Maestri alternatives: canvas apps, terminals and agent workspaces

The right Maestri alternative depends on what you want to change. If you want another agent canvas, Starkomand is a paid, one-time-licence canvas for Apple silicon Macs, and AgentGrid is a canvas with a free tier that runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Armadai, a subscription Mac app, puts several projects on one canvas. If you want to stop using a canvas, cmux is a free open source terminal, and Paradev, Agentastic, Nimbalyst and Emdash Classic organise agents into workspaces instead.

What Maestri does, so you know what you are replacing

Maestri is an infinite canvas where each terminal runs Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode or a plain shell. You connect terminals so one agent can prompt another, give agents reusable roles, keep notes and sketches beside them, and open portals that hold a website, an iOS Simulator, an Android emulator or a real phone. A floor is an isolated copy of a workspace on a new branch. Since version 0.59.0 on 3 November 2026, agents can also use other apps on your computer.

Each project gets its own canvas. The Mac app needs macOS 15.4 or later on Apple Silicon, and there are builds for Windows 11 on x64 and Linux on x64 and arm64. Free covers one workspace with unlimited agents and every feature. Pro is $18, paid once, for unlimited workspaces on up to two devices, after seven days free. Purchases are final. Maestri needs no account and sends no telemetry.

That is a lot for the price, so the usual reasons to look elsewhere are specific: you want several projects visible at once, you have an Intel Mac or an older macOS, you want a different way to hand work between agents, or you want a tool that is not a canvas at all.

The alternatives side by side

All of them run the Claude Code and Codex you install, signed in with your own accounts, so those subscriptions are billed separately. Agentastic also sells optional hosted models of its own.

Other canvas apps

Starkomand

Starkomand is the closest in spirit: a canvas app for Macs with Apple silicon that runs the agent CLIs you already have, including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Grok CLI, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Pi, Aider and Goose. Where Maestri lets agents prompt each other freely, Starkomand structures the hand-off: you pass a brief to another model, run bounded review loops, and a file guard stops parallel agents editing or staging each other's files. It keeps one workspace per project and needs no account.

It is a one-time purchase, priced by launch tier from $49 for the first seats up to a standard $169, for one Mac with a year of updates. The trial is three days with no card. There is no Intel or Linux version, Windows is listed as coming soon, and there are no refunds except where the law requires them. The Starkomand comparison goes further.

AgentGrid

AgentGrid is a canvas for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Antigravity, Kimi, Grok, Devin and Pi, and it runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. A Coordinator panel takes instructions in one conversation, creates agents and arranges the canvas, and worker agents can build in their own worktrees while another reviews. The Free plan runs agents on your machine with your own subscriptions. Pro is $20 a month and adds extra accounts per agent, switching at usage limits, voice and use across several devices. If you use Maestri on Windows or Linux and want another canvas to try, AgentGrid also runs there. See the AgentGrid comparison for detail.

Alternatives that are not canvases

A canvas suits people who think about agents spatially. If you mostly want to run several agents and know which one is waiting, a terminal or a workspace list can do that with less to arrange.

• cmux is a free, GPL-licensed macOS terminal built on Ghostty. Vertical tabs show each workspace's branch, directory and ports, panes light up when an agent needs attention, and an in-app browser and socket API let agents check their own web changes. A paid cmux Pro gives early access to cmux AI, the iOS app and cloud VMs.
• Paradev, formerly Superset, is an MIT-licensed workspace app for Claude Code, Codex and any CLI agent. Free covers one user with local workspaces; Pro adds remote access, automations and the mobile app, which is on the App Store. More in Paradev alternatives.
• Agentastic is a free native Mac window with code, terminals, Git, a browser and 55 agent integrations, plus Manager Agents for long-running work and an iPhone app in TestFlight beta. It needs no sign-up and runs on Intel Macs. See the Agentastic comparison.
• Nimbalyst is a workspace for agents, tasks, docs, a wiki, diagrams and code, for Mac, Windows and Linux, free for individuals.
• Emdash Classic is an open source desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. It still gets fixes, but its developers have moved new work to Emdash 2.0, in early access, which runs agents locally, on your own servers or on Emdash cloud.

When you want every project on one canvas

Maestri gives each project its own canvas and lets you switch between them. Armadai takes the other approach: each project folder becomes a workspace with its own agents, terminals, code, browser, notes and tasks, and several workspaces sit on the same canvas. You zoom out to see every project and zoom in to work in one, and you can see which agents are working, idle or waiting for approval across all of them.

A master agent running Claude Code, Codex, Grok or Cursor opens projects, launches agents and sends them work from one sidebar conversation, and can operate apps on your Mac if you enable computer use. Each workspace also has a chat view that lists its agents' threads. Coordinate connects Claude Code and Codex inside a project with a shared goal, a message budget and an option to review each message before it is delivered.

The trade-offs against Maestri are real. Armadai is a macOS app, it requires an account, and it has no free plan. It costs $20 a month or $120 a year after a 7-day free trial that needs no card, and annual payments have a 30-day money-back guarantee. It supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs on macOS 14 or later. The Armadai and Maestri comparison sets the two out feature by feature.

Which one to pick

• You want a canvas with a one-time price on an Apple silicon Mac, and structured hand-offs between models: Starkomand.
• You want a canvas on Windows or Linux as well as macOS, with a free tier: AgentGrid.
• You run agents in several projects at the same time and want them all on one canvas: Armadai.
• You want something free and open source that stays close to the terminal: cmux.
• You want a free workspace list instead of a canvas: Paradev, Agentastic or Nimbalyst, depending on whether you value an open source licence, Intel Mac support (Agentastic and Nimbalyst) or a built-in wiki and task view.

If Maestri's free tier already covers you, with one project and agents wired together by roles, there may be no reason to switch. For a wider look at canvas apps, see infinite canvases for AI coding agents.