Agentastic vs Conductor
Agentastic and Conductor are both Mac apps that give each coding agent its own git worktree and take the work through review to a pull request. Conductor is chat-first and focused: it runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode, and its paid Pro plan adds cloud workspaces, multiplayer, an API, and an iPhone app. Agentastic is terminal-first and broader: 55 agent definitions, containers, SSH hosts, cloud VMs on your own accounts, an agent-drivable browser, and multi-vendor review, all in the free app.
Why Agentastic exists#
A personal note from the author: I started running parallel agents in Conductor in the summer of 2025. It's a good product from a great team — but I live in the terminal, and web-rendered terminals never felt right. So I built Agentastic: fully native macOS, where every agent runs in a real GPU-accelerated Ghostty terminal.
If you want a chat interface over a few agents, Conductor is a genuinely good choice. If you want more control and agency — a more performant, native, scalable, controllable IDE — that's the job Agentastic was built for.
Who should choose each option#
Agentastic
Choose Agentastic if you want a fully native app with Ghostty terminals, any CLI agent, container isolation, an agent-drivable browser, and free cloud or SSH runs on your own accounts.
Conductor
Choose Conductor if Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode cover your agents and you want a polished chat-first loop, with managed cloud workspaces, multiplayer, and an iPhone app on its Pro plan.
Feature comparison#
| Feature | Agentastic | Conductor |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | Native macOS app (Swift) | macOS app |
| Interface | Terminal-first, with structured Chat when you want it | Chat-first |
| Terminal | GPU-accelerated Ghostty, one per agent | Terminals and run scripts beside each chat |
| Supported agents | 55 built-in definitions plus any terminal agent | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode |
| Isolation | Worktree, Docker or Apple container, SSH host, or cloud VM per task | Worktree per workspace; agents run unsandboxed on your Mac |
| Editor | Built-in editor with LSP, search, and source control | File viewing and editing inside the workspace |
| Browser | Agents drive it with the dev browser CLI (navigate, click, fill, read the console); Design Mode; Share Live Preview | Browser previews of running dev servers |
| Code review | Claude, Codex, CodeRabbit, or Greptile review passes, plus line comments | Review action, diff comments sent to the agent, and a Checks tab |
| Issue intake | Linear and Sentry issues, Slack mentions, and schedules start agent runs | Start a workspace from a GitHub or Linear issue; Routines run on schedules and GitHub triggers |
| Cloud agents | Free: Modal, Fly.io, or Vercel Sandbox on your own account | Conductor Cloud on Pro: Vercel sandboxes run by Conductor |
| Remote SSH agents | Any SSH host; sessions keep running when your Mac sleeps | Not yet; a self-hosted cloud offering is in development |
| Automation | dev CLI: launch, list, tail, send, focus, browser, and tasks | Conductor API for cloud workspaces (beta, Pro) |
| Collaboration | Share a chat or a localhost preview by link | Multiplayer workspaces on Pro (up to 5 Pro users) and Teams |
| Mobile | iPhone app in public beta on TestFlight (iOS 18+), free | iPhone app on the App Store since October 2026, for cloud workspaces on Pro |
| Usage tracking | Quota meters for every Claude, Codex, and Grok login | Claude and Codex limits in the context usage popover |
Pricing#
Agentastic
Free. Cloud agents, remote SSH, Linear and Sentry intake, browser automation, review passes, and the iPhone beta are all in the free app. Bring your own agent subscriptions.
Conductor
Free for local workspaces on your Mac. Pro is $50 a month and adds Conductor Cloud, multiplayer, the Conductor API, and the iPhone app; Teams is $60 per user per month (invite-only); Enterprise adds SAML SSO and SCIM.
Using them together#
You can run both, but most people pick one, since they cover the same job. Both work on ordinary git branches, so moving a task from one to the other costs nothing but muscle memory.
Frequently asked questions#
Is Agentastic a fork of Conductor?
No. They are independent products that both settled on a worktree per agent.
Does Conductor work on Windows or Linux?
Not yet. Conductor's install guide says it is available for macOS only. Agentastic is also Mac only (macOS 14 or later); for Windows or Linux, look at Orca, Paseo, or Nimbalyst.
How much does Conductor cost?
Local workspaces are free. Pro is $50 a month for Conductor Cloud, multiplayer, the API, and the iPhone app, and Teams is $60 per user per month. Agentastic includes cloud runs on your own Modal, Fly.io, or Vercel account, SSH agents, and its iPhone beta in the free app.
Does Conductor have an iPhone app?
Yes. Conductor for iOS shipped on October 2, 2026; it lets you chat with agents and merge pull requests, and works with cloud workspaces on Pro (changelog). Agentastic's iPhone app is a free public beta on TestFlight that connects end-to-end encrypted to your own Mac and shows every agent it runs.
Is Agentastic chat-first like Conductor?
No. Agentastic is terminal-first: each agent runs in a real Ghostty terminal you can type into. Structured Chat is available for 30 agents, including Claude Code and Codex, when you prefer a transcript with approval cards.
Can I use my Claude or ChatGPT subscription in both?
Yes. Conductor uses the Claude Code and Codex logins already on your Mac, including Claude Pro or Max (FAQ), and since September 2026 it can also sign in with ChatGPT to run Codex. Agentastic launches each provider's own CLI with your existing login, so billing stays with Anthropic, OpenAI, or whichever provider you use.
Which one supports more agents?
Conductor runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode. Agentastic ships 55 built-in definitions, including those four, and accepts any agent that runs in a terminal.
Further reading#
Mac and cross-platform options compared
Conductor, Agentastic, Claude Code Desktop, and more
what changes when three agents share a repository
the wider roundup this comparison sits inside
See also#
Both run CLI coding agents in parallel git worktrees. Agentastic is native Swift and free for cloud, SSH, and Linear; Superset is Electron, with those on Pro.
Both run coding agents in parallel git worktrees. Agentastic is native Swift with containers and cloud agents; Orca is open-source Electron for every OS.
cmux is a free, open-source Ghostty-based terminal for coding agents. Agentastic is a native Mac IDE with worktrees, an editor, review passes, and cloud agents.
Conductor is a chat-first Mac app that gives each agent its own worktree. cmux is an open-source, Ghostty-based terminal for any CLI agent. Compare the two.
The Codex app now lives inside the ChatGPT desktop app. Compare it with Agentastic, a free Mac workspace that runs Codex beside Claude Code and 51 more agents.
Claude Code Desktop is the Code tab of Anthropic's Claude app. Agentastic is a free Mac workspace that runs Claude Code beside Codex and 51 more CLI agents.