> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Agentaus Review (2026): Australia's Sovereign AI Assistant Tested - URL: https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/review-agentaus-australia-2026/ - Published: 2026-06-22T23:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T06:27:00.000Z - Description: A genuinely sovereign Australian AI assistant with onshore data and strong compliance positioning — but pricing and the underlying model are still opaque. - Author: Adam - Tags: AI Assistants & Chatbots, Agentaus, #review **17**/25 ★★★★☆ Very Good Agentaus · Trellis Data Verified 23 Jun 2026 Value for Money**3**/5 Ease of Use**3**/5 Feature Depth**3**/5 Australian Fit**5**/5 Reliability & Support**3**/5 From **Free** · paid tiers on request Your data Trellis Data states all inference, storage and processing occur in Australian data centres, with an air-gapped on-premises option. **The gate:** Five stars need 21+ and Australian Fit of at least 4/5. [Skip to the verdict ](#verdict) > **The verdict:** Agentaus is the first AI assistant we have reviewed that was actually built to keep Australian data in Australia. Trellis Data, a Canberra firm, runs the whole thing — inference, storage and processing — in Australian data centres, and says customer data is never used to train its models. For a government department, a defence supplier or a law firm that cannot send client files to a US server, that is the headline that matters, and it is rare. The catch is openness. Trellis Data does not publish paid pricing, and it will not say which underlying model powers the assistant. There is a free tier you can sign up for today, which is the right way to test it. If your work involves sensitive or regulated Australian data, Agentaus belongs on your shortlist on residency grounds alone. If you just want the sharpest general-purpose assistant and data location is not a concern, the global names still set the pace. Score: 17/25 — Very Good. ## What it is Agentaus is an AI assistant — a chatbot you can ask questions, feed documents, and set tasks — made by [Trellis Data](https://trellisdata.com/?ref=theaidirectory.com.au), a Canberra-based AI and machine-learning company founded by Michael Gately. It launched commercially in May 2026 and is positioned as a "sovereign" alternative to ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. "Sovereign" is the whole pitch. The models, the data, and the documents stay in Australia, under Australian privacy and intellectual-property law. Trellis Data's own materials describe a Protected Mode in which "customer prompts, documents and outputs are never repurposed for model training or commercialisation." It is aimed squarely at organisations that cannot use the global tools for compliance reasons: government agencies, defence contractors, biosecurity authorities and large enterprises. Trellis Data also names small business as a target, and there is a free tier, so an everyday operator can sign up and try it. One important caveat up front. Trellis Data does **not** disclose which underlying large language model powers Agentaus, describing it only as its own "proprietary AI architecture." We could not verify the base model against any primary source, so we have marked that gap below. ## What it costs in Australia This is the weakest-documented part of the product. Trellis Data confirms a free tier on its own newsroom page, and says that tier carries "token limits that exceed competing services" with no "pay-to-play" barrier. It does not publish the prices, names or limits of any paid tier. | Plan | Price (AUD) | GST | What you get | | ------------------------ | ------------- | --- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Free | $0 | n/a | Trial access, token limits Trellis says exceed rival free tiers (exact limits not published) | | Paid / business tiers | Not published | — | Not publicly listed; quote-based for business/enterprise | | On-premises / air-gapped | Not published | — | Disconnected deployment for classified environments; bespoke quote | Because Agentaus is Australian-owned and billed locally, prices should be in AUD with GST handled the Australian way — but we could not confirm a published paid price or GST treatment on a primary source, so treat the paid column as unconfirmed. For a sensitive deployment you will be talking to their sales team anyway. ## How it works / features In day-to-day use Agentaus behaves like the assistants you already know: a chat box, document upload, and a set of pre-built tasks. Trellis Data lists multilingual translation among the ready-made tasks, plus team collaboration features and the ability to build your own custom AI tasks. The architecture is the differentiator, not the chat window. Trellis Data states that all model inference, data storage and processing happen in Australian data centres built to "Defence-grade security standards," with end-to-end encryption. For the most sensitive users, it offers on-premises deployment on air-gapped hardware — a fully disconnected install with no connection to the outside world. Trellis Data has also flagged additions on the roadmap: image generation, audio transcription (branded "Echo") and a code-builder. We have not tested these and cannot confirm which have shipped, so do not buy on the promise of them. ## What it does well The residency story is real and specific, and it is verified on Trellis Data's own pages. Most "Australian" AI tools are a local login bolted onto a US backend. Agentaus is the opposite: the company says the compute and the storage both sit onshore. The compliance positioning is unusually concrete for this market. Trellis Data states Agentaus is built to align with the Essential Eight (Maturity Level 2), the Information Security Manual (ISM), the Privacy Act and the Defence Information Security Manual. For a buyer in government or defence, that vocabulary is the difference between a tool that clears a security assessment and one that never gets through the door. The "no training on your data" commitment is stated plainly, not buried. For a law firm or accountant weighing whether to feed client material into an assistant, that is the first question — and Agentaus answers it on the record. ## Where it falls short Two gaps stop this being a five-star pick today, and both are about transparency. First, the undisclosed model. A buyer cannot tell whether they are getting frontier-grade reasoning or a smaller, cheaper engine. "Proprietary architecture" is a description, not an answer. Until Trellis Data is specific, you have to judge quality by testing it yourself, not by spec sheet. Second, the missing pricing. A free tier with no published paid pricing is fine for a procurement-led enterprise sale. It is a wall for the 35-year-old Melbourne business owner who just wants to know what the Pro plan costs before committing. We could not verify any paid price. And