Claude Cowork alternatives, ranked, with open source Kortix first

How to read a Claude Cowork alternatives list

Most lists rank tools by feature count and leave out the row that decides the choice: what you own. Claude Cowork is Anthropic's agent for knowledge work inside Claude, and every alternative differs on four things: who holds the code, which models it runs, where the work and the configuration live, and what it costs to start.

The alternatives come in three shapes. A closed agent, Claude Cowork among them, runs on one vendor's models in that vendor's cloud. A free desktop app, such as OpenWork or Eigent, runs agents on your own machine and keeps the files there. A company system, Kortix, runs agents on cloud computers you can place on your own network, with the agents, skills and connectors in a repo the company owns.

The pick, ranked

1. Kortix is the pick. Its agents, their skills, company memory and connectors live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer. The repository is public, so you can read it, fork it and audit it (Kortix on GitHub). Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network; self-host is free, and it runs any model provider with your own keys (Kortix pricing). Session work reaches main through a change request, and merge is default-deny for agents (Kortix docs).

1. Claude Cowork is Anthropic's task agent inside Claude. You give it a goal, it works across the folders and tools you choose, and you return to finished work for review (Cowork product page). It runs on Anthropic's models, in Anthropic's cloud or your own Bedrock, Google Cloud or Foundry account, with no self-host, and it is included on paid Claude plans from $17 a month on Pro (checked October 2026).

1. OpenWork is a free desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux where agents work on your own files, built on OpenCode and running any of 50+ providers or local models (OpenWork). OpenWork Cloud adds central management and org-wide skill and MCP sharing on a self-hosted or managed private instance, and the team plan keeps the first five seats free, then $10 a seat a month (checked October 2026).

1. Eigent is an open-source desktop app for cowork where agents share context, use your tools and return results for review (Eigent). It deploys locally or self-hosted in an environment your team controls, connects cloud providers, enterprise gateways or local models with your own keys, and is free to host yourself, with cloud plans from $19.99 a month after a trial (checked October 2026).

1. Gumloop is a hosted platform for building AI agents that work in the browser: an agent opens a real browser, clicks, types, uploads and pulls data from sites your team already uses, with human handoffs and a recorded audit log of every session (Gumloop). One teammate builds an agent, and the team runs it from Slack, Microsoft Teams or Gmail.

1. Vellum is a personal assistant that runs locally on your machine or in the cloud, switches between OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or local open-weights models, and is open source (Vellum). It is free to download and start, with cloud plans from $30 a month (checked October 2026).

Which one fits your situation

For one person at a desk. If the job is research, a document or a first draft on your own files, a free desktop app covers it. OpenWork and Eigent keep the files local and run on your own keys, and Vellum does the same for one person across devices. Claude Cowork fits the same desk, with the trade that the work runs on Anthropic's models in Anthropic's cloud and the configuration lives in your Claude account.

For a company that must own and govern the system. When a team shares agents, connects company tools and needs access control, an audit trail and a place where work lands for review, the choice narrows to Kortix. Its agents, skills and connectors are files in a git repo the company owns, each session runs on its own cloud computer, connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine, and it can run in your VPC or on-prem. Per-resource permissions for people and agents, roles, groups and an audit trail come with it.

What to check before you commit

Four things decide it, and each one has an answer you can verify on the vendor's own page.

A free download can still carry a paid team plan, so read what the cloud tier adds. A desktop app that keeps files local still sends prompts to whichever model provider you connect, so that provider's terms apply. An open source app may open only the desktop client, so read what the repository covers. And when agents will touch company systems, check where the credentials live and who reviews a change before it lands.

The comparison table on this page sets the four main options side by side, and the standings table and Claude Cowork vs Kortix take the head-to-head further. Is Claude Cowork open source? answers the neighboring question. The Kortix team also wrote about the pair on the Kortix blog.