Claude Cowork Alternatives: 7 Open Source Desktop Agents Checked (2026)

The best Claude Cowork alternatives in October 2026 are Atomic Agent, OpenWork, Eigent, AionUi, Goose, Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. All seven are open source, all have a free way to use them, all can run local models, and five ship a Linux desktop app. Claude Cowork itself is closed source, runs Claude models only, and needs a paid Claude plan. If you like how Cowork works but want no subscription, your own models or a different license, one of these will cover most of it.

We build Atomic Agent, so it sits first. Every claim about it comes from its code and release notes as of v0.6.10 and Desktop v0.0.4, including its weak spots. Everything else was checked on October 23, 2026.

Quick answer: which Claude Cowork alternative should you pick?

For a wider list of agents that run on local models, see our sister project’s roundup of the best local AI agents.

What Claude Cowork is, and why people look for alternatives

Claude Cowork is Anthropic’s agent mode inside the Claude desktop app. You point it at folders, and it reads and writes files, runs code, browses and uses connectors to finish multi-step work. It launched as a macOS research preview for Max on January 12, 2026, reached Windows on February 10, 2026, and became generally available on macOS and Windows on April 9, per Anthropic’s release notes. In September it merged into the main chat, so Cowork is now a mode of Claude rather than a separate product.

People look elsewhere for five reasons.

Price. Cowork is “available on paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise)”, per Anthropic’s getting started guide. On the pricing page, Pro is $20 a month ($17 billed annually), Max starts at $100, and Team Standard is $25 per seat monthly. Long tasks also eat into your limits: “Each step Claude takes uses tokens.”

Models. Cowork runs Claude. Anthropic’s third-party setup can route it through Amazon Bedrock, Google or Microsoft Foundry, but those are still Claude models. We found no documented way to run a local or non-Claude model.

Linux. Linux support exists but is a beta. Anthropic’s Linux page covers Ubuntu 22.04+ and Debian 12+ only, and computer use is not on Linux yet.

Windows virtualization. When Cowork runs a session locally, it uses a Linux VM with “Apple Virtualization.framework on macOS, Hyper-V on Windows”, per its architecture overview. New sessions now run in Anthropic’s cloud by default, but before that switch Windows 11 Home users filed bugs saying Cowork fails to start without Hyper-V, and asked Anthropic to state the edition requirement.

Source code. Cowork is closed source. If you want to read, fork or audit the agent, you need something else.

How we checked these Claude Cowork alternatives

We used primary sources: each project’s GitHub repo, README, release page, license file and official docs, plus Anthropic’s own help center and docs for Cowork. Stars, licenses and release dates were read from the GitHub API on October 23, 2026. A tool qualified if it is open source, has a desktop app or a desktop companion, can do non-coding work on your files, and shipped a release after July 23, 2026.

What we did not do: we did not run these agents side by side or benchmark them. Where a project documents nothing on a topic, we say we found no statement.

Two names other lists still include did not make it. Open Interpreter’s main repo is now a Rust coding agent forked from OpenAI’s Codex; its Cowork-style app, Interpreter Workstation, had 28 stars on our check date and ships almost daily, so it is too early to judge. Bytebot’s repo is archived.

The 7 Claude Cowork alternatives, reviewed

Each card covers what the project is, price, operating systems, local models, license, approvals and telemetry, and last release.

1. Atomic Agent: best for a managed local model and approvals by default

We build Atomic Agent, so read this card with that in mind and check it against the repo.

Atomic Agent is a local-first agent under the MIT license, with a desktop app and a terminal agent. It works on your files, runs commands, browses, keeps memory across sessions and runs scheduled tasks. Latest releases: terminal v0.6.10 and Desktop v0.0.4, both on October 21, 2026. Stars: 3,426, the smallest community on this list.

• Price: free. You pay only if you choose a cloud model or cloud image and video generation.
• OS: macOS 14+ on Apple Silicon, Windows x64 and ARM64 (signed installers), Linux x64 and arm64 as AppImage or .deb. The terminal agent installs with one command on macOS, Linux and Windows.
• Local models: the agent downloads and runs llama.cpp and a model for you, and sets the context size from your free memory. Presets also cover Ollama, LM Studio and Atomic Chat. In the cloud it works with OpenRouter or your own API keys. More on that setup in how to run an AI agent offline.
• Extras: MCP servers, skills in the SKILL.md format with ClawHub built in, and Studio in the desktop app for image and video generation, with cloud models through OpenRouter or local diffusion models. Telegram is paired once from the terminal agent and then also runs alongside the desktop app; Discord is set up from the terminal only.
• Approvals: five approval levels, and the default is level 1, where every gated action asks. The desktop app shows its own approval dialog. Two exceptions are not gated by default: outbound HTTP requests through its built-in HTTP tool, and MCP tools that declare themselves read-only. Hardline rules block the worst shell commands at every level.
• Telemetry: on by default. Anonymous usage metrics go to PostHog and error reports to Sentry, with no message content. analytics.enabled: false in ~/.atomic-agent/config.json, or the toggle on the desktop Privacy tab, turns both off.