a fair-warning note on claims. Phrases like "Defence-grade" and "rivals the world's best" are the vendor's words. The alignment claims are stated by Trellis Data; we have not seen an independent certification or an IRAP assessment confirming them. Alignment to a framework is not the same as a completed, audited accreditation — verify the current status for your own risk register before you rely on it. ## Australian fit This is where Agentaus separates itself from every global assistant we have reviewed. - **Currency and billing:** Australian-owned and operated, so billing is local. Exact AUD prices and GST treatment for paid tiers are not published — confirm both at quote. - **Data residency:** Trellis Data states all inference, storage and processing occur in Australian data centres, with an air-gapped on-premises option. This is the strongest residency position of any tool in this category, and it is on the vendor's own page. - **Privacy Act and compliance:** Trellis Data states alignment with the Essential Eight (Maturity Level 2), ISM, the Privacy Act and the Defence ISM. Confirm the current accreditation status directly before relying on it for a formal assessment. - **Local support:** Canberra-based company and team. For a government or defence buyer, onshore support and an Australian legal jurisdiction are part of the value. - **AU availability:** Live now at agentaus.ai (redirecting to agentaus.com.au) with a free tier open to Australian users. No region lock — this is the home market. For a regulated Australian buyer, this is close to a best-case fit. The only thing keeping the criterion honest is the unverified pricing and accreditation status, not the residency itself. ## Score | Criterion | Score | Why | | --------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Value for Money | 3/5 | A genuinely generous free tier, but no published paid pricing makes value impossible to judge fully. | | Ease of Use | 3/5 | Familiar chat-and-upload interface with pre-built tasks; the opaque model and setup for secure deployments add friction. | | Feature Depth | 3/5 | Solid core plus custom tasks and on-prem options; several headline features (image, audio, code-builder) are roadmap, not confirmed shipped. | | Australian Fit | 5/5 | Onshore inference and storage, air-gapped option, and Essential Eight/ISM/Privacy Act/Defence ISM alignment stated by the vendor. The category benchmark. | | Reliability & Support | 3/5 | Canberra-based team and Defence-grade infrastructure claims are encouraging, but it is a new product with no independent uptime track record yet. | | **Total** | **17/25** | | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Good Australian Fit gate: Australian Fit is 5/5, so the gate is cleared — the score is held at four stars by the 17/25 raw total, not by the gate. See our [methodology](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/methodology/) for how the Australian Fit gate works. ## Bottom line **If you handle sensitive or regulated Australian data** — government, defence supply chain, legal, health, finance — Agentaus is the rare assistant built for your problem. Sign up to the free tier, run your real documents through it, and ask Trellis Data directly for written confirmation of its current Essential Eight and ISM accreditation status before you commit. The residency story alone earns it a place on your shortlist. **If you are a small business owner who is privacy-conscious but not formally regulated,** the free tier is worth a look on principle — your data staying in Australia is a real benefit. But weigh it against the global tools on raw capability, because you cannot yet see which model sits underneath or what the paid plan costs. **If you just want the most capable general-purpose assistant** and data location is not a concern, the global leaders still set the pace on raw quality, and they tell you exactly what you are paying and what model you are using. Agentaus is not trying to win that fight. **If you are in procurement for a department or large enterprise,** this is exactly the kind of local, sovereign option worth a formal evaluation — just run it through your own security assessment rather than taking the "Defence-grade" framing at face value. Update history - **23 Jun 2026** — First reviewed. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Agentaus available in Australia? Yes. It is an Australian product, built in Canberra by Trellis Data, and Australia is its home market. It launched in May 2026 and is live now with a free tier you can sign up for. ### Is my data kept in Australia with Agentaus? Trellis Data states all model inference, data storage and processing happen in Australian data centres, with an air-gapped on-premises option for disconnected environments. Confirm the specifics for your deployment directly with the vendor. ### Does Agentaus train its models on my data? Trellis Data states that in Protected Mode, customer prompts, documents and outputs are never used for model training or commercialisation. We recommend getting that commitment in writing for any sensitive workload. ### How much does Agentaus cost? There is a confirmed free tier. Trellis Data does not publish paid or enterprise pricing, so you will need to contact them for a quote. We could not verify any paid price against a primary source. ### Which AI model does Agentaus use? Trellis Data describes it as its own proprietary AI architecture and does not name the underlying model. Because that is unverified, judge its quality by testing the free tier rather than by spec sheet. ## Read next - [How we score AI tools — our review methodology](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/methodology/) - [Best AI assistants for Australians — 2026 roundup](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/best-ai-assistants-australia-2026/) - [Anthropic's Sydney move and onshore Claude](https://www.theaidirectory.com.au/news-anthropic-australia-sydney-2026/) ## Sources - Trellis Data newsroom — Agentaus launch announcement (Essential 8 Level 2, ISM, Privacy Act, Defence ISM, Protected Mode, free tier, onshore data centres): https://trellisdata.com/newsroom/new-ai-assessor-tool-speeds-up-the-path-to-disp-readinessnbsp-rnxzf (primary) - Trellis Data company site: https://trellisdata.com/ (primary) - Agentaus product site (agentaus.ai → agentaus.com.au): https://agentaus.com.au/ (primary) - Region Canberra — "Move over, ChatGPT" launch coverage (Canberra build, onshore data, Michael Gately quote): https://region.com.au/move-over-chatgpt-canberra-company-builds-secure-sovereign-ai-to-rival-worlds-best/963080/ (secondary) - Telecompaper — Trellis Data sovereign AI platform launch (government/defence/enterprise positioning): https://www.telecompaper.com/news/trellis-data-launches-sovereign-ai-platform-targeting-government-and-enterprise--1572019 (secondary) Wayback Machine snapshots queued.