Claude Squad vs Conductor (2026): terminal TUI or Mac app, and a third option

Short answer

Claude Squad and Conductor sit at opposite ends of the same idea. Claude Squad is a free, AGPL-3.0 terminal app that gives each agent a git worktree and a tmux session and lets you attach to the agent's own interface. Conductor is a closed-source Mac app that drives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode through a chat UI and follows your PR checks and review threads. Choose Claude Squad if you live in the terminal and want almost nothing between you and the agent. Choose Conductor if you are on a Mac and want a finished app that helps with the PR. If neither fits, Orchestrator.inc (formerly Agent Orchestrator) is a third option covered at the end.

At a glance

All competitor details are as of October 2026.

The problem in practice

You want three Claude Code agents working on one repository without stepping on each other. Both tools solve that part the same way, with a worktree per agent. The split comes after: do you want to stay in the agent's own terminal and handle PRs yourself, or do you want an app that shows checks and review threads and hands failures back to the agent?

How each tool handles it

Task: start an agent on a bug, get the fix through CI, and merge.

In Claude Squad

1. Run cs in the repo and press n for a new instance. A worktree and tmux session are created and you see the agent's own interface.
2. Watch progress in the preview and diff tabs.
3. Press s to commit and push the branch.
4. Open the PR on GitHub, watch CI, and paste any failure back into the instance yourself.
5. Merge on GitHub.

In Conductor

1. Create a workspace; it gets its own worktree and branch.
2. Chat with the agent until the change is ready, then create the PR from the app.
3. The Checks tab shows the failing run. Click to forward the failing checks to the agent.
4. Review and merge from the app, or let automerge do it once checks pass.

Where Claude Squad is a good fit

• You want a lightweight terminal app with no desktop app or daemon, one you can run inside any SSH session.
• You want to run any CLI agent with no vendor lock-in.
• You are happy to open PRs and watch CI yourself. Note that AGPL-3.0 is a copyleft license; check it against your company's policy.

Where Conductor is a good fit

• You are on a Mac and want a native app with PR checks built in.
• You want hosted cloud workspaces and an iOS app that works with them.
• Your agents are Claude Code or Codex and a chat UI suits you.

Where Orchestrator fits better

Orchestrator.inc is worth a look if you like Claude Squad's native terminal UI and open license but want PR awareness, or like Conductor's supervision but need Windows, Linux or the source.

• Any desktop OS. It ships for macOS, Windows x64 (native ConPTY, no WSL or tmux) and Linux.
• Apache-2.0. The desktop app, daemon and ao CLI are open source.
• Native terminal or Chat. Each session uses the agent's own terminal UI or a structured Chat view, and Claude Code and Codex sessions can switch between them.
• Feedback that reaches the agent on its own. Failing checks, requested changes and merge conflicts on GitHub or GitLab go to the session that owns the PR, with no button to press. Merge stays your action.
• A board and a planner. A Kanban board places sessions by their PR, CI and review state, and a project orchestrator agent can spawn and brief workers across 38 harnesses.
• Remote machines. Install Orchestrator's host on your own server or cloud VM and drive sessions there from the desktop app, with several hosts in one app, or use Orchestrator Cloud.

It is heavier than Claude Squad, since it is an Electron app with a local daemon, and it is not a native Mac app like Conductor. Its remote machines run Orchestrator's host rather than connecting over plain SSH.

Pricing

Claude Squad is free. As of October 2026, Conductor's local tier is free with your own agent subscriptions, Pro is $50 per month for cloud workspaces and related features, and Teams is $60 per user per month. Running Orchestrator on your own machines is free and open source (Apache-2.0), with no account needed; you bring your own agent subscriptions or API keys. Optional Orchestrator Cloud plans, for agents that keep working while your laptop is closed, are Starter at $20/month and Pro at $40/month, with Enterprise pricing on request. Orchestrator does not proxy model calls.

Who should pick which

Pick Claude Squad if

• you want a lightweight terminal app, including inside SSH sessions
• you are happy to handle PRs and CI yourself

Pick Conductor if

• you are on a Mac and use Claude Code or Codex
• you want PR checks and cloud workspaces in a native app

Pick Orchestrator if

• you need Windows or Linux
• you want Apache-2.0 source with the agent's native terminal UI
• you want CI and review feedback to reach the owning agent without a click
• you want agents on your own servers or VMs, driven from one desktop app

Try it

If Orchestrator sounds like your fit, the quickstart gets two agents running in their own worktrees in a few minutes. The head-to-heads go deeper: Orchestrator.inc vs Claude Squad and Orchestrator.inc vs Conductor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Claude Squad and Conductor?

Claude Squad is a free terminal app that runs each agent in a worktree and a tmux session and shows the agent's own interface. Conductor is a closed-source Mac app that wraps agents in a chat UI and adds PR checks and cloud workspaces. The first stops at pushing a branch; the second helps you through the PR.

Does Claude Squad work on Windows?

Claude Squad supports macOS and Linux and does not run natively on Windows as of October 2026. Conductor has no Windows build either. Orchestrator.inc ships a native Windows x64 build.

Does Claude Squad track pull requests or CI?

No. It commits and pushes the branch, and PR creation, CI status and review comments are left to you. Conductor's Checks tab covers this with a manual forward action, and Orchestrator.inc routes failures and comments to the agent automatically.

Is Conductor free?

The local tier is free with your own agent subscriptions. Cloud workspaces and team features are on paid plans. Claude Squad is free. Orchestrator.inc is free and open source on your own machines, with optional Orchestrator Cloud plans from $20/month.

Can I use Codex or Gemini CLI with these tools?

Claude Squad runs Codex, Gemini CLI and any other CLI program. Conductor runs Codex but not Gemini CLI as of October 2026. Orchestrator.inc runs both among its 38 harnesses, and you can install it from orchestrator.inc to try them side by side.