The AI you go to, or the AI that reads your messages.
Gemini is Google's general-purpose AI assistant. You ask it to think, write, code, run Deep Research, talk live, or delegate browser work through Gemini Agent. this+that is different. It's a comms-forward AI that reads every email, Slack thread, Teams chat, Google Chat, and Telegram DM you receive, extracts the tasks, and runs workflows. Both products speak MCP. Many teams use both.
A general-purpose AI you open and ask, or a comms-forward AI that reads your messages
Software has been here before. In the early Office days, Access was a core component because people built their own line-of-business apps. Then specialized SaaS took over, one domain at a time: Salesforce won CRM, Asana won projects, Shopify won commerce. Even though some people use Excel as a database, Access did not lose to Excel. It lost to a constellation of purpose-built apps that each nailed one job better than a general tool could. AI is at the same point. We think of it as two waves: Wave 1 is the general-purpose chat you open and ask; Wave 2 is the fit-for-purpose AI that owns one job end-to-end, with UI tailored to it (more in our essay on AI's second wave).
Gemini is a Wave 1 product. A capable model family (Gemini 3.1 Pro on paid tiers, Gemini 3 Flash on Free), persistent memory, Deep Research, Gemini Live for camera/screen/voice, Jules for agentic coding, Gemini Agent and Chrome auto-browse for browser delegation, and deep integration across Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive, Calendar, Meet) plus NotebookLM. Google's reach across surfaces is unique: 750M+ MAU on the Gemini app, Search AI Mode and AI Overviews on top of Search, and Android XR. this+that is one of Wave 2's first products: fit-for-purpose for messages, tasks, and team workflow. The agent lives inside your inbox and chat channels, scans every message for what needs doing, surfaces tasks for the whole team, and runs workflows automatically. Both products are MCP-native, so they compose. Gemini can reach this+that's DoBox through MCP. Most teams who use Gemini heavily will also benefit from a Wave 2 product handling their inbox. They solve different jobs.
Feature by feature
How the two products compare across the things that matter most.
| Topic | Gemini | this+that |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wave 1 general-purpose AI. Google's chat product with Memory, Deep Research, Live, Jules, Gemini Agent, NotebookLM, and Workspace integration. | Wave 2 comms-forward AI. An agent that reads your messages and acts on them without being asked. |
| Where work starts | With you. You prompt Gemini in a chat, run a Deep Research task, talk to Gemini Live, or delegate a browser task to Gemini Agent / Chrome auto-browse. | With incoming messages. The agent reads what arrives without being asked and surfaces what needs doing. |
| Channels read | Native reads across Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Meet) and consumer apps (Maps, YouTube, Flights, Hotels). Pull-on-demand per query, not continuous scanning of incoming messages. | Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, Google Chat, and Telegram, continuously. |
| Task layer | No persistent assignable task layer for messages you receive. Gemini surfaces drafts and summaries on demand; tracking lives wherever you put it. | DoBox. Every message scanned for tasks, surfaced as assignable items for the whole team. |
| Workflow automation | Jules for agentic coding work. Gemini Agent and Chrome auto-browse for browser delegation. Notebooks for grounded research workflows. | Plain-language workflow builder triggered by incoming messages. 32 action types with IF/ELSE branching, loops, and sub-agents. |
| Memory / knowledge | Persistent personalization with memory ("Saved info") across chats, on by default with Temporary Chats as opt-out. Notebooks add persistent grounded sources via NotebookLM sync. Single-user. | The brain — a writable team and personal knowledge layer with versioning. Agents read and write. |
| Team capabilities | Workspace Business plans bundle Gemini for shared admin and SSO via Cloud Identity. Memory and conversations remain individual. | Team task assignment, shared task view, and team-request grounding (your agent searches a teammate's brain to draft a suggested reply). |
| MCP support | Native. Google adopted MCP across services in late 2025 (managed remote MCP servers for Maps, BigQuery, and more). Google also leads the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol, which complements MCP. | Native, bidirectional. Consumes any MCP server in workflows (HubSpot, GitHub, Linear, etc.), and exposes a public MCP server so Gemini, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or any MCP client can reach your tasks. |
| Integrations | Deep Workspace integration plus connectors for Google consumer services and partner apps via Vertex AI / Gemini Enterprise. | Open MCP standard. Any tool with an MCP server or API plugs in. |
| Surfaces | Web (gemini.google.com), iOS, Android, Workspace side panel, Chrome auto-browse, Android XR glasses, API (AI Studio + Vertex AI / Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform). | Web app, browser extension (DoBox for Gmail), and a public MCP server reachable from any AI client. |
| Pricing (consumer) | Free (Flash models, 5 Deep Research/mo), Google AI Plus $7.99/mo, Google AI Pro $19.99/mo, Google AI Ultra $99.99/mo (with a $200/mo top tier above it). | Free during beta. |
| Pricing (Workspace) | Gemini bundled into Workspace as of 2026: Business Starter $7/seat/mo (Gmail side panel), Standard $14/seat/mo (full suite), Business Plus ~$22/seat/mo annual. | Free during beta. |
- Gemini is one of the most capable general-purpose AI assistants. The Gemini 3 family is competitive on reasoning, multimodality, and long context (1M tokens on Pro).
- Google's reach across surfaces is unique. The Gemini app, Search AI Mode, AI Overviews, Workspace, Chrome auto-browse, and Android XR meet users wherever they already are.
- Workspace integration is the deepest of any general-purpose AI. Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive, Calendar, and Meet all carry a Gemini side panel and @-mentions.
- Gemini Live (camera, screen share, voice) is a genuine multimodal experience that ChatGPT and Claude do not match in quite the same way.
- Deep Research and Notebooks together cover both quick lookup and long-form grounded research, with bidirectional NotebookLM sync.
- Jules for agentic coding, Gemini Agent for browser delegation. Both included with Google AI subscriptions.
- Enterprise posture is strong: HIPAA BAA, FedRAMP High, VPC Service Controls, CMEK, Access Transparency, US/EU data residency through Gemini Enterprise on Google Cloud.
- A different category. The agent reads the messages you receive, not just the prompts you send.
- Reads six channels natively — Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, Google Chat, and Telegram — continuously, not on demand.
- DoBox: every message scanned for tasks, with the whole team able to see, assign, and track them in one place.
- Workflows triggered by incoming messages, not just by you asking. 32 action types with branching, loops, and sub-agents.
- The brain is a writable team knowledge layer (not single-user Memory) that agents read and update as a side effect of doing real work.
- MCP works both ways: this+that consumes any MCP server inside workflows, and exposes its own so Gemini, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or any MCP client can reach your tasks. The two products compose rather than compete.
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