Conductor vs Superset vs cmux, and where Armadai fits

Conductor and Superset are desktop apps that give each agent task its own Git worktree and a review flow; cmux is a terminal that leaves the workflow to you. Conductor is Mac-only and proprietary, and its paid plans add hosted cloud sandboxes and collaboration. Superset is source-available with an experimental Linux build, and its paid plan adds remote access and scheduled automations. The cmux app is open source under the GPL, and its paid plans add Cloud VMs. All three are free for agents running on your own machine.

Conductor, Superset and cmux side by side

Conductor and Superset solve the same problem the same way

Both start from the idea that parallel agents need separate checkouts. Conductor creates a Git worktree and a branch for each workspace, so one agent can build a feature while another fixes a bug without touching the same files on disk. Superset does the same per agent. In both you review a diff inside the app and turn the branch into a pull request, and both run agents under your own subscriptions or API keys.

The differences are around that core.

• Agents. Conductor runs four harnesses: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, and it bundles its own installs of Claude Code and Codex. Superset works with any CLI-based agent you have installed.
• Where agents run when you are away. On Conductor's local workspaces, sessions end when you close the app. Its answer is Conductor Cloud on the Pro plan: agents run in hosted sandboxes and keep going after your laptop closes, and chat messages from those workspaces are stored on Conductor's servers. Superset's answer is Remote Access on its Pro plan, which adds a machine of your own as a host. Superset says repositories, worktrees and agent sessions stay on your machine by default.
• Scripting. Superset has a CLI on the free plan, plus a TypeScript SDK and an MCP server. Conductor's API is part of Pro.
• Collaboration. Conductor's paid plans are built around it: shared workspaces, presence and prompting agents together. Superset Pro lifts the one-user limit and adds Linear and Slack integrations.
• Price of the paid tier. Conductor Pro is $50 a month. Superset Pro is $20 per user a month, or $15 billed yearly.
• Licence and platform. Conductor is proprietary and Mac-only. Superset publishes its code under the Elastic License 2.0 and has an experimental Linux AppImage.

cmux is a terminal, not a task manager

cmux is a native macOS terminal built on Ghostty's rendering library. Vertical tabs show each workspace's Git branch, working directory and listening ports. A ring lights up around a pane when the agent in it needs attention. You can split a browser beside a terminal and script both through a CLI and a socket API. Because it is a terminal, anything you can launch from a command line runs in it, and it restores your layout when you relaunch.

What it does not give you is a task model. On its own comparison pages, cmux says it can replace the terminal supervision layer, and that Conductor and Superset remain the fit if you want a packaged worktree and review workflow. In cmux you, your agents or your scripts decide how branches and worktrees are set up. That is the point for some people and a gap for others.

Which of the three to pick

• Pick Conductor if you want agents to keep running in hosted sandboxes, or you want to share live workspaces with other people, and you are on a Mac.
• Pick Superset if you want the worktree-per-task workflow with any CLI agent, public source, a lower-priced paid tier, or agents running on a remote machine you control.
• Pick cmux if you already live in a terminal, want a GPL-licensed tool, and would rather script your own workflow than adopt someone else's.

If none of the three fits, Conductor alternatives covers Emdash, Nimbalyst and Maestri as well, including which ones run on Windows.

Where Armadai differs from all three

The three apps above lay work out as a list: workspaces in a sidebar for Conductor and Superset, vertical tabs for cmux. Armadai lays it out as a canvas. Each project folder becomes a workspace, several workspaces sit side by side on one infinite canvas, and each holds tiles for Claude Code, Codex, terminals, a code editor, a browser, notes and a task board. You zoom out to see every project and zoom in to work on one.

That suits a different situation. Conductor and Superset are designed around many tasks in one repository, each on its own branch. Armadai is designed around several projects open at once, such as your product, a client's project and an experiment, each with its own agents and the browser and notes that go with them. A sidebar shows which sessions are working, idle or waiting for approval across all of them, and a master agent running Claude Code or Codex can open workspaces, launch agents and send them work from one conversation.

Three things to weigh before you choose it over the others:

• It is not free. Armadai costs $20 a month or $120 a year. The 7-day free trial requires a payment method, and there is no free plan. All three of the others cost nothing for local use.
• It is Mac-only and not open source. Armadai does not run on Windows or Linux. It needs macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
• Worktrees belong to task hand-offs. When you hand a task from a task board to Claude Code or Codex, that run gets its own Git worktree and returns a draft pull request. Armadai's homepage does not describe a new worktree for every agent you start. If one worktree per task is the thing you want most, Conductor or Superset is the more direct fit.

Plans and what they include are under pricing.