A hotel concierge.
Brilliant, with tools on hand: web search, file search, a code interpreter. But it's their hotel: their models, their building, and they keep the guest book.
- theloop vs OpenAI
- 2-minute read
OpenAI's agents speak OpenAI.
theloop speaks everyone.
OpenAI's Responses API, and its newer Agents API in beta, let OpenAI run the agent for you: on its servers, with its models, and by default it keeps the conversation too. theloop is a service you run yourself. Any provider, chosen per request, and nothing is stored.
In plain words.
A freelance runner.
Takes the job with whichever provider's key you hand over, runs the loop, brings back the answer and the receipt. Keeps no notes.
Side by side.
| Question | OpenAI | theloop |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | OpenAI's hosted APIs: Responses, plus the Agents API in beta | An open-source service you host. Run it with Docker or Node |
| Models | OpenAI's | Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, GLM, GigaChat, MiniMax or anything OpenAI-compatible, picked per request |
| Conversation storage | Responses are stored by default for 30 days and chained by previous_response_id. The Agents API works in sessions |
Nothing is stored. History lives in your database |
| Your own tools | Function calls come back to your code, and your code runs them | theloop calls your HTTPS endpoints itself |
| Built-in tools | Web search, file search, code interpreter and more OpenAI wins | Not yet. Provider-native tools are a roadmap proposal |
| Risky actions | Your code decides whether to run each function | Write tools answer deferred, and your system approves |
| Where it runs | OpenAI's cloud | Your servers |
| Price | Pay OpenAI per token | Free, Apache 2.0. You pay the providers directly |
Which one is yours?
Pick OpenAI if…
- You're all-in on OpenAI models
- You want hosted web search, file search or a code interpreter without building them
- You'd rather not run a single server
Pick theloop if…
- You want to switch providers per customer, or per request
- Conversations shouldn't sit in a vendor's storage
- You need providers like GigaChat, GLM or DeepSeek next to OpenAI
- Finance wants usage per attempt, failed ones included
Not either-or. OpenAI is one of theloop's providers. Same models, but the loop and the history stay with you.