Comparison

Étoiles or uploading files to an AI chatbot?

General AI chatbots can read a file you upload and answer questions about it. Étoiles is built for one narrower job: answers from your own library, with the passage cited. Which fits depends on the job.

Third-party products change often. This page describes each kind of tool in general terms as of November 10, 2026; it is not a review of one product, and you should check a provider's current terms and features before you decide.

At a glance

	General AI chatbot with a file upload	Étoiles
Built for	Writing, explaining, brainstorming and answering from a wide range of knowledge, including files you add to a conversation	Answering questions from your own documents, with the cited passage
Where answers come from	Usually a mix of your file and what the model learned in training	Only the passages found in your own library; built to say when they do not contain the answer
Check an answer	Depends on the product; some point to the passage, some do not	Every answer carries numbered citations that open the passage
Your whole library	Usually limited to the files attached to a conversation	Searches your whole library at once
Where files go	To the provider's servers; retention and training use depend on the provider, plan and settings	Free app: nowhere, processed on the device. Étoiles Cloud: your own workspace, encrypted at rest, not used to train AI models
File types	Often many, including images and spreadsheets	Cloud: PDF, plain text and Markdown. App: files and PDFs, photos, scans, calendar, reminders and contacts
Price	Free and paid tiers, varies by provider	App free. Personal Cloud $10 a month, tax included

Where a general chatbot is the better choice

You want help writing, summarising for an audience, translating or thinking through a problem, not a lookup in your files.
You need general knowledge alongside your file.
Your file is a type Étoiles Cloud does not take, such as a spreadsheet or Word file.
You have one file and a one-off question, and you are comfortable with where the provider sends it.

Where Étoiles is the better choice

You ask the same library questions again and again, and want the source on every answer.
You need to be able to tell whether the answer is actually in your documents.
The documents are private and you want them kept on your device, or in a workspace set up for the purpose.
A team needs to ask the same set of documents, with roles and a second sign-in step.

Using both

Many people use a general chatbot for writing and Étoiles for facts in their own files. If you want to understand what to ask of any AI that reads your documents, read private AI for your documents.

Try cited answers from your own files

Personal Cloud is $10 a month for one person. The free iPhone and iPad app keeps everything on the device.

Paid plans are opening soon. Create your account now and choose a plan when they open.

Create your account See pricing

Personal Cloud is $10 a month, tax included. Business plans are $99, $399 and $1,499 a month, tax excluded; paying yearly costs 10 times the monthly price. See every plan.

The free iPhone and iPad app is coming soon to the App Store.