Short answer. For most people who ask "where should I run my coding agents", Orca is a very good answer, and it is free. Vakr is for a narrower need: you run agents already, the diffs pile up, and you want checks that tell you which ones are safe to merge. I make Vakr.
What Orca is, and what it does well
Orca, from Stably AI, calls itself the agent development environment. It runs coding agents in parallel, with terminals, diffs, a browser and a CLI in one app. The site says it is free and open source, under the MIT licence, with new features shipped daily. The GitHub repository showed 89.1k stars when I looked.
Things I think Orca does well:
- Breadth of agents. The site names 27 agents and the README names 34, and both add "any CLI agent". You plug in the subscriptions you already have.
- Every platform. macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, Windows and Linux, plus a companion app for iOS and Android.
- A worktree per task. Every task runs in its own isolated git worktree. You can send one prompt to several agents, compare the results and merge the winner.
- Review tools. You can drop comments on any diff line, batch them and send them back to the agent. You can inspect CI, resolve conflicts and open pull requests in the app.
- Remote work. SSH worktrees let you run agents on a remote box with full file editing, git and terminals.
- A browser in each worktree. Design Mode lets you select an element on the page and send it to an agent. Vakr has nothing like it.
Orca and Vakr side by side
| Orca | Vakr | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An agent development environment: parallel agents with terminals, diffs, a browser and a CLI | A Mac app that tracks your Projects and agents, and checks agent work before you merge |
| Price | Free. No paid tiers listed. Enterprise is by contact, with no price shown | Free on your own Machines. Pro $99 a year, not on sale yet. Founding licence $149 once. Everything unlocked during early access |
| Licence | MIT, open source | Not open source. Early access builds only |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows and Linux. Companion app for iOS and Android | macOS 15 or later. A Linux VPS can join as a Machine |
| Agents | 27 named on the site, 34 in the README, plus any CLI agent | Claude Code and Codex natively, and about 22 more over ACP, OpenCode among them |
| Where your code goes | The docs say Orca runs on your desktop by default, and remote compute uses machines you control. Pairing a phone through Orca Relay needs a sign-in. LAN pairing does not | It stays on your Mac. Paired Machines talk directly over your own network. No account |
| Checks on agent work | Comments on diff lines sent back to the agent, CI inspection and pull requests in the app. I couldn't find a check of the agent's own claims, or tests it is locked out of changing, on the site | Tests first with tamper detection, claims checked against what ran, and, when you ask for it, an agent from another vendor trying to break the diff (on every run with Pro) |
| Across several computers | SSH worktrees on remote machines, a self-hosted Orca server, and a phone app paired with a one-time code | Pair another Mac or a Linux VPS with a code |
Pick Orca if…
- You want one free app to run many agents side by side, with terminals, diffs and a browser in the same window.
- You work on Windows or Linux, or move between them and a Mac.
- Open source matters to you. Orca is MIT and you can read every line.
- You want a native phone app on iOS or Android.
Pick Vakr if…
- Running agents in parallel is solved for you, and reviewing what they produce is what takes your day.
- You want the agent to write failing tests first, approve a few short tests yourself, and have the agent unable to edit them afterwards.
- You want a claim like "all tests pass" compared with the command that ran and its exit code, and the merge held if they disagree.
- You want an agent from a different vendor to get the diff with one job: write a test that fails.
What Vakr does not do
- It needs a Mac. macOS 15 or later. A Linux VPS can join as a Machine, but there is no Windows or Linux app. Orca is ahead here.
- It is in early access. There is a waitlist, and you cannot download it today.
- There is no iPhone or Android app. Your phone gets a page over Tailscale.
- It is not a development environment. No code editor and no built-in browser. You keep the editor you have.
- It is for one person. No team features.
- It is not open source.
If the checks are what you are missing, the waitlist is at vakr.app.
Checked on 10 October 2026. Sources for Orca: onorca.dev, its docs, the mobile companion page, the enterprise page and the GitHub repository.
Questions
Is Vakr an Orca alternative?
Only for part of what Orca does. Orca is also terminals, a diff viewer, a browser and a phone app. Vakr leaves those out and spends its effort on proof.
Orca is free. Why would I pay for Vakr?
You may not need to. Vakr is free on your own Machines, including tests first and the review checks. Pro, at $99 a year when it goes on sale, adds a second agent on every run automatically, the track record, and pacing against your limit. If Orca covers what you need, use Orca.
Can I use Orca and Vakr together?
I have not tested every combination, so I will not promise how they behave on the same Repo at the same time.
Guides to working with coding agents, with or without Vakr: the blog.