OpenWork alternative
OpenWork Alternative: Kortix, the Open-Source Platform Your Whole Company Runs On
OpenWork is a free, open-source desktop app for doing AI work on your own files, and Kortix is the open-source platform companies move to when agents need to run across the whole business instead of one laptop. If you want an open-source OpenWork alternative, the decision comes down to scope: OpenWork puts an agent on your machine, while Kortix runs the agents, their skills, your company memory and every connector as one system you own.
Both projects ship open source. What separates them is purpose: OpenWork is a desktop app for one machine, and Kortix is the platform a company runs on. When the agents work for the whole business, Kortix is the pick.
What OpenWork is
OpenWork is a free, open-source desktop application for macOS, Windows and Linux where AI agents do work on files on your own computer. It is built on OpenCode and runs local-first, with no OpenWork account required to use it locally. It supports any model across 50+ providers through your own API keys, a ChatGPT sign-in, or local models via Ollama.
Teams share skills and MCP servers, and one OpenWork MCP can be added to Codex, Claude Code or Cursor so those skills and connections follow you across tools. The desktop app and core are MIT licensed; the org control plane, OpenWork Den, is published under the OpenWork EE License and needs a subscription for production use past five users (OpenWork on GitHub). OpenWork Cloud adds a Team plan at $10 per seat per month after the first five seats, a $50 per member cloud computer add-on and $10 per user managed models (OpenWork pricing, checked October 2026).
What Kortix is
Kortix is the open-source AI Management System, and the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work. The agents, the skills they share, your company memory and every connector live in one git repo you own. You can read the code at Kortix on GitHub.
Each session runs on its own isolated Linux machine, and the work lands as a change request a person reads as a diff before it merges. Kortix reaches 3,000+ apps plus any MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL or HTTP API, with connector credentials brokered server-side so they never enter the machine. Any model works, per agent, per session or per message, with your own keys. Kortix is open source (Elastic License 2.0) — self-host, read and modify the code.
OpenWork vs Kortix: capability comparison
| Dimension | Kortix | OpenWork | Claude Cowork |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | Yes | MIT for the desktop app and core | No |
| What it is | A platform a company runs on | A desktop app for one person's files | Anthropic's desktop and cloud agent |
| Where it runs | Your laptop, VPC, on-prem or Kortix Cloud | Your laptop; cloud optional | Anthropic's cloud; no self-host |
| Models | Any provider, your keys, per agent | Any of 50+ providers, keys or Ollama | Anthropic models only |
| Company configuration | Agents, skills, memory and connectors in one git repo | Skills and MCP servers shared with teammates | Stored inside Anthropic's product |
| How work lands | A change request a person reviews as a diff | Files written on your own machine | Output in your folders and tools |
| Scale and isolation | An isolated Linux sandbox per session, thousands in parallel | Runs on the computer you are using | Org controls; runs in Anthropic's cloud |
A full head-to-head sits on OpenWork vs Kortix, and the wider field is covered in OpenWork alternatives.
The ownership question
OpenWork's local-first design keeps your files on your machine, which is the right trade for one person or a small team working from a laptop. The limits show up when a whole company needs the same agents, skills and connections for everyone. OpenWork shares capabilities between machines as skills and MCP servers. Kortix keeps the entire configuration as files in one repo.
Kortix treats the company itself as a codebase, and the repo is the system:
acme-co/
agents/ who does the work
skills/ how the company does a job
memory/ what it has learned so far
kortix.yaml connectors, rules, triggers, machine image
Inside that repo you can grep the whole company, diff any change to a skill, and roll one part back. Each agent works in an isolated sandbox on its own branch and opens a change request. Nothing reaches main until a person approves the diff, so an agent can edit its own configuration and you still see exactly what changed.
Where each one fits
Kortix suits a company that wants one system for every team: the configuration in a repo it owns, agents on cloud computers, connectors to its real tools, SSO and an audit trail, and a human gate before anything lands. For the team-level view, see OpenWork for teams.
OpenWork suits a person or a small team that wants a free point-and-click app on its own machine, wants files to stay local, or already runs Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and wants to share skills with teammates. Claude Cowork is the closed option: Anthropic models, Anthropic's cloud, and your configuration inside their product (Claude Cowork, checked October 2026).
Self-host Kortix or run it in your VPC
Kortix self-hosts for free on a laptop, a VPS, your VPC or your own on-prem network; the managed cloud costs $40 per seat per month plus usage, with a free tier that includes 200 sandbox credits a month (Kortix pricing). Your agents, memory and connectors stay in your repo wherever it runs, so moving between self-hosted and cloud changes the machine, not the company. The setup steps are in the self-hosting guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenWork enough for a small team?
OpenWork is enough when a small team works from its own machines and only needs shared skills and MCP servers. The desktop app is free, the first five Cloud seats are free, and files stay local. Kortix is the better fit once the team needs shared agents on cloud computers, one repo for the whole configuration, connectors to company systems, and a human approval gate on every change.
How much does Kortix cost?
Kortix self-hosts for free, and the code is open source. Kortix Cloud costs $40 per seat per month plus usage, with a free tier that includes 200 sandbox credits a month. Enterprise adds SAML SSO, SCIM, advanced RBAC and a VPC or on-prem deployment (Kortix pricing, checked October 2026).
Does Kortix work with the AI models I already pay for?
Kortix is model-agnostic. Bring an API key from any major provider, sign in with the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, or point an agent at your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The model is chosen per agent, per session or per message, so you can switch the day a better one lands without rebuilding anything.
More questions are answered on the OpenWork alternative FAQ.
Get started
Self-hosting takes one Docker Compose stack, and the managed cloud needs no install. Start with a single job, review the change request the agent opens, and grow the repo from there. Get started with open-source Kortix.