orca vs Open SWE
Two of the top coding agents and assistants, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
orca
Desktop app that runs CLI coding agents in parallel git worktrees
Open SWE
LangChain coding agent that plans, implements and reviews pull requests
| What we compare | orca | Open SWE |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 81, widely used | 31, known |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 81, healthy | 100, healthy |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | 67, easy |
| Agent-ready | 70, partly | 85, ready |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 90.5k | 11k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Docker | No | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
orca
Orca is a cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) that runs several CLI coding agents side by side, each in its own isolated git worktree. It bundles terminals with splits, an editor, an embedded Chromium browser, GitHub and Linear task views, and diff annotation. A mobile companion app and an `orca` CLI let you monitor and script agent workflows.
Who it is for: Developers running several CLI coding agents in parallel on one repo
Strengths
- Works with any agent that runs in a terminal, including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi
- Each agent gets its own git worktree; fan one prompt across several and compare
- Agents can run on a remote machine over SSH with port forwarding
- MIT license; desktop builds for macOS, Windows, Linux plus Homebrew and AUR packages
Weaknesses
- No Docker or self-hosted server install; it is a desktop app
- Mobile pairing relay lives in a separate pnpm workspace under cloud/
- Collects anonymous usage telemetry; opt-out is documented but not the default
- Ships daily and the README says its feature list lags behind
- no GPU
- Needs git, CLI coding agent of your choice
Open SWE
LangGraph-based agent that investigates a repository, implements changes in a per-thread Linux sandbox, validates them and opens a pull request, then reviews PRs and watches CI with /baby-sit. Work starts from a dashboard, GitHub issues or PR comments, Slack or Linear. Deploys into your infrastructure with a backend, dashboard, GitHub and Slack apps, for teams building an internal coding-agent service.
Who it is for: Engineering teams building an internal coding-agent service
Strengths
- Covers build, review, investigate and operate flows, with subagents for parallel work
- Durable execution and thread state via LangGraph; sandboxes persist per thread
- Configurable models, reasoning effort, skills, MCP integrations and sandbox providers
- Push approvals gate detected git pushes; PR chat excludes mutation tools
Weaknesses
- Production standalone Agent Server deployments require a license key
- Maintainers are not accepting issues or contributions; breaking changes expected
- LangSmith is the default sandbox and tracing provider; alternatives need configuration
- CLI mode executes commands locally as you, with no sandbox isolation
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Needs LangSmith (default sandbox and tracing), GitHub App, Slack app (optional), model provider credentials
- Models: configurable LLM providers
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