shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Vellum (Personal AI Assistant)?

An assistant that knows you deeply, evolves alongside you, and belongs to no one else. Powered by memory that remembers the way you do. - vellum.ai

Depends. Worth trying if you're a Mac user who wants an open-source, memory-first personal AI and tolerates early-stage risk. Skip it if you need a proven product with clear pricing — evidence is muddied by several unrelated products also named Vellum.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14 public sources. Heavy name collision: vellum.pub (book formatter), Ashlar-Vellum CAD (source of all CVEs found), vellum.ie (payments) and Vellum Insurance are unrelated products. Only vellum.ai-family sources were treated as evidence for this product; the personal assistant itself has thin independent review coverage.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo usability evidence found
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Open-source assistant

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Mac users wanting a personal AI
  • Open-source tinkerers
  • Privacy-conscious early adopters
  • People wanting an assistant that remembers context

Not for

  • Enterprises needing a proven LLM platform — this team moved on
  • Windows users, if the Mac-first positioning holds
  • Buyers wanting mature support SLAs and a track record
  • Self-publishers — that is the other Vellum,

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Most 'Vellum' reviews online are for the unrelated $249 book-formatting app — do not trust them here

medium

Pricing ambiguity: 'open source' marketing versus paid tiers referenced in docs; confirm costs before committing data

medium

Strategy shifted twice in 2025 — enterprise platform, then personal assistant. Roadmap risk

medium

Memory features ingest personal context; read the data-privacy docs before syncing your life

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Open-source core you can self-host and audit
  • Well-funded team: $20M Series A raised July 2025
  • Follow-on $25M raised from YC leaders for the assistant
  • SOC 2 Type 2 compliance documented in public docs
  • Published security policy and disclosure process on GitHub

Cons

  • Brand collision: book formatter, CAD tool, and payments firm share the name
  • Pivoted from enterprise AI tooling to consumer assistant within months
  • Paid-versus-free story is murky: open-source claim plus a separate pricing page
  • No reachable security page found at
  • Handles deeply personal memory data; retention practices need scrutiny

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. CVEs in the evidence apply to Ashlar-Vellum CAD software, a different product.

official x6review x4security x1news x3

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Open-source, free core
  • Ease of use. No usability evidence found
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Guess: memory focus, breadth unproven
  • Support quality: 3/5. Slack Connect plus in-app chat documented
  • Security posture: 3/5. SOC 2 Type 2 documented; no live security page
  • 4.8/5 Capterra rating 8 reviews — covers the company's earlier AI platform
  • Free Starting price Assistant is open source per vellum.ai/pricing
  • Yes Free tier Open-source core; paid tiers hinted in docs
  • $45M+ Funding $20M Series A (Jul 2025) plus $25M round; YC W23

Pricing

Open-source assistant

Free

  • Self-hostable assistant
  • Personal memory features
  • Paid cloud tiers referenced in docs but not detailed in evidence

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

CVEs in the evidence apply to Ashlar-Vellum CAD software, a different product.

What users say

Sentiment evidence mostly covers the company's earlier AI platform — 4.8/5 on Capterra (8 reviews) and positive G2 remarks — while the new personal assistant has few independent reviews yet.

“Great Team and Many LLM…”
AWS Marketplace review of Vellum AI (earlier platform)
Full analysis

Based on 14 public sources. Heavy name collision: vellum.pub (book formatter), Ashlar-Vellum CAD (source of all CVEs found), vellum.ie (payments) and Vellum Insurance are unrelated products. Only vellum.ai-family sources were treated as evidence for this product; the personal assistant itself has thin independent review coverage.

Open-source, memory-first personal AI from a funded but pivoting startup. Worth a test; ignore the book-formatter Vellum reviews.

Methodology

Based on 14 public sources. Heavy name collision: vellum.pub (book formatter), Ashlar-Vellum CAD (source of all CVEs found), vellum.ie (payments) and Vellum Insurance are unrelated products. Only vellum.ai-family sources were treated as evidence for this product; the personal assistant itself has thin independent review coverage.

Sources

  1. Vellum — Personal Intelligence (official site)vellum.ai
    official
  2. Vellum Pricingvellum.ai
    official
  3. Vellum Docs — Pricing philosophyvellum.ai
    official
  4. Vellum Docs — Data Privacy and Storage (SOC 2 Type 2)docs.vellum.ai
    security
  5. vellum-assistant on GitHub (SECURITY.md)github.com
    official
  6. Vellum Raises $20M Series A (BusinessWire)businesswire.com
    news
  7. Vellum raises $25M for personal AI assistant (LinkedIn)linkedin.com
    news
  8. Vellum AI Personal Intelligence for Mac (LinkedIn)linkedin.com
    news
  9. Vellum on Y Combinator (YC W23)ycombinator.com
    official
  10. Vellum Reviews on G2g2.com
    review
  11. Vellum on Capterra (4.8/5, 8 reviews)capterra.in
    review
  12. Vellum on AWS Marketplace — reviewsaws.amazon.com
    review
  13. Vellum (book formatter) — different product, name collisionvellum.pub
    official
  14. Kindlepreneur Vellum review — book formatter, not this productkindlepreneur.com
    review

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