comparison · hands-on

Pane vs Solo

TL;DR

Solo (soloterm.com) is a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts a project's dev server, workers, logs, terminals and coding agents in one window, restarts crashed processes, and lets a lead agent coordinate the others through todos, scratchpads and locks. Pane is a free, open-source desktop app that gives each agent its own git worktree and real terminal, with a Changes panel, git shortcuts and an orchestrator. Solo is about the runtime around your agents; Pane is about isolating and reviewing their work. Pick Solo if your pain is the dev stack and you're happy managing checkouts yourself; pick Pane if you want each agent isolated, diffs and commits in the app, and no project limits.

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which one should you pick?

pick solo if

  • → your pain is the dev server, workers and logs around your agents
  • → you want crashed processes restarted and visible to agents
  • → you want a lead agent with plans, todos, locks and wake-up timers
  • → you're fine managing checkouts yourself

pick pane if

  • → you want each agent isolated in its own worktree and branch
  • → you want to review diffs and commit, push and merge from the app
  • → you want to watch several agents side by side
  • → you want it free and open source, on ARM64 too

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane12 yes · 1 partly · 0 nosolo7 yes · 3 partly · 3 no
basics
what it isdesktop app: real terminals for agents, a worktree per taskdesktop app: your dev stack and agents side by side
made byDcoupleTry Hard Studios (Aaron Francis)
licenseAGPL-3.0, open sourceproprietary
pricefree, no limitsfree up to 4 projects and 20 processes; Pro $99/year
platforms
Windowsyes (x64 and ARM64)yes, signed (x64)
repos inside WSLyes: agents, terminals and git run in the distroyes, per-project WSL profile
macOSyesyes (universal)
Linuxyes (AppImage, .deb)yes (x64 AppImage)
agents
agentsany CLIany CLI; 8 built in
agents on screenseveral, in split tabsone at a time
lead agentSessions, with locks and reportslead agent with todos, scratchpads, locks and timers
everyday work
isolation per taskworktree and branch per paneshared checkout; links worktrees you make
diff, commit, PRChanges panel and git buttonsnone; use git in a terminal
dev serversrun script and a port block per panefull process manager with auto-restart
on quit or updatesessions resume when you reopenstops the stack and agents; agents can resume
safety and setup
account needednono (license for Pro)

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, a worktree per task

solo

desktop app: your dev stack and agents side by side

made by

pane

Dcouple

solo

Try Hard Studios (Aaron Francis)

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, open source

solo

proprietary

price

pane

free, no limits

solo

free up to 4 projects and 20 processes; Pro $99/year

platforms

Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

solo

yes, signed (x64)

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

solo

yes, per-project WSL profile

macOS

pane

yes

solo

yes (universal)

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage, .deb)

solo

yes (x64 AppImage)

agents

agents

pane

any CLI

solo

any CLI; 8 built in

agents on screen

pane

several, in split tabs

solo

one at a time

lead agent

pane

Sessions, with locks and reports

solo

lead agent with todos, scratchpads, locks and timers

everyday work

isolation per task

pane

worktree and branch per pane

solo

shared checkout; links worktrees you make

diff, commit, PR

pane

Changes panel and git buttons

solo

none; use git in a terminal

dev servers

pane

run script and a port block per pane

solo

full process manager with auto-restart

on quit or update

pane

sessions resume when you reopen

solo

stops the stack and agents; agents can resume

safety and setup

account needed

pane

no

solo

no (license for Pro)

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Solo v0.10.1 and Pane v2.4.157. Rechecked against Solo's site, docs and releases on November 5, 2026: Solo v0.11.1.

what it's like to use

We gave both apps the same small job in a test repo: add a --version flag to a CLI, then review the change. Here's what you see. Green notes work well, blue ones are nice touches, amber ones are confusing, and red ones are missing or broken.

1.agents at work

Pane

Pane: the agent's real terminalPane runs the agent's own terminal UI, exactly as it looks anywhere else, with several panes going at once.Pane 2.4.155, three panes running Claude Code

Solo

Solo: agents next to your commandsThe sidebar lists agents, terminals and dev commands for each project. One process fills the main view at a time.Solo 0.10.1 on Windows 11, three agents in one project, October 4, 2026

2.reviewing the change

Pane

Pane: Changes panel and diff tabsPane lists every touched file with its line counts. Click one and its diff opens as a tab next to the agent.Pane 2.4.155, after the agent finished

Solo

Solo: git diff in a terminalSolo has no diff view, so we reviewed with git diff in one of its terminals.Solo 0.10.1, reviewing with git diff after the agent finished

the real difference: the stack or the agents

Solo manages what runs around your agents. Pane isolates the agents and their changes.

Solo's strength is the runtime: it detects your stack, runs dev servers and workers, restarts them when they crash, and keeps their logs where both you and your agents can see them. A lead agent can coordinate others with todos, scratchpads, leased locks and timers. Agents share a checkout unless you link worktrees you made yourself; Solo doesn't create one per task.

Pane's strength is isolation and review: each pane is a worktree and branch with the agent's own terminal, more terminals for your dev server, and a Changes panel to review, commit, push and merge. Each pane gets its own port block, so dev servers from different panes don't clash, and a run script per project starts with one shortcut.

price and licence

Solo is free to a limit, then $99 a year. Pane is free and open source.

Solo's free tier allows 4 primary projects and 20 processes in total, and agents count as processes; Pro is $99 a year, with team seats. It's closed source, with no public issue tracker, and usage analytics and error reports have no documented opt-out. Pane is AGPL-3.0, free with no limits, and its analytics can be turned off with one switch in Settings.

platforms

Both handle WSL repos. Pane also ships ARM64 builds for Windows and Linux.

Solo handles WSL repos well, pinning a project to a distro with a per-project profile; it ships x64 builds for Windows and Linux. Pane runs natively on Windows x64 and ARM64, inside WSL, on macOS and on Linux.

our verdict

Solo is a thoughtful home for the dev stack around your agents. If you want each agent isolated in its own worktree, with review and git in the app, free and on every OS, Pane is the better fit.

how we checked

On October 3 and 4, 2026 we ran Solo 0.10.1 on Windows 11 with Claude Code and Codex, natively and with a repo inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04), reviewed with git diff and committed, and ran Pane 2.4.155 on the same PC.

Facts about each product come from its own docs, changelog and pricing, and Pane's source code, checked on the same dates.

We rechecked Solo's site, docs and changelog on November 5, 2026 (v0.11.1).

What we ran
  • → Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, native and WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) repos
  • → Solo 0.10.1 on the same PC, natively and with a WSL repo
  • → The same small task in both
Who wrote this
We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Solo'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

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See also: desktop agent managers · agent orchestration
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. .