AI gift finder or AI gift agent: what's the difference?

You describe the person, and it suggests gifts. Some examples, as each describes itself (checked October 29, 2026):

• Giftruly: "Tell Truly about them in a sentence. You'll get ideas that fit, each with a reason why" (giftruly.com).
• GiftList Genie gives "gift ideas, each with matching products and links to buy them from the retailer" (GiftList Genie).
• Target Gift Finder, launched 2025-11-12, is a conversational gift finder on Target's site and app (Target).
• Etsy Gift Mode, launched January 2024, asks about the person and the occasion and builds gift guides around more than 200 personas (TechCrunch).

Finders are quick and free, and they're good at getting you unstuck. The buying, the address and the timing are still yours. As GiftX's 2026 roundup of AI gift finders puts it (2026-10-21), "The best AI gift finder depends on what happens after it suggests an idea" (GiftX).

It finishes the job. An agent:

• knows the person, from what you've saved about them;
• finds a real item at a real store, at that store's price;
• shows you the full price, tax and shipping included;
• buys it when you approve, and has the store ship it to them.

The approval is the line between the two. A finder never spends your money. An agent does, so it must ask you before it buys, every time.

• You approve the exact total. Nothing is bought until you do, and if the store's total at checkout differs from what you approved by more than 3 cents, Gratos stops before paying.
• The address link. If you don't have their address, Gratos gives you a link to send them and they fill it in themselves. It's saved to that person, so the next gift can go to any supported store without asking again.
• It knows your people. Save each person's likes, dislikes, sizes, dates and the things never to send them ("no candles"). Gratos stores no allergies or health details.
• Real stores, at the store's price. Gifts come from supported stores, at the store's own checkout total, with no markup. Gifts from several stores need one approval and one payment step; each store charges separately.
• Gratos never sees your card number. Your card is saved as a card-network token, and each purchase uses its own one-time cryptogram.
• Where it works. On the web and by text today. Gratos for iPhone is coming to the App Store. Gratos also works in Slack; we set it up with your team.
• For teams, and the fee. Workspaces with owner, admin and member roles, and gift campaigns. No Gratos fee right now. We'll tell you before that changes.

They are general shopping assistants, good at a very wide range of shopping, and some can also check out:

• ChatGPT is strong at finding and comparing products. It launched Instant Checkout on 2025-09-29; in March 2026 OpenAI said "Instant Checkout is moving to Apps", and purchases now run through retailers' own apps in ChatGPT (Digital Commerce 360, 2026-03-06).
• Perplexity offers Instant Buy, built with PayPal, free for US users on web and desktop (Yahoo, 2025-11-26).
• Amazon replaced its Rufus assistant with Alexa for Shopping in May 2026. Its Buy for Me feature can buy from other retailers' websites for you (Modern Retail, 2026-05-14).

What they aren't built around is a standing list of the people you buy for, with their dates, sizes and the things they never want. That's the part a gift agent keeps.

You tell it once. Each person in Gratos has a page with their dates, what they like, what they avoid, their sizes and what never to send them. When you ask for a gift, Gratos ranks results around their dislikes and leaves out anything on the never-send list.

You can ask in your own words, typed or spoken: "a birthday gift for my sister under $60".

• Use a finder when you want ideas and you're happy to buy it yourself.
• Use an agent when you want the gift bought and on its way, and you buy for the same people again and again.

You can also use Gratos just for ideas. Nothing is bought until you approve.