alternatives
Orca alternatives
TL;DR
Orca (onorca.dev) is a free, MIT-licensed app that does almost everything: parallel worktrees for 40 agents, real terminals, a browser with design mode, GitHub, Linear and Jira, SSH hosts and a phone app, with releases nearly every day. People look elsewhere because of its size and pace: about 1 GB installed, a huge settings surface, many features still experimental, telemetry on by default, no Windows ARM64 build, and Defender alerts on managed Windows PCs. Pane is the closest focused alternative: real agent terminals in worktrees, review and git built in, native on Windows x64 and ARM64 and inside WSL, at under half the install size. T3 Code and Superset are the picks if you want polish over breadth.
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.Pane
Best for the same core workflow, focused and lighter.
Each agent runs in its own terminal UI and worktree, with a Changes panel, git shortcuts and an orchestrator chat. Native on Windows (x64 and ARM64), inside WSL, macOS and Linux. Free, AGPL-3.0, no account.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
2.T3 Code
Best for a calm chat view with phone apps.
MIT, fast and polished, with iOS and Android apps and usage tracking. Young at version 0.1.x; its WSL backend crash-looped in our test.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
3.Emdash
Best for issue-tracker intake for many agents.
Apache-2.0, about 37 agents, tasks from 13 trackers, SSH remotes and automations. No WSL mode.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
Best for a feature-rich app on a Mac.
Terminals, worktrees, a browser, a PR inbox and automations. No Windows build and needs an account. Renamed Paradev and relicensed under MIT in November 2026.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
Best for the most polished review loop, on a Mac.
A chat view over Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, with deep PR review and paid cloud and team features. Mac-only and closed source.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
which one should you pick?
stay with orca if
- → you want the most features in one free, open-source window
- → you do frontend work and use design mode and agent-driven browser tests
- → you live in GitHub, Linear or Jira and run agents on remote hosts
- → you juggle several Claude or Codex accounts and want hot-swap
pick pane if
- → you want a focused app: agents, worktrees, review and git
- → you're on Windows ARM64, or on a managed Windows PC
- → you want a stable, focused app rather than weekly experimental features
- → you want a smaller install and fewer settings to learn
pane vs orca at a glance
yespartly, or with a catchno
| pane9 yes · 0 partly · 0 no | orca8 yes · 1 partly · 0 no | |
|---|---|---|
| platforms | ||
| Windows | yes, native (x64 and ARM64) | yes, signed (x64 only) |
| repos inside WSL | yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro | yes, per-project runtime |
| macOS | yes | yes |
| Linux | yes (AppImage, .deb) | yes (AppImage, .deb, .rpm) |
| installed size (Windows) | 429 MB | about 1 GB |
| agents | ||
| agents | any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in | any CLI; 40 built in |
| everyday work | ||
| worktree per task | yes | yes |
| review and git | Changes panel, diff tabs, git buttons | Source Control panel, PRs, stacked PRs |
| safety and setup | ||
| analytics | on by default; one switch in Settings | on by default; opt-out in Settings |
| license | AGPL-3.0, open source | MIT, open source |
| account needed | no | no (yes for the relay) |
platforms
Windows
pane
orca
yes, signed (x64 only)repos inside WSL
pane
orca
yes, per-project runtimemacOS
pane
orca
yesLinux
pane
orca
yes (AppImage, .deb, .rpm)installed size (Windows)
pane
orca
about 1 GBagents
agents
pane
orca
any CLI; 40 built ineveryday work
worktree per task
pane
orca
yesreview and git
pane
orca
Source Control panel, PRs, stacked PRssafety and setup
analytics
pane
orca
on by default; opt-out in Settingslicense
pane
orca
MIT, open sourceaccount needed
pane
orca
no (yes for the relay)Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026 (Orca v1.4.220 and Pane v2.4.157). Rechecked on November 5, 2026 against Orca v1.4.249. Sizes measured on the same Windows 11 PC.
why people look for an orca alternative
Size, sprawl and speed of change.
Orca's install on Windows came to about 1 GB in our test, and it shipped 32 settings pages with around 260 controls and 131 commands. Orchestration, the chat view, cloud VMs, the agent dashboard, plugins and the phone app are all marked experimental or beta, and features change week to week. A Hacker News user said it took half an hour to find the diff view.
Telemetry is on until you turn it off. There's no Windows ARM64 build, Orca's own issue tracker has open reports of Microsoft Defender and Intune flagging it on managed Windows PCs, and you can't mix Windows and WSL agents in one project.
moving from orca to pane
Same habit, a worktree and a real terminal per agent. Your agents and logins carry over.
Orca and Pane both run each agent's own CLI in a real terminal inside its own worktree, so the workflow is familiar. Open your repository in Pane and create a pane per task, or up to five at once from the same base. Start Claude Code, Codex or Cursor with a click, or any other agent as a custom command. Your .env and agent config files can be copied into each new worktree automatically.
Review in the Changes panel and commit, push and merge with shortcuts. If your repo lives in WSL, Pane runs the agent, terminal and git inside the distro. Pane has a built-in browser too, and Remote Pane works in a phone browser today, with a phone app coming soon. If design mode or built-in issue-tracker integrations are central to your work, Orca is still the place for them.
our verdict
Orca is the broadest free agent workspace there is. If you want its core, parallel agents in real terminals and worktrees with review and git, without the weight and the moving parts, Pane is the most direct alternative and the one that runs on Windows ARM64. For a calmer chat view, T3 Code; on a Mac, Superset or Conductor.
how we checked
On October 3 and 4, 2026 we ran Orca 1.4.220 on Windows 11 with real Claude Code and Codex agents, including a repo inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04), and measured its install size and memory. Pane, T3 Code and Emdash ran on the same PC. Superset and Conductor facts come from their docs and pricing.
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
- → Orca 1.4.220 on the same PC with real Claude Code and Codex agents, October 3 and 4, 2026
- Who wrote this
- We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Orca'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
By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .