Compare
Convira vs ChatGPT
ChatGPT information last checked: 26 October 2026
ChatGPT is OpenAI's assistant, and with ChatGPT Work it now creates and edits documents too, including files in a folder you open in its desktop app. Its models run on OpenAI's servers, so that is where the work is processed. Convira gives you the choice: run the model on your own computer or a Private Box, so prompts and files stay on hardware you control, or use hosted frontier models from five providers when a task needs them. The real difference is not which model is smarter. It is where your documents go.
What ChatGPT is
ChatGPT is a general-purpose AI assistant from OpenAI, available in a browser, on mobile and as a desktop app for macOS and Windows. It reasons across a wide range of questions, writes and analyses data.
ChatGPT Work, added in 2026, takes on longer tasks: it creates and edits Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, connects to apps such as Slack and Google Drive, and in the desktop app can open a folder on your computer and change the files in it. The models run on OpenAI's servers.
What Convira does differently
The first difference is where the model runs, which in Convira is a per-session setting rather than a property of the product. Local runs an Ollama-compatible model on your own machine and, once models are downloaded, keeps working with no connection; a one-click Offline Mode toggle in the app footer blocks all outgoing traffic except your own machine's local services and Convira's sign-in and licensing endpoints. A Private Box runs far larger open models than a laptop can - frontier-scale releases like Qwen3 235B and DeepSeek V3.2 - on hardware you control on your own network. Cloud uses hosted frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and Meta, and Convira does not retain the content.
The second is how the work lands on your files. Convira opens the .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or .pdf where it already sits on your disk, changes what you asked for and leaves the rest exactly as it was, so what you get at the end is the document itself.
The third is that the controls are enforced rather than described. Code and subprocess execution run under operating-system-level isolation - a Bubblewrap namespace jail on Linux, a deny-by-default Seatbelt profile on macOS, and an AppContainer with a Job Object constraining the process tree on Windows. Every other action passes through permission gates and network controls. Sensitive actions stop for your approval. An automatic local backup is taken before Convira's file and document tools modify or remove a file, and restoring recovers a copy rather than overwriting anything. You choose what each task can see - attachments and Active History per task, projects per session; memory is yours to edit or turn off in Settings, and every connector action asks before it runs - and every step stays visible while it runs.
Side by side
| Convira | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Carrying out work on your own files | General assistance, plus longer tasks in ChatGPT Work |
| Where your files go | They stay on your disk and are edited in place - on Cloud runs, the content a run needs is sent to the model provider and not retained | Uploaded, or read from a folder you open in the desktop app, and processed on OpenAI's servers |
| Where the model runs | Your machine, a Private Box on your LAN, or hosted models | The provider's servers |
| Works with no internet | Yes, on the Local runtime | No |
| Models | Frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and Meta on Cloud, and open models on your own hardware | OpenAI's models |
| OS-level sandboxing of agent actions | Bubblewrap namespaces, Seatbelt, AppContainer | Not published in these terms |
| Automatic backup before a file changes | Yes | Not published in these terms |
| Price | From $9/month | Free tier plus paid plans |
When Convira is the right choice
- The material genuinely cannot leave your machine, and you want that enforced by the runtime rather than promised in a policy.
- You need the actual .docx, .xlsx or .pptx changed in place, with the untouched parts preserved and the original backed up.
- You need it to keep working with no connection, on a flight or through an outage.
- You want an agent that can drive a visible browser and your connected apps, pausing for approval before it sends or changes anything.
- You want to see exactly which steps ran, and be able to stop or redirect the work while it happens.
Common questions
Which AI models does Convira use?
On the Cloud runtime, Convira uses hosted frontier models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and Meta. On the Local runtime it runs open models on your own hardware, and a Private Box runs far larger open models on a machine you control, so sensitive material never has to leave hardware you own.
Does Convira send my files anywhere?
It depends on the runtime you choose, which is shown in the app. On Local and Private Box the run happens on hardware you control and the record stays there. On Cloud the prompt and context are forwarded to the selected model provider to generate a response; that content is not retained in Convira's database, where only operational metadata such as status, timestamps, model and credit usage is kept.
Can I use Convira alongside ChatGPT?
Yes. Many people keep a general assistant for questions and research, and use Convira when the result has to be a finished file on their own computer.
Convira facts on this page come from How it works, Security and Pricing, and are the same ones published there. If anything about ChatGPT is out of date or unfair, tell us at support@convira.ai and we will correct it.