Task Machine vs Town
Town gives each person an AI assistant with editable context and routines. Task Machine organizes work in Tasks and Goals, with plan review and an Inbox for decisions.
Visit Town Switching from Town? Read the migration guideTask Machine and Town, point by point
Built from each company's public pages. Every answer links to its source and shows when we last checked it. The oldest check on this page was November 13, 2026.
| What you compare | Task Machine | Town |
|---|---|---|
| Goals |
Task Machine
Yes
Give a Goal an agent lead and link Metrics, such as weekly signups or open pipeline value. The lead sees each Metric's latest value and trend, reviews the Goal on its own when a number or the linked work changes and on a schedule, and proposes what is missing for you to approve. |
Town
Yes
Company Goals Tracker gives your Townie a weekly review of company goals. It reads numbers from connected trackers, compares them with targets and reports movement, owners and blockers in a private readout. |
| Leads |
Task Machine
Yes
Goals, Projects and Teams each have a lead, a person or an agent. A Goal lead checks that the work can still reach the outcome. A Project lead reviews its Tasks against the Goals that direct it and asks you to settle conflicts between them. A Team lead triages the queue. Every gap becomes a proposal you approve. |
Town
Not published
Its docs describe no assigned lead role that reviews and coordinates a project, goal or team. Team Owner and Admin roles govern access and administration, while background routines can triage tickets. |
| Tasks |
Task Machine
Yes
Every job is a Task that a person or an agent owns. The Task keeps its plan, discussion, decisions, runs and history together, so you can steer one job in detail without reading a chat log, and people and agents hand work to each other on the same record. |
Town
Partly
Each piece of work has a thread with messages, assistant responses and tool activity. Its docs describe no shared work-item record that either a person or an agent can be assigned to own. |
| Recurring work |
Task Machine
Yes
Start a Task or Workflow once, on a schedule in your timezone, or when a service event arrives, such as a paid invoice or a pull request review. A recurring job keeps one stable root Task and gives each occurrence its own status and history, so repeated work does not flood your board. |
Town
Yes
Routines start on timezone-aware schedules, incoming email, calendar events or authenticated HTTP webhooks. Starter permits daily schedules, while Pro and higher plans support live event triggers. |
| Workflows |
Task Machine
Yes
A Workflow repeats your steps in the same order every time, with branches, human questions and approvals, and verifier checks that judge each result against its requirements and send weak work back with feedback. Every run keeps a step-by-step history you can read afterwards. |
Town
Yes
Code routines follow exact steps each time, including filtering, grouping data and calling AI helpers. Completed steps are saved within a run so an approval pause can resume without repeating them. |
| Autonomy |
Task Machine
Yes
Consequential decisions land in your Inbox with their context. You set what each agent may do on its own: every action is either Ask first or Automatic, per agent, and you can change that whenever the work or the stakes change. |
Town
Yes
Thread settings, personal routine modes and per-tool Ask each time controls govern approvals, collected in chat and Notifications. New routines start in Auto, and team routines always run in Auto mode. |
| Learned autonomy |
Task Machine
Yes
Task Machine studies the approvals and corrections you already make. When an agent does well it proposes giving it more freedom, and when it needs closer supervision it proposes tighter review, each with the evidence. A short lucky streak is not enough, and nothing changes until you accept. |
Town
Not published
Its docs describe no proposal to change permissions based on your approval history. Progressive trust means you change routine modes or tool settings yourself, and saved memories do not change approvals. |
| Memory |
Task Machine
Yes
Agents keep lessons from your corrections, such as an accepted example or a mistake to avoid, and carry the relevant notes into later work. Memory is kept per agent, project, goal, team and workspace, and you can read, correct and restore any note. |
Town
Yes
Your Townie uses persistent global and routine-specific memories in later work. You can inspect, add and delete memories, and edit its Wiki directly to correct the context it uses. |
| Planning |
Task Machine
Yes
Plan in Chat with your agents, and the plan becomes Tasks or Library documents instead of staying in a chat log. Before an agent starts, you review its plan and the acceptance criteria its work will be judged against. |
Town
Yes
You develop a routine in conversation, producing instructions, triggers, tools and a visible configuration preview that you can refine. Routines go live immediately, so this is not a required plan-approval gate before execution. |
| Intake |
Task Machine
Yes
Send work in over HTTP with a project token. It lands in the project as a Task, or in your Inbox as a proposal first. A team lead agent triages it to the right owner and asks you only when the decision is yours. |
