Claude Cowork vs OpenWork, and the open-source system a team can own
Claude Cowork vs OpenWork is a choice between a closed task agent and a free desktop app; the open-source Kortix AI Operating System is the one built to be owned and reviewed as a whole.
What each one is, and what you own
Kortix quotes Kortix; each rival cell comes from that vendor's own page.
| Product | What it is | Open source | Models | Where it runs | Self-host | Where the configuration lives | Running agents across a team | Review before work lands |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kortix | Open-source AI Operating System: agents, skills and connectors in one git repo. | Yes. Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it. | Any model provider with your own keys. | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your on-prem network. | Self-host is free. | Files in a git repo you own. | Thousands of agents in parallel on one config. | Work reaches main through a change request. |
| Claude Cowork | A task agent in Claude that works in the folders you choose. | No. | Anthropic models only. | Anthropic's cloud or your Bedrock, Google Cloud or Foundry account. | No. | In your Claude account with the product. | An admin shares plugins and skills to people or groups. | Permissions can require approval before significant actions. |
| OpenWork | A free desktop app built on OpenCode that works on your files. | Yes. The desktop app is open source. | Any model OpenCode supports, 50+ providers or local models. | macOS, Windows and Linux desktop app; files stay on your machine. | Self-host the team control plane on your own infrastructure. | Workspace skills in .opencode/skills/; shared setup in the control plane. | Share skills, plugins, connectors and models with teams. | Runs in folders you authorize; edits land in your local files. |
What Claude Cowork is
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 come back to finished work for review (Cowork product page). It runs on the web, on desktop and on mobile. It reaches external tools through connectors that call through Anthropic's cloud, and it runs on Anthropic models, on Anthropic's cloud or on the customer's own Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry account. There is no self-host.
What OpenWork is
OpenWork is a free desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux where AI agents do real work on your own files. It is built on OpenCode, it runs any model OpenCode supports across 50+ providers or local models, and it keeps your files on your machine with cloud optional (OpenWork). For a team, an organization control plane publishes skills, plugins, connectors and models to every seat, and that control plane can be self-hosted (OpenWork docs).
The decision a team makes
For one person at a desk, a closed agent and a free desktop app can both finish a task. A company that runs on the work needs more than a finished file: it needs the instructions, the connections and the review history in one place it owns. OpenWork keeps skills and connections per machine or per account and distributes them to a team through a control plane, with access control and automatic updates on its team plans (OpenWork docs). Kortix keeps the same layers in one git repo and lands each change through a change request.
Where open-source Kortix fits
Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, company memory, and connectors in one git repo you own. A project is a git repo with a kortix.yaml at its root, a session runs one agent on its own cloud computer and its own branch, and the agent opens a change request that a person merges. Session work reaches main through a change request, and merge is default-deny for agents, so a person reads the change before it lands. Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free (Kortix docs). The comparison page sets the options side by side, the ChatGPT Work pair covers the other closed vendor, and for the longer Kortix and OpenWork read, Read the comparison.
How work reaches main
project (git repo + kortix.yaml)└─ session ──> cloud computer: an isolated sandbox on a branch named after the session └─ the OpenCode agent works └─ change request ──> you review & merge ──> mainFrom the Kortix README on GitHub.
Questions about Claude Cowork and OpenWork
Is OpenWork free?
Yes. The OpenWork desktop app is free and open source, and you bring your own model provider keys. OpenWork Cloud adds paid team features such as access control, SSO and a shared control plane.
Can OpenWork run models other than Claude?
Yes. OpenWork runs any model OpenCode supports, across 50+ providers with your own API keys or local models, so you can still use a Claude model with your own Anthropic key.
Which is closer to a company system, OpenWork or Kortix?
Kortix is built as one governed system: agents, skills, memory and connectors in one git repo, sessions on their own cloud computers, and work landing through a change request a person approves. OpenWork is a desktop workspace with an optional team control plane.
Can you migrate from Claude Cowork to an open-source system?
OpenWork documents a migration that carries skills, Claude-compatible plugins and MCP servers across. On Kortix the same layers are markdown and kortix.yaml, so a familiar skill moves as a file you review in git.
Run the agent layer in a repo you own.
Start on one project and add agents from there.
Open source · Any model, your keys · Self-host, VPC, or on-prem