alternatives

Hive alternatives

TL;DR

Hive, by morapelker (hive-ai.dev), is a free, MIT-licensed Electron app. It lists every project and git worktree in one sidebar and opens a chat-style AI session in each. This page covers that app, not the forks that share its name. Its best ideas are Worktree Connections, where one session can read a linked worktree's code, and a kanban board that hands tickets to agents.

The catch is the agent list. Hive's README names OpenCode, Claude Code and Codex and no other CLI, and it shows them as chat, not as the CLI you know. Heavy users have also reported slow sessions and battery drain, and remote work is still a roadmap item.

Pane runs whatever agent CLI you like in its own terminal and worktree, on Windows, WSL, macOS and Linux. Orca and Paseo reach your agents from a phone, and Agent Orchestrator keeps the board.

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the alternatives

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

  1. 1.Pane

    Best for Hive's worktree-per-task setup, with any CLI in its own terminal.

    Gemini CLI, Amp, Aider or any other agent runs as its real terminal UI next to Claude Code and Codex, each on its own branch. Free, AGPL-3.0, and no Pane account.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  2. 2.Orca

    Best for about 40 agents, SSH hosts and phone apps in one window.

    An MIT app that covers far more agents than Hive and lets you check them from iOS or Android. Expect about 1 GB on disk.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  3. 3.Paseo

    Best for steering agents from your phone while they run at home.

    A background daemon with phone, web, desktop and CLI clients, joined by an end-to-end encrypted relay. Its agents can delegate work and hand off to each other.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

  4. 4.Agent Orchestrator

    Best for the board, if Hive's kanban is the part you'd miss.

    Shows every agent as a live Kanban card with its own worktree, and pipes failing CI and review comments back to the agent for you. It doesn't cover repos inside WSL.

    WindowsWSLmacOSLinux

which one should you pick?

stay with Hive if

  • → you work across repos and want one session to read code from a linked worktree
  • → you prefer chat with tool-call cards and permission prompts to a raw terminal
  • → your team starts agent sessions from kanban tickets
  • → OpenCode, Claude Code and Codex are the only agents you use

pick pane if

  • → you want Gemini CLI, Cursor (on macOS, Linux and WSL), Amp, Aider or another agent alongside Claude Code
  • → you'd rather watch each agent's own terminal UI than a chat transcript
  • → your code lives inside WSL, which Hive's docs don't cover
  • → you want to check on agents from a phone browser through your own server

pane vs Hive at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane8 yes · 1 partly · 1 noHive7 yes · 1 partly · 1 no
basics
what it isa desktop appan Electron desktop app
platforms
Windowsyes, native (x64 and ARM64)yes (x64)
repos inside WSLyes, in the same appnot documented
macOSyesyes, Apple silicon and Intel
Linuxyes (AppImage, .deb)yes, x64 (AppImage, .deb, .tar.gz)
agents
agentsany CLIOpenCode, Claude Code, Codex
everyday work
worktree per taskyes, by defaultyes, one click
task boardno; an orchestrator chat steers agentskanban board that starts sessions
remote and teams
remote and phoneRemote Pane in a phone browserno; remote is on the roadmap
safety and setup
licenseAGPL-3.0MIT
account needednono; optional enterprise sign-in

basics

what it is

pane

a desktop app

Hive

an Electron desktop app

platforms

Windows

pane

yes, native (x64 and ARM64)

Hive

yes (x64)

repos inside WSL

pane

yes, in the same app

Hive

not documented

macOS

pane

yes

Hive

yes, Apple silicon and Intel

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage, .deb)

Hive

yes, x64 (AppImage, .deb, .tar.gz)

agents

agents

pane

any CLI

Hive

OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes, by default

Hive

yes, one click

task board

pane

no; an orchestrator chat steers agents

Hive

kanban board that starts sessions

remote and teams

remote and phone

pane

Remote Pane in a phone browser

Hive

no; remote is on the roadmap

safety and setup

license

pane

AGPL-3.0

Hive

MIT

account needed

pane

no

Hive

no; optional enterprise sign-in

Hive facts checked on November 5, 2026 (Hive v1.2.50); Pane facts from Pane v2.4.157, with its agent presets rechecked on v2.4.214.

why people look for a Hive alternative

Three agents shown as chat, a run of performance bugs, and no remote access yet.

Hive talks to OpenCode, Claude Code and Codex, and its docs show no way to plug in Gemini CLI, Cursor or anything else. Each session is a chat view. Every worktree can open a plain terminal, but that isn't a tracked agent session.

Speed has been the most common complaint. Users reported sessions that took ages to open (#205), an app that slowed down over a long run (#163) and 8 to 12 W of power draw at idle (#331). All three are closed now, and the maintainer says his fixes should help. Windows builds came later, with launch and agent-detection bugs (#286, #386), and a request for a custom Claude Code path on Windows is still open (#683).

Remote work over SSH or in containers sits on the README's "Future Vision" list, and there's no phone app. Its FAQ still calls Hive macOS-only, though releases include Windows and Linux builds.

moving from Hive to pane

Each Hive worktree becomes a pane, and its chat session becomes the agent's own terminal.

Pane opens the same repositories and makes a worktree and branch per pane, the way Hive does per session. Your .env and agent config files are copied in. Claude Code and Codex start with one click. OpenCode, which Hive used by default, is a one-click preset in Pane, and any other CLI runs as a custom command.

Hive's sidebar of busy and idle sessions maps to Pane's status dots and notifications. If you handed out work from the kanban board, Pane's orchestrator chat starts agents in new panes and steers them.

our verdict

Hive is a free, cross-platform worktree app with original ideas like Worktree Connections. If you want more than three agents, each in its real terminal, Pane is the closest swap. Orca suits you if you want the widest agent list plus phone apps. Paseo is the pick for steering agents from your phone, and Agent Orchestrator if the kanban board is what you'd keep.

how we checked

We didn't install Hive. On November 5, 2026 we read its README, docs, GitHub releases, issues and site.

Orca, Paseo and Agent Orchestrator details come from their docs, release notes and issues, researched on October 3, 2026 and rechecked on October 4.

What we ran
  • → Desk research: Hive's README, docs, releases, issue tracker and site, checked November 5, 2026. We didn't install or run it.
Who wrote this
We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We checked every claim about Hive against its own site, docs, releases and issues on the dates above.
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

See also: alternatives · desktop agent managers
or
Download*
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
Paste that in PowerShell.Linux

By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .