AI · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Companion
AI that actually controls your Windows/Mac desktop - clicks, types, automates workflows across any application. Native OS integration, not cloud APIs. Built this because I was tired of AI that could only chat. Free tier (Gemini) + paid tier (Claude) for reliable automation. The AI can automate complex workflows, manage files/emails, control browsers and native apps. Just launched 2 weeks ago. What workflows would you want automated?
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier.
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Computer use for automating operations
2024 · anthropic.com · its alternatives →
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Sidekick▲480Build Zapier-style automations using only a chat interface
2025 · sagekit.com · its alternatives →
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Bring Claude into the physical world with maker hardware
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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I've been building computer-use tools for a while, and I quietly launched this about a month ago (122 Stars on GH). I figured it was worth sharing here. Over the last few months, a lot of computer-use agents have come out: Codex, Claude Code, CUA, and others. Most of them seem to work roughly like this: 1. Take a screenshot 2. Have the model predict pixel coordinates 3. Click x,y 4. Take another screenshot 5. Repeat That works, but it's slow, expensive in tokens, and fragile. If the UI shifts a few pixels, things break. And the model still doesn't know what any element actually is. But the…
May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Ogment AI▲159Make your product accessible in ChatGPT & Claude, in minutes
Jul 2026 · ogment.ai · its alternatives →
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OpenOwl▲261Automate what APIs can't in one prompt done locally
Apr 2026 · openowl.dev · its alternatives →
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Viberia▲146Hey HN, This is my take on the agent harness. Everything on an isometric map. Agents are grouped into "buildings" that run in a sequence or a loop; e.g., the CodeForge has an agent that writes a PRD, another one that implements, and a third that reviews. Everything is customizable, you build your own buildings/teams however you want. It's a Tauri app, really light (about 8x less energy than the closest competitor I benchmarked, so it actually runs from a coffee shop on battery). It's macOS only for now, but ping me if you are willing to test the Windows or Linux version. I've been…
May 2026 · getviberia.com · its alternatives →
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mTarsier▲188Open-source platform for managing MCP servers and clients
Mar 2026 · mtarsier.com · its alternatives →
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Livinity▲90Open-source homeserver OS with a built-in AI agent
Jul 2026 · livinity.io · its alternatives →
- 14MW
Hey Hacker News, my name is Vlad: https://twitter.com/Fortune_VY We’ve been working on IDEs AI assistants for a few years https://www.machinet.net/. Yeah, years :) before chatGPT came along. We have learned a lot about AI models, and how the autoregressive nature coupled with the inability to switch an abstraction level throws a wrench in the works of a possible truly autonomous AI assistant, even OpenAI has featured us on their blog. The more we tinkered with the assistant problem for IDEs, the more we realized the gap between our dream assistant and chatGPT is…
2023 · mate-os.com · its alternatives →
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Automate boring work. Extensible and free desktop AI agent.
Aug 2026 · agent-one.dev · its alternatives →
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LapuAi▲68Desktop-native AI agent for every app, file & browser
Jul 2026 · lapu.ai · its alternatives →
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Claunnector▲78Connect your Mac's Mail, Calendar, and more to AI
Apr 2026 · claunnector.com · its alternatives →
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Effortlessly connect AI to your everyday apps
2025 · waystation.ai · its alternatives →
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Matrix OSfree tier▲26Matrix OS is an AI-native operating system: self-creating, self-healing, and self-expanding. The Claude Agent SDK is the literal kernel: CPU => Claude Opus 4.6 RAM => Context window (1M tokens) Kernel => Main agent + 26 IPC tools Processes => 5 sub-agents Disk => ~/apps, ~/data, ~/system Syscalls => Read, Write, Edit, Bash Drivers => MCP servers IPC => File coordination Break something, the healer agent repairs it. Need a new capability, the OS writes its own agents and skills. Describe an app, it appears as a file you own. The bigger vision is Web 4: OS + messaging + social +…
Sep 2026 · matrix-os.com · its alternatives →
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AI Buddy▲4This is a weekend project I created due to my frustration with the classic terminal applications that have the issue that if I restart my Mac, then my Claude Code instances or my shell instances—are stopped, and I have to manually run them again. Plus, they are not quite optimized for running multiple Claude Code instances, so I created this project to address this issue.
Jun 2026 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →