cmux vs Orca
cmux (manaflow-ai) and Orca (Stably) side by side on public data, as of Oct 10, 2026.
Orca has 3.2x the GitHub stars of cmux (88.8K against 28.1K). cmux shipped 9 stable releases in the past 90 days.
Which should you choose?
Choose Orca if
- you want to switch between model providers (9 documented against 0)
- you want to run it unattended in scripts or CI
- you want subagents or several agents working in parallel
- you prefer the more widely used tool, with more docs and answers around (Gid Score 50 against 41)
Built from documented features, official prices, status pages and usage data on this page; it does not judge output quality.
Side-by-side numbers
| Metric | cmux | Orca |
|---|---|---|
| Gid Score | 41 | 50 |
| Overall rank | #114 | #66 |
| Downloads, last 7 days | — | — |
| Downloads, 7-day change | — | — |
| Downloads, 30-day change | — | — |
| VS Code installs | — | — |
| Marketplace rating | — | — |
| GitHub stars | 28.1K | 88.8K |
| Homebrew installs, 30 days | — | — |
| Hacker News mentions, 30 days | 0 | 4 |
| Latest stable release | 0.65.0 · 5d ago | 1.4.224 · today |
| Stable releases, 90 days | 9 | |
| Terminal-Bench (best run) | — | — |
| Price | Free + $50/mo | Free (OSS) |
| License | GPL-3.0-or-later | MIT |
| First released | January 2026 | March 2026 |
| Interfaces | — | — |
| Models |
Trends
cmux
cmux is a macOS terminal built on Ghostty with vertical tabs, split panes, an in-app browser and notifications when coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex need attention. It is scriptable through a CLI and socket API.
Pricing: Free plan $0/mo (open-source macOS app); Pro $40/mo billed yearly ($480/yr) or $50/mo monthly; Max $200/mo; Team $60/user/mo; Enterprise custom.
Latest release 0.65.0:
- cmux bundles the ghostty CLI, which contains GNU libintl from gettext 0.24 (LGPL-2.1-or-later). The complete corresponding source and license text are attached to this release.…
Orca
Orca is an open-source desktop agent development environment that runs Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi and other CLI agents side by side, each in its own git worktree, with terminals and a mobile companion app for monitoring agents.
Pricing: Free and open source (MIT).
Latest release 1.4.224:
- Automations can now set the agent's model and effort for each run. In the automation editor, open Advanced and fill in Extra agent arguments (or use --extra-agent-args with orca automations create…
- SSH hosts now run a managed Orca server. Orca ships its own runtime and sets it up when you connect, so connections no longer fail because a host has the wrong Node version or no build tools. A…
- Native chat (experimental): If you turned on Chat UI with chat as your default view, supported agents now open in the structured chat by default. If Terminal was your default, new agent tabs stay…
- More in native chat: Recent versions of OpenCode (including 2.x), Pi and OMP open as structured chats on this computer. Agents can draw charts, diagrams and mockups right inside a reply, on…
cmux vs Orca: common questions
How do cmux and Orca prices compare?
cmux: Free + $50/mo. Orca: Free (OSS). Prices come from each vendor's pricing page.
Which is more popular, cmux or Orca?
Orca has a Gid Score of 50 against 41 for cmux. The score combines package downloads, editor installs, GitHub activity and attention, updated daily.
Do cmux and Orca support MCP servers?
Orca documents support for MCP servers; cmux's documentation does not.