Town
Yes
Email to your assistant and HTTP webhooks route requests into routines. A paid team's background routine can categorize incoming tickets and route them to the right owner. |
| Connectors |
Task Machine
Yes
Install services from a catalog as MCP servers, APIs or command-line tools, or add your own custom Connector for any of the three. Events Connectors receive webhooks from a service, such as a paid invoice, and start Workflows or wake a waiting Task. |
Town
Yes
Town connects custom Streamable HTTP MCP servers and API-key services such as Cursor. Email events and authenticated HTTP webhooks can start routines using connected tools. |
| Models |
Task Machine
Yes
Auto is the default. For each stage of the work it chooses a model from the task, current model capabilities, pricing and your applicable budgets, and you can fix a specific model on an agent when you want to. |
Town
Yes
Town says it selects the appropriate AI model for each job rather than requiring you to choose a provider. |
| Cloud or your own computer |
Task Machine
Yes
Run agents in Managed Cloud with nothing to install, or connect a Local Worker, a computer you control, for local files, tools and accounts. You choose where each agent runs. |
Town
Partly
Town is a cloud service with a Mac client that reads iMessages and transcribes speech on-device. Its public pages describe no customer-hosted agent runtime, and local file access is listed as coming next. |
| Your own subscription |
Task Machine
Yes
Sign in to your ChatGPT (Codex), Claude or GitHub Copilot subscription on a Local Worker, and the agents there use it instead of Task Machine's models. |
Town
Partly
The Cursor integration uses your Cursor API key to start cloud coding agents. Its docs describe no way to cover your Townie's own model usage with your AI subscription or provider key. |
| Pricing |
Task Machine
Yes
Usage based. From $29 a month before tax, the whole payment becomes usage that your workspace shares across people and agents, with no base fee and no trial. Larger monthly amounts lower the AI and Cloud rates. |
Town
Yes
Starter costs $15 monthly with 1,250 credits and two custom daily routines. Pro is $49 per user per month billed annually with 5,000 monthly credits and optional overage at $0.044 per credit. Free has a rolling 30-message allowance. |
| Correctness |
Task Machine
Yes
Every Task carries acceptance requirements, and each one gets a Pass, Fail or Uncertain check against the delivered work before a person reviews it. Workflow steps can add a verifier check that sends failed work back with feedback. You review the plan first, so the criteria exist before work starts. |
Town
Partly
Town validates action arguments and offers human review before selected actions. Its docs describe no general evaluation of delivered results against defined requirements or rubrics. |
For software work
| What you compare | Task Machine | Town |
|---|---|---|
| Code review rules |
Task Machine
Yes
Internal code review checks completed changes against the enabled rules of your repository. Rule discovery reads the repository and proposes rules, each screened against violating and valid examples first, and Task Machine suggests turning off a rule that agents keep dismissing. |
Town
Partly
The assistant can inspect commit changes and review pull-request diffs through GitHub tools. Its docs describe no code review against configured repository rules. |
| Adversarial review |
Task Machine
Yes
When an approved plan has high sensitivity or a Critical review level, the change also gets an adversarial review. Two independent reviewers examine the changed files together for defects such as a broken caller or a duplicate charge on retry. Findings keep their reproduction steps, and a skipped or failed review never counts as a pass. |
Town
Not published
Its docs describe no independent second review of risky code changes. The Cursor integration starts coding agents and checks their progress rather than documenting a separate review gate. |
| Risk rating |
Task Machine
Yes
Before final review, Merge risk rates the exact revision Low, Moderate or High, with notes on alignment, impact, verification, rollback cost and error detection, plus file references. It informs your decision and never merges for you. |
Town
Not published
Its docs describe no pre-merge risk rating. GitHub context cards track pull requests and deployment status and let you merge or enable auto-merge. |
| Pull requests |
Task Machine
Yes
Agents deliver against the exact reported revision, address review feedback and update the branch under your repository rules. Task Machine records its own approval of the exact commit before an agent may merge. |
Town
Partly
Town can commit file changes, create pull requests, read review comments and track status in a GitHub context card. Its docs do not establish an agent revision loop that addresses review feedback. |
A fact we cannot find or cannot check is left out, and prices can change after the date shown. Task Machine publishes this comparison and is an interested party. Town is named only to identify it, and there is no relationship between the two companies. Has something changed? Tell us.
