DEPLOY

Buying guide

NEO vs Tesla Optimus in 2026

Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.

Key differences

On DEPLOY's record, NEO is further along: at the pilot stage versus Tesla Optimus at the research stage, as of 2026.

  • NEO has the lower recorded price.
  • Tesla Optimus has more verified real-world deployments (6 vs 3).
  • NEO is at the pilot stage; Tesla Optimus at the research stage.
Attribute
Three 1X NEO units shown side by side in light-gray, cream, and dark colorways, upper-body view.
NEOView full model page →
Tesla Optimus reaching an open hand toward blocks on the sorting table during the autonomous colour-sorting demo.
Tesla OptimusView full model page →
Manufacturer1X TechnologiesTesla
Form factorhumanoidhumanoid
Maturitypilotresearch
Autonomy◐ not independently verified◐ not independently verified
Availabilitypreorder-openpreorderannounced-no-dateannounced
Price$499/month subscription (manufacturer target) or $20,000 (manufacturer target) or $499/month subscription (actual sale price) or $20,000 (actual sale price)$20,000-$30,000 (manufacturer target)
Capability claims
  • Tidies a room (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Fetches items (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Does dishes (teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated-once)
  • Elderly assistance (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Watches a pet (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Prepares meals (teleoperated-assisted, claimed)
  • Folds laundry (teleoperated-assisted, teleoperated-in-demo)
  • Tidies a room (demo-only, demonstrated-once)
Brain
Verified deployments36
Privacy practices11Face blurring, Restricted zones, Session approval, data-retention, third-party-sharing, data-deletion-control, data-sale, capture-indicator, bystander-recording, training-data-use, on-device-processing—
Sources on file3431

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NEO

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Tesla Optimus

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Editorial summaries

NEO

1X is the only humanoid maker in this cohort betting on the consumer market at price-of-a-car scale, distinct from the enterprise-integration contracts that define Figure, Apptronik, and Agility. The hardware is verified: NEO is a bipedal humanoid shipping to early-adopter households, backed by a Hayward, California vertical-manufacturing facility, with the wheeled EVE archived as the prior product line.

The open question is utility at scale: 1X describes home-task performance today as a mix of supervised autonomy on learned chores and remote-operator teleop on the rest, an honest framing that also signals how much of the daily-use envelope is still operator-assisted.

Tesla Optimus

Tesla Optimus is the canonical example of the verified-vs-claimed gap in commercial humanoid robotics. Tesla has shown Optimus in choreographed demos, internal-facility deployment, and consumer-marketing contexts, but no verified third-party customer deployments and no shipped consumer units exist as of 2026. The price ($20,000 to $30,000) is a manufacturer target contingent on high-volume production that has not yet begun. Optimus units inside Tesla facilities count as manufacturer pilot, not commercial deployment under DEPLOY's maker-facility rule.

Common questions

How do NEO and Tesla Optimus differ?
On DEPLOY's record, NEO is further along: at the pilot stage versus Tesla Optimus at the research stage, as of 2026. NEO has the lower recorded price. Tesla Optimus has more verified real-world deployments (6 vs 3). NEO is at the pilot stage; Tesla Optimus at the research stage.
What is the difference between NEO and Tesla Optimus?
NEO and Tesla Optimus are both humanoid robots on the DEPLOY registry. They differ in maker, maturity, price, verified deployments, and how much of their autonomy is independently verified. See the table above for the full head-to-head; each figure is sourced.
Which is cheaper, NEO or Tesla Optimus?
NEO has the lower recorded price on the DEPLOY registry than Tesla Optimus. Prices are sourced; see each record for whether the figure is a manufacturer target, an estimate, or an actual sale price.
Is NEO or Tesla Optimus more autonomous?
On the DEPLOY registry, neither NEO nor Tesla Optimus has capabilities independently verified as fully autonomous yet; their recorded capabilities are teleoperated-assisted, demonstrated, or vendor-claimed. See the table for each capability's verification status.
Which has more verified deployments, NEO or Tesla Optimus?
Tesla Optimus has more verified deployments (6) on the DEPLOY registry than NEO (3). DEPLOY counts a deployment only when confirmed at a named site with a primary source.

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Which humanoid robots can you actually buy in 2026?Answer The verified list.Humanoid robot prices: every verified figureAnswer The verified list.All humanoidsRegistry Every verified record in the category.NEOModel The full model page.Tesla OptimusModel The full model page.1X TechnologiesRecord The maker's verified record.

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