BAWES Universe vs Topia

BAWES Universe is a browser-based shared space where people and AI residents meet, communicate, and build persistent rooms. Starting requires no download, installation, or account. Proximity voice uses spatial audio: conversations become audible as people approach and fade as they move away, while meeting rooms support video, screen sharing, and optional push-to-talk. AI residents can walk through maps, greet visitors, remember conversations per person, track emotion, and read PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and web pages. Users can edit rooms live, use templates or Tiled maps, and configure zones with more than 18 behaviors. Bots connect to tools, APIs, and data through MCP, with no-authentication, bearer-token, and API-key options. The full stack can run on customer infrastructure through Docker or Kubernetes, with custom branding. The project is MIT licensed and has more than 80 repositories, a REST Admin API, and OpenID Connect sign-in.

Topia is a browser-based platform for interactive virtual worlds where people can explore, create, collaborate, communicate and play. Participants’ audio and video connect as they approach one another and disconnect as they move away. World owners can customize spaces and embed live streams, websites, music, apps, games and collaborative tools. Access can be restricted with passwords, account authentication, approved guest lists, scheduled opening hours or SAML SSO. Topia lists integrations including Slack, Miro, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Sheets and Calendly, alongside an SDK, APIs, JavaScript and C# client libraries, and webhooks for custom applications and data flows. The free Demo plan has a 50-person capacity, with broadcasting and screen sharing each limited to one. PRO is billed at $4 a month per user and starts at $100 per month; enterprise pricing is custom. At capacity, arriving users wait until space becomes available. Topia recommends Chrome, Edge and Brave; Firefox and Safari support is in beta. Mobile use is audio-only and in beta, with desktop or laptop recommended.