Note: there is no VM or container. After you approve, commands run on your machine, which is weaker isolation than Cowork. The desktop app is young (v0.0.4), Linux builds are unsigned and do not update themselves, and cloud generation in Studio charges your OpenRouter account even if you press Stop.

Verdict: choose it if you want a local model running without setting up a server, every risky action approved by default, and images and video in the same app.

2. OpenWork: best for a direct open source copy of Cowork

OpenWork describes itself as “The open-source alternative to Claude Cowork (powered by opencode)”. It is a desktop app on top of the OpenCode agent, with sessions, skills, connectors and a migration guide from Cowork. It has 24,232 stars and released v0.18.60 on October 22, 2026.

• Price: free for up to five users with your own keys, per its pricing page. Cloud Team is $10 per user per month, and Enterprise is custom.
• License: MIT for everything outside the ee/ folder. The ee/ folder (team control plane, MCP gateway, hosted inference) is under a source-available Enterprise Edition license, free for organizations up to five users.
• OS: macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows x64 and ARM64, Linux x64 and arm64 as AppImage.
• Local models: Ollama from a built-in settings screen with “no API key or account”, per its Ollama guide. LM Studio, llama.cpp and vLLM work as OpenAI-compatible entries in the config. It also supports 50+ cloud providers and ChatGPT sign-in.
• Approvals: the app has a permission approval dialog. Org-wide Allow, Ask first or Block rules for commands, file edits and websites are an Enterprise feature. We found no documented sandbox.
• Telemetry: its privacy page says the desktop app “does not collect, track, or transmit any data during normal use”. Its code sends crash reports only after you sign in to its cloud.

Note: its own Ollama guide warns that small local models struggle with tool-heavy tasks and suggests keeping a cloud model connected. Releases come very often, in three build flavors.

Verdict: choose it if you want something that looks and works like Cowork, with an open core and your own models.

3. Eigent: best for a multi-agent workforce

Eigent calls itself a “Local and Free Alternative to Claude Cowork and Codex”. It splits a task across a team of agents built on the CAMEL-AI framework. It is Apache 2.0, has 15,644 stars and released v1.0.6 on October 16, 2026.

• Price: a free tier for your own keys and local models, per its pricing page. Plus is $19.99 a month and Pro $99.99 for hosted model credits.
• OS: macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows x64, Linux x64 as AppImage.
• Local models: “vLLM, Ollama, LM Studio, etc.”, per the README.
• Account: the README’s quick start “connects to Eigent cloud services and requires account registration”. Running fully local means self-hosting its backend with Docker and building the app from source, per its server guide.
• Approvals: agents can stop and ask you in the app, and the terminal tool runs in a safe mode that rejects unsafe commands by default. Its own code comment says that mode is not an OS sandbox.
• Telemetry: workforce traces go to Langfuse only if you add Langfuse keys. We found no other privacy statement.

Note: the “local and free” pitch needs work to reach. The one-click install expects an Eigent account, and fully offline use means Docker and a source build. Its docs site had an expired certificate on our check date.

Verdict: choose it if you want several agents working one task in parallel and you are fine with an account or a self-hosted backend.

4. AionUi: best for one app over the agents you already use

AionUi is a free desktop front end for “OpenClaw, Hermes, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and 20+ more CLI Agent”. It also has its own built-in agent, a team mode and remote control through Telegram and other chat apps. Its README has a whole section on why to choose it over Claude Cowork. It is Apache 2.0 with 33,726 stars.

• Price: “completely free and open source”, per the README FAQ. You pay your model provider.
• OS: macOS 10.15+, Windows 10+ and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora), plus a web UI server.
• Local models: Ollama and LM Studio through a custom endpoint. Its built-in agent takes keys for 30+ cloud platforms, with no account.
• Approvals: each wrapped agent shows its own permission dialog, and a sidebar badge counts pending approvals. A full-auto mode exists, and behavior depends on the agent you pick.
• Telemetry: the README says “Nothing is uploaded to any server.” Its desktop code also bundles Sentry crash reporting with an anonymous install ID, so crash reports do leave the machine. We found no documented off switch.
• Last release: v2.2.2 on GitHub, September 9, 2026. Installers are no longer published on GitHub and come from aionui.com; the repo was still active on October 19.

Note: quality and safety depend on whichever agent you run inside it. If that is Claude Code, you still pay Anthropic.

Verdict: choose it if you already use two or three command line agents and want one Cowork-style window over all of them.

5. Goose: best mature open source agent with a desktop app

Goose started at Block and is now part of the Agentic AI Foundation at the Linux Foundation. Its README calls it “a general-purpose AI agent that runs on your machine”. It is Apache 2.0, has 55,570 stars and released v1.55.0 on October 16, 2026.

• Price: free. It can also reuse existing Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscriptions through ACP.
• OS: a native desktop app for macOS, Linux and Windows, plus a CLI.
• Local models: Ollama, LM Studio, Atomic Chat, Docker Model Runner and Ramalama, per its providers page, plus 15+ cloud providers. That page warns that models without tool calling “can only do chat completion”.
• Approvals: four modes: autonomous, manual approval, smart approval and chat only, plus per-tool permissions. We found no built-in sandbox.
• Telemetry: anonymous usage data behind a consent prompt, per its usage data guide. It says it never collects your conversations or code, and the GOOSE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED setting controls it.

