# Orca alternatives

Orca is an MIT-licensed desktop app for running CLI coding agents in parallel, one git worktree per task. People look for alternatives when they want a terminal program instead of a desktop app, bundled agents and cloud workspaces, a task board, or a different license and platform mix. Each reason below comes from the tools' records. Data as of 2026-09-30.

1. [Conductor](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/conductor.md): Closed-source macOS app with the same worktree-per-workspace model, Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode bundled, and paid cloud workspaces. See Orca vs Conductor. ([comparison](https://multiagentguide.top/compare/orca-vs-conductor.md))
2. [Superset](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/superset.md): macOS desktop app with worktrees, per-workspace ports, a CLI, SDK and MCP server; Elastic License 2.0 and paid Pro features. See Orca vs Superset. ([comparison](https://multiagentguide.top/compare/orca-vs-superset.md))
3. [Paseo](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/paseo.md): Self-hosted daemon with desktop, mobile, web and CLI clients, where agents can spawn other agents through optional tools.
4. [T3 Code](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/t3-code.md): MIT control surface with threads in worktrees and one-prompt fan-out to several models; still on 0.0.x releases.
5. [Herdr](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/herdr.md): Terminal alternative: an Apache-2.0 Rust binary that keeps agent panes alive in a background server and exposes a CLI and socket API; no built-in diff review.
6. [Claude Squad](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/claude-squad.md): Smaller terminal option: tmux sessions and git worktrees with a diff tab, AGPL-3.0.
7. [Multica](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/multica.md): If you want tickets rather than workspaces: a task board that assigns issues to agents running on connected machines.

## Facts

| Tool | Type | Languages | License | Pricing | Pattern | MCP | A2A | AG-UI | Stars |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Orca](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/orca.md) | Orchestrator | TypeScript | MIT | Open source, free | Other | Partial | Unknown | Unknown | 82,020 |
| [Conductor](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/conductor.md) | Platform | Not applicable (hosted product) | Proprietary | Hosted, paid | Other | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | — |
| [Superset](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/superset.md) | Orchestrator | TypeScript | unknown | Open core | Supervisor | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | 14,764 |
| [Paseo](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/paseo.md) | Orchestrator | TypeScript | unknown | Open core | Supervisor | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | 19,066 |
| [T3 Code](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/t3-code.md) | Orchestrator | TypeScript | MIT | Open source, free | Other | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | 23,963 |
| [Herdr](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/herdr.md) | Orchestrator | Rust | Apache-2.0 | Open source, free | Other | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | 41,580 |
| [Claude Squad](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/claude-squad.md) | Orchestrator | Go | AGPL-3.0 | Open source, free | Other | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | 8,551 |
| [Multica](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/multica.md) | Platform | Go, TypeScript | unknown | Open core | Supervisor | Partial | Unknown | Unknown | 51,737 |

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Data as of 2026-09-30. Not affiliated with listed projects. HTML version: https://multiagentguide.top/alternatives/orca