TripSanity › Compare › TripSanity vs Instinct
TripSanity vs Instinct: what your group is agreeing to
At a glance
| TripSanity | Instinct | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Running a group trip: one plan everyone follows | Acting for one person: booking, buying, calling, following up |
| Who needs it | The organizer signs in; guests just open a link | Each person needs their own. Invite-only, 18+ |
| What it connects to | Nothing of yours. The organizer types or pastes the plan | "email, messaging, screen, audio, location, and more" (its homepage), Google Workspace, and a "Vault" for your logins |
| Signs you up, buys things | Never — it's a page, not an agent | Yes: you appoint it "as your agent to enter into agreements… on your behalf" |
| When it gets it wrong | You edit the plan | "We are not responsible for any unintended Actions" |
| AI training on your data | Nothing sent to our AI provider can be used to train its models, and we don't keep your questions. No ads, nothing sold | On by default. Opt-out is "go-forward" only; safety-flagged data can still be used |
| Price | Free (1 active trip, unlimited guests) · Pro $19 one-time per trip, shown before you buy | No public price. Fees "may" apply, pricing can change "at any time," payments "non-refundable" |
| How it makes money | The organizer's optional $19. No commissions, no affiliate links | Not settled. Its founder has floated merchant commissions — hotels "willing to pay up to 30%" (Skift) |
| Disputes | No arbitration clause, no class-action waiver (Georgia law) | Binding individual arbitration and a class-action waiver unless you opt out in writing within 30 days |
Instinct's side is quoted from its own Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and homepage, read on September 29, 2026, and from the reporting listed under Sources. Ours is from our privacy policy and terms.
What Instinct does well
It does real things. Tell it "I need to be in New York tonight" and, as Skift describes it, it books the flight and the hotel, arranges the ride to the airport and puts it all on your calendar, using your stored preferences and travel credits. Its own homepage adds that it follows up on threads you've dropped and will proactively call or text you — and it lives where people already are, in iMessage and WhatsApp.
TripSanity does none of that. We don't book, buy, call or email anyone, and we won't pretend otherwise. If your problem is "somebody needs to handle my bookings," Instinct is aimed squarely at it.
What you agree to, in Instinct's own words
An agent that acts for you needs a lot of access and a lot of permission, and Instinct's documents are candid about both. Here's what they say, quoted, with what the same question looks like at TripSanity underneath each one.
It can enter agreements for you
"You hereby appoint the Services as your agent to enter into agreements, commitments or transactions on your behalf… Any such agreements or commitments shall be binding on you as if entered into directly by you."
"You authorize the Services to take Actions on your behalf as the Services may deem are responsive to your Input."
Instinct Terms of Service, "Actions"
TripSanity: never books, buys, signs up for or sends anything on anyone's behalf. It shows the plan your organizer built.
If it gets something wrong, that's on you
"Actions may not always be reversible."
"We are not responsible for any unintended Actions or any loss, damage, charge, liability, or other consequence arising from Actions."
"…disputes regarding any such purchase are between you and the applicable Connected Service provider, not us."
Instinct Terms of Service, "Actions"
TripSanity: there are no actions to reverse. A wrong time in the plan is fixed by editing it, and every phone has the fix within a minute.
What it collects
"…the content of messages, emails, or other private communications or materials that you choose to make accessible…" · "audio and voice data, should you choose to enable these features" · "your precise geolocation, should you choose to share it" · "clickstream information (keystrokes, clicks, cursor positions, how much time is spent on the page)" · "payment information, such as credit or debit card information"
Instinct Privacy Policy
TripSanity: guests give no email, no phone number and no account. Nothing of anyone's is connected. Location sharing is off by default and per person; a pin updates only while the trip page is open, and Pause takes it off the map.
Your data trains its AI unless you opt out — and the opt-out isn't retroactive
"You agree that we may use Materials to develop, provide, maintain and improve the Services and our other products and services, including training AI models…"
"This opt out applies on a go-forward basis…" · "We may still use AI models previously trained, fine-tuned or improved on your information prior to your opting out." · "Even if you opt out, we may still use your information for AI model training when that information is flagged for safety review…"
Instinct Terms of Service, "Materials"; Privacy Policy
TripSanity: imported itineraries and questions asked in Ask go to our AI provider, Anthropic, under commercial terms that don't allow them to be used for training. We don't store the questions or reuse any of it — and Ask only sees your location while you're sharing your pin (details).
Disconnecting isn't deleting
"Please note that disconnecting a third-party integration does not automatically delete data collected from that integration."
Instinct Privacy Policy — deletion is a separate step in its workspace settings
TripSanity: deleting a trip deletes its itinerary, shared state and location pins.
The price isn't published — and can change
"You may be required to pay us fees to access or use certain features of our Services." · "The Company may, at any time, revise or change the pricing for the Services…" · "Except to the extent required by applicable law, all payments are non-refundable."
Instinct Terms of Service, "Paid services"
TripSanity: free for one active trip with unlimited guests; Pro is $19 once per trip, shown before you buy. "If a paid feature doesn't work as described, email us — we'll fix it or refund it."
Disputes go to arbitration
"…binding individual arbitration…" with a class-action waiver; the opt-out notice "must be sent to the Company within thirty (30) days of your first registering to use the Services or agreeing to these Terms."
Instinct Terms of Service, section 10
TripSanity: no arbitration clause and no class-action waiver.
To be fair to Instinct, its privacy policy also says it doesn't sell your information or pass it to data brokers, doesn't train on data it receives directly from Google Workspace, and won't use what you keep in its Vault to train AI models. Most of the access above is something you choose to grant — but the product is built around you granting it.
What's been reported
On August 24, 2026, TechCrunch reported privacy and security concerns raised by early users: one said Instinct sent an email on her behalf — an innocuous one, in her words — without checking with her first; another found it still summarizing an inbox after its access had been disconnected; a third found how easily it could be phished and deleted his account; another found it wouldn't delete his Gmail records when asked, which the company later fixed with a deletion tool. Instinct told The Wall Street Journal it was taking the concerns seriously. TechCrunch also reported that the terms at the time granted a "perpetual and irrevocable" license to users' materials. The current terms, revised two days later on August 26, 2026, no longer use those words.
And on the money: Skift reported on September 28, 2026 that Instinct "could stay free for users and charge merchants a commission for delivering customers, pointing to boutique hotels willing to pay up to 30% per transaction," while noting "the money question is still open." Whatever it settles on, it's worth knowing who pays an assistant when it recommends where you should stay.
Using both
They don't have to compete. If an agent books your flights and the house, paste those confirmations into TripSanity — the AI importer turns them into days and stops — and share one link with the group. Instinct's group planning, as described, works agent to agent: each person's assistant talks to the others'. TripSanity works for the people who don't have an assistant, don't want one, and won't install anything: the grandparents, the teenagers, the friend of a friend. They get the plan, today's stops with what's next, the meet points, what to wear for the forecast and who owes what — and none of their accounts are involved.
Who should use which
Use Instinct if…
- You want an assistant that actually books and buys for you
- You're comfortable connecting your email, calendar and logins to do it
- You've read its terms on agency, AI training and arbitration, and you're fine with them
- You have an invite
Use TripSanity if…
- A whole group has to follow one plan, from kids to grandparents
- Guests shouldn't have to sign up, download or connect anything
- You want to know the price before you start — and that it's paid once
- You'd rather the trip app didn't have your inbox
Want the group page? One link, nothing connected to anyone’s accounts, and guests never sign up.
Create a trip — free or open the live demo →Common questions
Is Instinct a group trip planner?
Not primarily — it's a personal agent that acts for one person. Its founder says it's testing group coordination, where each person's assistant plans with the others'.
How much does Instinct cost?
It's invite-only and publishes no price. Its terms say fees "may" be charged, pricing can change "at any time," and payments are "non-refundable" except where the law says otherwise.
Does Instinct use my data to train AI models?
By default, yes. You can opt out in its settings, but only going forward, and data flagged for safety review can still be used. It says it doesn't train on Google Workspace data or your Vault.
Can Instinct sign me up for things or make purchases on my behalf?
Yes — its terms appoint it as your agent to enter agreements that are "binding on you as if entered into directly by you," and say the company isn't responsible for unintended actions.
Does my group need accounts to use TripSanity?
No. The organizer signs in with a code sent to their email; everyone else opens one link and types the trip password. Nothing of theirs is connected, and nothing is ever booked for them.
Sources
- Instinct — Terms of Service, last revised August 26, 2026
- Instinct — Privacy Policy, last revised August 26, 2026
- Instinct — homepage
- Skift — "Instinct's App Is Fueled by Travel — Founder Says It's Half of Volume", September 28, 2026
- TechCrunch — "Instinct's powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns", Sarah Perez, August 24, 2026
- TripSanity — Privacy Policy · Terms of Service
All quotes checked against the live documents on September 29, 2026. Terms change — Instinct's current terms are the authority.
One link. Nothing connected. Guests never sign up.
Open the live demo the way a guest would — one tap, nothing to install — or create a free trip and paste in the plan, confirmations and all.
Disclosure: TripSanity, LLC publishes this page and makes TripSanity, which competes with Instinct for group trips. We have no affiliation with Instinct or Spear Street Technology, Inc. Every quote is from Instinct's own documents or the publication named, as read on September 29, 2026. If anything here is wrong or has changed, email ericdelucajohnson@gmail.com and we'll correct it.