alternatives

Conductor alternatives

TL;DR

People look for Conductor alternatives for three reasons: it only runs on a Mac, it's closed source and needs an account, and its cloud, mobile and team features cost $50 a month or more. Pane is the closest match that fixes all three: free and open source, no account, any CLI agent in its real terminal, on Windows, WSL, macOS and Linux. On a Mac, Superset is the most feature-packed alternative, and Emdash, T3 Code and Paseo each lead in their own area.

the alternatives

Every tool here runs several coding agents at once, mostly in their own git worktrees. The chips show where each one runs: green is native, amber has a catch, red is no.

  1. 1.Pane

    Best for any OS and any CLI agent, free and open source.

    Native on Windows (x64 and ARM64), inside WSL, macOS and Linux. Each agent runs in its real terminal, with diffs, git buttons and an orchestrator chat. No account.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  2. 2.Superset

    Best for the most features in one window, on a Mac.

    Real terminals for any agent, plus a pull request inbox, browser, automations and an iPhone app. Mac-first, needs an account, telemetry always on, Pro from $20.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  3. 3.Emdash

    Best for issue-tracker intake and scheduled automations.

    Free and open source, 35 supported agents, tasks from 12 trackers. Runs on Windows x64, macOS and Linux, but not WSL, and it's heavy at idle.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  4. 4.T3 Code

    Best for a polished chat view and phone apps.

    Free and MIT-licensed, with a great commit flow and iOS and Android apps. Young (0.0.x), and its WSL mode was unreliable in our test.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  5. 5.Paseo

    Best for phone control and agents that start other agents.

    A daemon with desktop, phone, web and CLI clients for 40+ agents, no telemetry. No commit button in our run, and no WSL from the Windows app.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  6. 6.cmux

    Best for a fast native Mac terminal for watching agents.

    Built on Ghostty, with rings that show which agent needs you. Mac-only, and no worktrees or git by design.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

which one should you pick?

stay with conductor if

  • → you're on a Mac and only need Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode
  • → you want its chat view and deep pull request review loop
  • → your team will use its paid cloud workspaces or multiplayer

pick pane if

  • → you're on Windows or Linux, or keep code inside WSL
  • → you want open source with no account
  • → you want any CLI agent, in its real terminal
  • → you want an orchestrator without a paid plan

pane vs conductor at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane10 yes · 0 partly · 1 noconductor4 yes · 2 partly · 5 no
platforms
Windowsyes, native (x64 and ARM64)no
repos inside WSLyes: agents, terminals and git run in the distrono
macOSyesyes
Linuxyes (AppImage, .deb)no
agents
agentsany CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built inClaude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode
how agents runthe agent's own terminal UIthrough their SDKs, in Conductor's chat view
everyday work
worktree per taskyesyes
review and gitChanges panel, diff tabs, git buttonseditable diff, PR page, automerge, stacked PRs
cloud and teamsno; Remote Pane runs on machines you owncloud workspaces and multiplayer on paid plans
safety and setup
licenseAGPL-3.0, open sourceproprietary
pricefreefree locally; Pro $50/month, Teams $60/user/month
account needednoyes, in practice

platforms

Windows

pane

yes, native (x64 and ARM64)

conductor

no

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

conductor

no

macOS

pane

yes

conductor

yes

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage, .deb)

conductor

no

agents

agents

pane

any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in

conductor

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode

how agents run

pane

the agent's own terminal UI

conductor

through their SDKs, in Conductor's chat view

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes

conductor

yes

review and git

pane

Changes panel, diff tabs, git buttons

conductor

editable diff, PR page, automerge, stacked PRs

cloud and teams

pane

no; Remote Pane runs on machines you own

conductor

cloud workspaces and multiplayer on paid plans

safety and setup

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, open source

conductor

proprietary

price

pane

free

conductor

free locally; Pro $50/month, Teams $60/user/month

account needed

pane

no

conductor

yes, in practice

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Conductor 0.90.1 and Pane v2.4.157.

why people look for a conductor alternative

Platform, openness and price, in that order.

Conductor only runs on macOS, and its waitlist says Windows or Linux might come at some point, with no date. It's proprietary, its terms forbid reverse engineering, and it needs a sign-in in practice. Its local app is free, but cloud workspaces, the API, the iPhone app and multiplayer need Pro at $50 a month, and Teams is $60 per user. It also shows agents through its own chat view rather than their real terminals, and pins the agent versions it bundles.

moving from conductor to pane

The workflow carries over: one task, one worktree, one agent, then review and merge.

Conductor organizes work as workspaces backed by git worktrees, and Pane does the same with panes. Open your repository in Pane and create a pane per feature; Pane makes the worktree and branch. Start Claude Code, Codex or Cursor with a click, or any other agent as a custom command. Review in the Changes panel, then commit, push and merge with shortcuts. Your agents keep their own settings and logins, so your Claude or ChatGPT plan works as before.

What you won't find in Pane is Conductor's chat view, its pull request page with deployments, or its paid cloud and team features. What you gain is every platform, any agent in its real terminal, open source, no account, and an orchestrator chat that drives your panes.

our verdict

If you need Windows, Linux or WSL, open source, or no account, Pane is the most direct Conductor alternative. On a Mac, Superset is the closest in features, and Emdash, T3 Code, Paseo and cmux each win in a specific area; their comparison pages go into detail.

how we checked

On October 3 and 4, 2026 we ran Pane, Emdash, T3 Code and Paseo on one Windows 11 PC with WSL2, with the same task in each. Conductor, Superset and cmux are Mac-first or Mac-only, so their facts come from their docs, changelogs, pricing, release files and source, plus Superset's Linux build up to its sign-in screen.

Facts about each product come from its own docs, release notes, issue tracker and source code, checked on the same dates.

What we ran
  • → Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, native and WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) repos
  • → Each alternative checked against its own docs, releases and issue tracker on October 3 and 4, 2026, and run hands-on where it runs on Windows or WSL
Who wrote this
We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Conductor's strengths are listed as plainly as Pane's, every claim was checked against the product itself or its docs and source, and the screenshots are unedited captures from our own runs.
Corrections
If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
Sources

frequently asked questions

more comparisons

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See also: desktop agent managers · agent manager tools
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By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .