Buying guide
Digit vs Tesla Optimus in 2026
Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
Key differences
- Digit has more verified real-world deployments (8 vs 2).
- Digit is at the commercial stage; Tesla Optimus at the pilot stage.
| Attribute | ||
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Agility Robotics | Tesla |
| Form factor | humanoid | humanoid |
| Maturity | commercial | pilot |
| Autonomy | — | — |
| Availability | internal-onlyenterprise | announced-no-dateannounced |
| Price | Not announced | $20,000-$30,000 (manufacturer target) |
| Capability claims | — | — |
| Brain |
|
|
| Verified deployments | 8 | 2Tesla, Tesla |
| Privacy practices | — | — |
| Sources on file | 38 | 21 |
Editorial summaries
Digit
Digit is the cohort's commercial verification anchor: the most-verified-hours humanoid in the registry, with Agility's GXO Flowery Branch deployment doing the load-bearing work. The maker-facility rule applies in reverse here. GXO operates Digit on customer-paid freight inside GXO's own warehouses, which is the commercial-deployment shape that internal-facility pilots from Tesla, 1X, and others do not yet have. Agility describes Digit's operational envelope as autonomous mobile manipulation in structured logistics; the verification anchor is what operators document at the customer site, not Agility's spec sheet.
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
- What is the difference between Digit and Tesla Optimus?
- Digit 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 has more verified deployments, Digit or Tesla Optimus?
- Digit has more verified deployments (8) on the DEPLOY registry than Tesla Optimus (2). DEPLOY counts a deployment only when confirmed at a named site with a primary source.
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