Who each one suits
Town suits you if you want a personal assistant to read your email, manage your calendar and run routines using context you can edit in its Wiki.
Task Machine suits you if you want people and agents to own Tasks with their plans, discussion and history together, and review the plan and acceptance criteria before agent work starts.
You may stay with Town if your team already shares integrations, skills and background routines there. Its code routines can follow exact steps, and you can require approval for selected tools.
Keep personal context or steer shared work
Town keeps each piece of work in a thread. Your Townie uses an editable Wiki and saved memories across later conversations and routines. Teams add shared integrations, reusable skills and collectively owned background routines without replacing each member's personal assistant.
Task Machine gives work a Task that a person or an agent owns. Use Chat to shape the outcome and create the resulting work, then steer its plan, discussion and execution history on the Task.
Town also publishes a Company Goals Tracker routine. It reads your existing trackers, compares goal numbers with targets and sends a weekly report with owners and blockers. Task Machine gives a Goal an assigned lead and linked Metrics that prompt reviews as the numbers or work change.
Choose steps and review boundaries
Town supports both instruction-based routines and code routines for exact sequences. You can build them in conversation, inspect their configuration and change the instructions, triggers or tools. Saved step results let a run resume after an approval pause.
Task Machine Workflows define steps and branches with human questions and approvals. A separate verifier can check a step's output against its requirements and send failed work back with feedback.
Town's approvals are configurable, rather than mandatory for every write. Per-tool settings can require approval, and requests appear in chat and Notifications. New routines start in Auto mode, and team routines always run in Auto mode. Choose the settings deliberately before letting a routine send messages or change connected data.
What the prices cover
Town has a Free plan with 30 messages over the past 30 days. Starter costs $15 a month, billed monthly, with 1,250 credits and two custom daily routines. Pro costs $49 per user per month billed annually, with 5,000 monthly credits, unlimited custom routines and all trigger types. Optional Pro overage costs $0.044 per credit. Those annual-billing prices are not month-to-month quotes.
Task Machine is usage based, from $29 a month before tax. The whole payment becomes usage shared by the workspace, with no base fee. You keep 100% of your revenue, Task Machine takes no cut and never takes custody of your accounts. See pricing for what consumes usage.
Common questions
Can Town run scheduled and event-driven work?
Yes. Its routines support schedules, email, calendar events and HTTP webhooks. Starter supports daily schedules, while Pro and higher plans support live event triggers.
Can I correct what Town remembers?
Yes. You can edit the Wiki and inspect, add or delete global and routine-specific memories. Memories do not change your approval settings.
Can Town work on code?
Yes. Its GitHub integration can edit files and open pull requests, and its Cursor integration can start cloud coding agents using your Cursor API key. Its docs do not establish a dedicated agent loop for addressing pull-request review feedback.
Does Town run on my own infrastructure?
Town describes a cloud service with a Mac client, including on-device speech transcription. Its public pages describe no customer-hosted agent runtime. Task Machine lets you choose Managed Cloud or a Local Worker you control.