CompareSwarm vs Conductor
Swarm vs Conductor
Conductor is a Mac app for running Claude Code and Codex in parallel and reviewing their diffs, with a paid cloud. Swarm is open source and headless: it runs on your Linux machines, works while your laptop is closed, and is driven by your AI or your code. Pick Conductor for a polished Mac review flow; pick Swarm for agents on your own servers.
Side by side
| Swarm | Conductor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Self-hosted, headless AI agent platform | Run parallel coding agents on your Mac |
| License | Open source, Apache 2.0 | Closed source (no public source found) |
| Where it runs | A headless service on your own Ubuntu 24.04 x86-64 machines (no macOS yet) | A macOS app; Conductor Cloud runs workspaces in Linux sandboxes |
| Interfaces | MCP tools for your AI, TypeScript SDK, HTTP API, CLI (swarmctl). No GUI beyond a setup page | Mac app, CLI, REST API and hosted MCP server in beta, mobile on Pro |
| Agents | Its own coder, finder, designer and reviewer, plus image, video and sound agents | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode |
| Your ChatGPT or Claude plan | ChatGPT plan, Claude plan through Claude Code, or API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, Fireworks) | Yes, through Claude Code and Codex sign-in |
| Several machines | Yes: one fleet MCP server over your Tailscale network | One Mac, plus Conductor's cloud |
| Isolation | Each job on its own branch; optional container per project; folder environments in their own container | A git worktree per workspace; local agents run without a sandbox |
| Secrets | Typed in once; agents see stand-ins, the real value goes only to allowed hosts and is scrubbed from responses | Cloud environment variables reach agents directly |
| Automation | Schedules (cron or interval), trigger tokens for your app or CI, workflows with reviewer, send-back and script steps | Routines that run a prompt when a webhook is called |
| Media generation | Images, video and sound | None found |
| Price | Free. Models on your own plan or key | Free; Pro $50 a month; Teams $60 per user a month |
Pick Conductor when
- You work on a Mac and want to review and merge parallel agents' diffs in one app.
- Your team wants shared cloud workspaces.
Pick Swarm when
- You want agents on Linux servers or a VPS that keep running when your laptop sleeps.
- You want open source you can read and change.
- You need schedules, review workflows, research, design or media, not only parallel coding.
- Agents should see stand-ins instead of real keys.
Checked 24 October 2026 on conductor.build/docs, Conductor pricing. Products change quickly; tell us at contact if something here is out of date.
Questions
Is there a Conductor for Linux?
Conductor is Mac-only for now. Swarm runs on Ubuntu 24.04 x86-64 and can run parallel coding agents on a Linux machine or server.
Can I use Swarm from a Mac?
Yes. Run Swarm on a Linux server and drive it from Claude Code or Codex on your Mac.
Do both use git worktrees or branches?
Yes. Conductor gives each workspace a worktree; Swarm runs each coding job on its own branch and merges it when your AI integrates it.
Updated 24 October 2026