Note: the default context of Ollama (4,096 tokens) is too small for it, so local setups need tuning. Its docs still lean toward developers.

Verdict: choose it if you want an established open source agent with a foundation behind it and a desktop app on all three systems.

6. Hermes Agent: best for an agent that builds its own skills

Hermes Agent from Nous Research creates and refines its own skills, keeps memory and searches past sessions. You reach it from a terminal, a desktop app or chat apps such as Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and Signal. It is MIT, has 256,418 stars and released v0.22.5 on October 23, 2026.

• Price: free. An optional Nous Portal subscription bundles models from $20 a month.
• OS: Hermes Desktop for macOS 12+ and Windows 10/11. Linux gets the terminal install only.
• Local models: Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and vLLM. Its providers docs require at least 64,000 tokens of context.
• Approvals: the default smart mode lets a helper model judge each command’s risk, with manual and off modes too. A hardline blocklist always applies. Docker and remote sandboxes are optional; the local backend has no isolation, per its security guide.
• Telemetry: “Hermes Agent does not collect telemetry, usage data, or analytics,” per its FAQ.

Note: the 64K context floor rules out many small local setups, and in the default mode a model, not you, decides which commands are risky.

Verdict: choose it if you want the largest agent-first community, many chat channels and zero telemetry. Our Hermes vs OpenClaw comparison goes deeper.

7. OpenClaw: best for chat channels and ecosystem size

OpenClaw is “an open-source AI assistant that runs on your own computer”, reached through 20+ chat channels including WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, Telegram and Discord. It is MIT, has 392,830 stars and released v2026.10.6 on October 22, 2026.

• Price: free. The README says it “has no paid tier, hosted service, or token”.
• OS: a gateway with a browser control UI, CLI and TUI, plus companion apps: a macOS menu bar app (macOS 26.2+), a Windows desktop app, a Linux companion and mobile apps, per its platforms page.
• Local models: llama.cpp, LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM and SGLang, plus most cloud providers.
• Approvals: “Sandboxing is off by default”, per its sandboxing docs, and exec approval prompts default to off on gateway hosts, per its exec approvals docs. New people messaging the assistant must be paired first.
• Telemetry: a daily version check is on by default; anonymous feature stats are opt-in, per its telemetry docs.

Note: out of the box it is the most permissive agent here, and its security history includes a one-click remote code execution bug fixed in January 2026. Read our guide to whether OpenClaw is safe before you expose it. If OpenClaw is not quite right either, see OpenClaw alternatives, and for the head-to-head see Claude Cowork vs OpenClaw.

Verdict: choose it if you want to talk to your agent from many chat apps and you will harden it yourself.

Claude Cowork alternatives compared

Stars on October 23, 2026: OpenClaw 392,830, Hermes Agent 256,418, Goose 55,570, AionUi 33,726, OpenWork 24,232, Eigent 15,644, Atomic Agent 3,426.

When to stay on Claude Cowork

Stay if isolation and polish matter more than price or models. Cowork is the only option here that runs commands in an isolated sandbox by default, in Anthropic’s cloud for new sessions, or in a local VM with network egress filtering and syscall limits for local ones, per Anthropic’s architecture overview. It only reads and writes folders you connect, and asks “before permanently deleting any files”. Scheduled tasks run in Anthropic’s cloud, so your computer does not need to be awake, and the plugin marketplace bundles skills, connectors and sub-agents in one install.

It also runs Claude, and for long multi-step work that is a strong model. If you already pay for Pro or Max, Cowork costs nothing extra beyond your usage limits. For people who want the agent and the model from one company, with one bill and one support channel, it is a reasonable answer. If you are new to running agents on your own machine, what a local AI agent is explains the trade-offs in plain terms.

Frequently asked questions

Which one should you pick?

Start from the reason you are leaving. If it is the subscription and you want the same kind of app, try OpenWork. If you want several agents on one task, try Eigent. If you already run Claude Code, Codex or Hermes and want one window over them, try AionUi. If you want a mature project with a foundation behind it, Goose. If you want your agent in Telegram, WhatsApp or Slack, Hermes Agent or OpenClaw, and harden OpenClaw before you expose it.

If you want a local model running without setting up a server, every risky action approved by default, and image and video generation in the same app, try Atomic Agent. The desktop app is one download for Mac, Windows or Linux. Expect a young app with a small community, and turn telemetry off with one setting if you prefer.

And if you need a sandboxed environment and Claude’s models more than you need open source, staying on Cowork is a fair choice.

Licenses, stars and release dates were read from the GitHub API, and features from each project’s README, docs and code, on October 23, 2026. Claude Cowork facts come from Anthropic’s help center, docs and pricing page on the same date. Atomic Agent facts come from its code and release notes at terminal v0.6.10 and Desktop v0.0.4. We did not benchmark these agents.