Gemini in Docs vs Archie: which reviewer belongs in your Google Docs comments?
Since the July 2026 Workspace update, Gemini can take part in Google Docs comment workflows: it drafts replies, adds comments and proposes edits based on a comment. If you already have it, why add anything else?
Because the two tools do different jobs. Here is the honest comparison.
Who can use it
Gemini in Docs is licensed per user and per tenant. As of this writing it is available on Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise, Education Plus and the Google AI Pro and Ultra consumer plans, and only to people with edit access to the document.
Archie (the Archetype agent) joins the document as a collaborator. Anyone on the doc can mention it: people in other companies, clients, and people with comment-only access. The person who mentions it signs in with Google once, for identity only; the agent never gets access to their Drive.
If your reviewers sit outside your tenant, or outside your plan, this is the whole difference.
What it does with your writing
Gemini will draft the reply, the comment, or the edit. It is a writing assistant, and a capable one.
Archie never writes your document. Every reply is a proposal: a quoted passage, a reason, and replacement text you paste if you agree. The writing stays yours, which matters when the document carries your name.
Whose point of view
Gemini answers as Gemini.
Archie answers as a named reviewer you choose: /review as skeptic, /review as executive, /review as customer, /review as copywriter, plus Clarity, Product and Engineer. Each one reads the whole document and looks for the things that person would catch. /reviewDoc as executive leaves anchored comments through the entire document, the way a real reviewer would. The point is to get the room’s reaction before the meeting.
Memory
Archie keeps a brief of each document it is in: purpose, outline, and the decisions made in resolved threads. A later reply never contradicts a decision you already made in the comments.
Where Gemini is the better choice
If you want text drafted for you, inside a single tenant where everyone has edit access and a Gemini license, Gemini is built in and you should use it.
Where Archie is the better choice
If you write documents that other people judge, especially people outside your company, and you want specific points of view without giving up your own writing, share the doc with the agent and mention it. No install, no extension, no setup. The address is at the bottom of this page.
Try it: share a Google Doc with [email protected] and mention it in a comment. Free for 15 replies a month.