls weather, calendar, and news into a personalized briefing.
- Build a fully interactive web app (e.g., a habit tracker) through conversation, no coding needed.
- Have your assistant monitor your inbox, triage emails, and draft replies using its own email address.
- Schedule and manage social media posts (X/Twitter) with automated drafting and replies.
- Make phone calls on your behalf (e.g., to reschedule appointments) using the assistant's own voice.
- Create a personal knowledge base that remembers facts and preferences across all conversations.
Models Under the Hood
GLM 5.2 (Balanced profile with medium reasoning effort)DeepSeek V4 Flash (Speed profile via Fireworks)Quality profile (replaces Frontier)
as of 2026-07-06
Limitations
- Credits are pay-as-you-go and can be a hidden cost for heavy users, as LLM inference, web search, image generation, and third-party APIs all consume credits ($1 = 1 credit).
- The free Base plan has limited compute (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM) and only 4 GiB storage.
- Some advanced features like custom subdomains and larger machine sizes require the Pro subscription ($50/mo plus machine add-ons).
- The proactive heartbeat is capped at 10 runs per day even on Pro.
- Self-hosting requires technical expertise to deploy on your own hardware.
as of 2026-07-06
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Annual total
Free
Over 12 months
Effective monthly
Free
Billed monthly
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published The 2025 State of AI tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Base (Free)
$0/mo
Ideal for
Solo explorers wanting to test Vellum's capabilities with limited compute and storage.
What this tier adds
Free entry point with Small processing (1 vCPU, 2 GiB) and 4 GiB storage; no custom subdomain or static IP.
Pro
$50/mo
Ideal for
Power users and professionals needing more compute, larger storage, and custom subdomain for their assistant.
What this tier adds
Adds $10/mo platform fee, unlocks Medium/XL machine tiers, larger storage options, custom subdomain, static IP, and priority support.
Integrations
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where The 2025 State of AI's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Vellum's pricing is ideal for tech enthusiasts who want a customizable, self-hosted AI assistant but can handle variable costs. The free Base tier is great for exploration, but serious users will likely need Pro ($50/mo + machine add-ons) plus credits for inference, which can make it pricier than ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) or Claude Pro ($20/mo). However, Vellum's real-world agency and open-source model justify the cost for power users who need email, phone, and social media automation.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of The 2025 State of AI — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
For a tech-savvy user, you can sign up, name your assistant, and start chatting in under 5 minutes. Connecting integrations like Google Calendar or Slack takes another 10–15 minutes each. Self-hosting requires more time: roughly 30 minutes if you're familiar with Docker and GitHub.
Switching to or from The 2025 State of AI
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
Migrating in
- →From ChatGPT or Claude: You can manually import conversation history (export as JSON) into Vellum's personal knowledge base. Skills and integrations need to be reconfigured.
- →From other AI assistants: Vellum offers a plugin marketplace and MCP server support, but there's no direct import tool for other platforms.
Migrating out
- ↗To another platform: Export your data (conversations, skills, memory) from Vellum's settings. The open-source nature means no lock-in; you can self-host and keep your data.
Resources & Guides
- Documentationvellum.ai
Docs · The 2025 State of AI
Full product docs from vellum.ai
- Quickstartvellum.ai
Quick Start · The 2025 State of AI
Get up and running fast from vellum.ai
- Quickstartvellum.ai
Getting Started · The 2025 State of AI
Get up and running fast from vellum.ai
- Documentationvellum.ai
Community · The 2025 State of AI
Full product docs from vellum.ai
Frequently Asked Questions
Tools that pair well with The 2025 State of AI
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside The 2025 State of AI, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
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