Herdr vs Orca
Herdr (herdrdev) and Orca (Stably) side by side on public data, as of Nov 7, 2026.
Orca has 2.4x the GitHub stars of Herdr (118K against 48.9K). Herdr shipped 7 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
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 | Herdr | Orca |
|---|---|---|
| Gid Score | 54 | 52 |
| Usage data as of | Nov 7 | Nov 7 |
| Rank by Gid Score | #26 | #37 |
| Downloads, last 7 days | — | — |
| Downloads, 7-day change | — | — |
| Downloads, 30-day change | — | — |
| VS Code installs | — | — |
| Marketplace rating | — | — |
| GitHub stars | 48.9K | 118K |
| Homebrew installs, 30 days | — | — |
| Hacker News mentions, 30 days | 16 | 4 |
| Latest stable release | 0.9.5 · 24d ago | 1.4.252 · today |
| Stable releases, 90 days | 7 | — |
| Terminal-Bench (best run) | — | — |
| Price | Free (OSS) | Free (OSS) |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| First released | March 2026 | March 2026 |
| Interfaces | — | Desktop app, Mobile app, CLI |
| Models | — | — |
A dash means there is no public data for that metric as of Nov 7, 2026.
Trends
Herdr
Open-source workspace for running coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex in real terminals: a terminal app (Herdr TUI) and a native desktop app built on herdr-core, a local server that keeps agents running after the window closes. The sidebar shows which agent is working, done or waiting, remote machines join over SSH, and agents can start other agents and get their reports back.
Pricing: Open source under Apache-2.0 (Herdr TUI, the desktop app and herdr-core); you bring your own coding agents and their plans.
Latest release 0.9.5:
- Prefix shortcuts work again when the terminal sends the next key as plain text. This affected Tern, Chinese, Japanese and Korean input methods on macOS, and Ghostty text: keybinds that send the…
- Codex sessions no longer start with a "clamping Interrupt hook timeout" warning. Herdr no longer installs Codex turn hooks, and Codex status comes from screen detection again.
- Claude Code questions show as blocked in named sessions.
- On Windows, plugin panes start even when a folder on PATH has the same name as the plugin's program.
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. The project says it can also run agents on a remote machine over SSH, with file editing, git and terminals.
Pricing: Free and open source (MIT).
Latest release 1.4.252:
- 📱 A smoother experience on your phone: The phone opens and reconnects sooner, scrolls and streams chats more smoothly, reads Markdown and math better, and keeps unsent chat, review and Tasks text…
- 🗂️ Organize workspaces across machines: Nest workspaces under a folder workspace, including workspaces on other machines.
- 🌿 Do more with Chat UI: Fork any finished response to try another direction while the original chat stays as it was.
- 🖥️ A more reliable terminal: Terminal panes keep their zoom and restored scrollback, copied files paste as full paths, and busy terminal output takes less work to render.
Herdr vs Orca: common questions
Do Herdr and Orca support MCP servers?
Orca documents support for MCP servers; Herdr's documentation does not.