What's Computer Use and why does it matter?

Computer Use lets an AI control a desktop or browser — clicking, typing, taking screenshots — to complete tasks autonomously. Claude makes this available as a developer API. Primary is shipping it as a consumer feature on Pro plans (currently in private beta), no code required.

How is Primary more private than Claude?

Anthropic does not train on your conversations — that's policy. Primary additionally cannot read your data — that's architecture. The data is encrypted and the orchestrator processes it without ever holding plaintext. Both matter; Primary stacks both.

Can Claude run agents on a schedule?

No native scheduling. You can build it with Claude's API + your own infrastructure. Primary has cron-style routines built in, on every plan.

← All comparisons

Compare

Primary vs Claude

Claude is the chat product from Anthropic — known for careful reasoning, long context (200k+ tokens), and tools like Computer Use, Artifacts, and Projects. Primary is built for execution: an autonomous agent with email, phone, browser, and routines stitched together.

Start free trial See pricing

7-day free trial · No credit card required

Primary

Choose Primary if

Pick Primary if you need an agent that executes across email, calendar, phone, and the web — across days, not just sessions. Especially if you want privacy guarantees built into the architecture rather than provided as policy.

Start free trial →

Claude

Choose Claude if

Pick Claude if your main work is writing, analysis, code review, and structured thinking. Claude is exceptional at long-form reasoning and has the best chat UX for thinking through complex problems.

Side by side

What each one actually does

Capability

Claude

Primary

Conversational chat

Long context

yes (200k+)

Web search and research

Code generation

Computer Use (drives a desktop)In private beta; shipping to Pro and Ultimate consumer plans

API only (developers)

Coming soon

Email integration

yes (IMAP/SMTP)

Phone number

Scheduled / cron routines

Multi-agent orchestration

partial (Projects)

Used to train future models

No (per Anthropic policy)

Never (by architecture)

Local-first / desktop app

yes (Pro+)

Where Claude is great

Outstanding long-context reasoning (200k+ tokens, often closer to 1M effective)
Constitutional AI training produces fewer hallucinations on hard problems
Artifacts and Projects make iterative work feel native
Computer Use is available as a developer API for agentic builds
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the emerging standard for tool integration

Where Primary is different

Email, calendar, phone, and browser are first-class — not API building blocks for developers
Persistent multi-channel agents — your Primary has the same memory whether you text it, call it, or visit the web app
Routines run on schedule — Claude has no native cron / scheduled tasks
Computer Use shipping soon as a consumer feature on Pro $99.97 (currently in private beta) — Claude's Computer Use is a developer API requiring you to build the wrapper
Privacy by architecture — Anthropic doesn't train on your data either, but Primary additionally encrypts so it can't be read

Pricing