A personal AI assistant with persistent memory, built-in skills, and phone/voice access, hosted in the cloud or self-hosted.
- Category
- Agent platforms
- From
- $0 / month
- Pricing model
- freemium
- Free tier
- Yes
- Deployment
- Both
- Interface
- Web
- Open source
- Yes
- Public API
- Yes
- Model / LLM
- Multiple model providers via pas…
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Our verdict
Vellum positions itself as a personal AI assistant rather than a narrow chatbot: persistent memory, a broad built-in skill set, and reach across web, mobile, Slack, Telegram, and phone calls set it apart from single-channel tools.
The permission-gated action model and open-source self-hosting option are genuine differentiators for users wary of handing over unsupervised account access. The tradeoff is a pricing structure with several moving parts (machine tier, storage, platform fee, credit bundles) and third-party sources that disagree on what the product even charges, which makes it hard to budget confidently before signing up. Worth trying on the free Base plan first to see whether the skill set and permission model fit before committing to a paid package.
What is Vellum?
Vellum is a personal AI assistant that runs in a hosted Vellum Cloud environment or on a user's own hardware. It carries its own identity, including its own email and accounts, and stays reachable across web, macOS, iOS, Slack, Telegram, and a terminal. It targets individuals and small teams who want one assistant that remembers context over time and can act across their tools rather than a single-purpose chatbot.
What does Vellum do?
Vellum pairs a chat interface with a Personal Knowledge Base that remembers facts, preferences, and context across every conversation, so users do not need to re-explain themselves in each session.
It ships with built-in skills covering Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, web browsing, computer control, phone calls, image generation, coding, in-conversation app building, and task management, and users can install additional skills from a library or build their own.
A browser extension lets it read open tabs and fill forms, and it supports voice interaction through push-to-talk or always-listening mode, including placing outbound phone calls in its own voice. Sensitive actions, such as sending an email, touching files outside its workspace, controlling the screen, or running shell commands, trigger an Allow/Deny prompt with a risk badge rather than executing silently.
Workspace data, memories, and configuration are encrypted and isolated when run in Vellum Cloud, or can stay entirely on the user's own machine through the self-hosted, open-source version, with export, backup, and delete controls available at any time. Billing runs on a credit system where $1 equals one credit and model provider costs pass through at cost with no markup.
How Vellum works
- Sign up for the free Base plan (no credit card required) and set up the assistant with its own identity.
- Connect the built-in skills you want, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, or Linear, so the assistant can act on those accounts.
- Chat, talk, or message the assistant from Web, macOS, iOS, Slack, Telegram, or a terminal, and approve or deny any sensitive action it requests.
- Upgrade to a Mighty, Super, Ultra, or Custom package, or self-host, once you need more machine power, storage, or credits.
Key features
- Personal Knowledge Base
- Persistent memory that retains user facts, preferences, and conversation context across sessions rather than resetting each chat.
- Built-in skill library
- Ships with skills for Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, web browsing, computer control, phone calls, image generation, coding, app building, and task management, plus a growing library of installable or user-built skills.
- Multi-channel presence
- Reachable on Web, macOS, iOS, Slack, Telegram, and a terminal, with a browser extension that reads open tabs and fills forms on the page you're viewing.
- Permission-gated actions
- Sensitive actions like sending email, touching files outside its workspace, or running shell commands require an explicit Allow/Deny prompt with a risk badge before executing.
- Voice and phone calling
- Supports push-to-talk or always-listening voice interaction, and can place outbound phone calls on the user's behalf using its own voice.
- Self-hosting
- The assistant is open source and can run on a user's own hardware, a VPS, or a private cloud, with no platform fee or machine-tier charges in that mode.
What are Vellum's use cases?
- Inbox and calendar handling
- A user connects Gmail and Google Calendar so the assistant can triage messages and manage scheduling using its built-in skills.
- Ordering food hands-free
- A user asks the assistant to place a food order through its DoorDash integration without opening the app themselves.
- Ticket and project updates
- A user has the assistant create Linear tickets, assign owners, and move ticket states from a conversational request.
- Quick interactive tools
- A user asks the assistant to build a small interactive web app directly inside the conversation instead of opening a code editor.
- Voice-driven tasks on the go
- A user switches to always-listening voice mode and has the assistant place an outbound phone call on their behalf.
Who is Vellum for?
- Individuals who want one AI assistant that remembers them across email, calendar, and chat instead of juggling separate tools
- People comfortable approving sensitive actions manually in exchange for an assistant that can act across accounts
- Technical users who want the option to self-host an open-source assistant rather than rely solely on a vendor's cloud
Not forTeams needing centralized, seat-based access control or audited multi-user administration, since Vellum prices and operates as a single personal assistant package rather than a team management platform
What does Vellum integrate with?
- Gmail
- Google Calendar
- Slack
- X (Twitter)
- Linear
- DoorDash
- Telegram
Why use Vellum?
- Persistent Personal Knowledge Base memory carries context across every conversation instead of resetting per session.
- Sensitive actions are gated behind explicit Allow/Deny prompts with risk badges, not silent execution.
- An open-source, self-hostable version removes platform fees and keeps workspace data on the user's own hardware.
- Model provider costs pass through to users at cost with no markup on top of token usage.
What are Vellum's pros and cons?
What's great
- Persistent memory and a wide built-in skill set (email, calendar, browsing, phone calls, coding) cover many personal tasks from a single assistant.
- Explicit Allow/Deny prompts with risk badges on sensitive actions give users a visible checkpoint before the assistant touches files, accounts, or the screen.
- Open-source self-hosting removes platform fees and lets users keep workspace data on their own hardware instead of the vendor's cloud.
Watch-outs
- Pricing is layered across preset packages, a Custom configuration with separate machine, storage, and credit-bundle costs, and a $10/mo platform fee that applies only to some tiers, which makes total cost harder to estimate upfront.
- Independent write-ups of Vellum's pricing disagree on the plan names, prices, and even the product's shape (one third-party source describes prompt/workflow execution limits and a $500/mo Pro tier that don't match the vendor's current Base/Mighty/Super/Ultra structure), suggesting the offering has changed and stale information is circulating.
- Granting phone-calling, screen-control, and browser-extension access to a persistent-memory assistant raises a larger trust surface than a conventional chatbot, even with permission prompts in place.
- Some capabilities, like outbound phone calls and computer control, depend on permission approvals working correctly each time; the vendor's own site is the source for most feature claims, and independent, hands-on reviews of these specific features are not available yet.
Vellum pricing
Base
$0 / month
Mighty
$30 / month
Super
$100 / month
Ultra
$200 / month
Custom
from $50 / month
See current pricing on vellum.ai ↗Compare Vellum alternatives →
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free way to try Vellum?
How does Vellum's pricing work above the free plan?
Can I self-host Vellum instead of using the cloud?
Does Vellum ask before taking sensitive actions?
How are credits and model costs billed?
Anything to add?
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