Orca vs Paperclip
Orca (Stably) and Paperclip (Paperclip) side by side on public data, as of Oct 21, 2026.
Orca and Paperclip are close on GitHub stars (100K and 105K). Paperclip shipped 10 stable releases in the past 90 days.
Which should you choose?
Choose Orca if
- you want to switch between model providers (9 documented against 4)
Choose Paperclip if
- you want to use your own model API key
- you want the one gaining users faster (downloads up 100% in 30 days)
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 | Orca | Paperclip |
|---|---|---|
| Gid Score | 51 | 58 |
| Usage data as of | Oct 21 | Oct 21 |
| Rank by Gid Score | #36 | #23 |
| Downloads, last 7 days | — | 41.1K |
| Downloads, 7-day change | — | down 13.0% |
| Downloads, 30-day change | — | up 100.4% |
| VS Code installs | — | — |
| Marketplace rating | — | — |
| GitHub stars | 100K | 105K |
| Homebrew installs, 30 days | — | — |
| Hacker News mentions, 30 days | 3 | 104 |
| Latest stable release | 1.4.235 · yesterday | 2026.1012.0 · 9d ago |
| Stable releases, 90 days | 10 | |
| Terminal-Bench (best run) | — | — |
| Price | Free (OSS) | Free (OSS) |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| First released | March 2026 | March 2026 |
| Interfaces | Desktop app, Mobile app, CLI | Web app, CLI, Self-hosted |
| Models |
Trends
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 1.4.235:
- Rewind Claude chats: Use Rewind to here on a message that started a turn, edit your prompt, and take the conversation in a new direction. Claude continues from the history you kept.
- Your chat, your settings: Each conversation remembers its own model, effort and Fast settings. Switching models keeps compatible choices, and changes to an agent's defaults no longer silently move…
- Keep more of your agent's work: Completed replies and tool results are saved in full rather than cut off at the preview limit. Use Show full output on desktop or phone, or Show full message on…
- Less waiting, less background work: New Chat opens the composer immediately, Codex chats get the time they need to start, and the workspace jump palette is preloaded. The editor watches active,…
Paperclip
Open-source Node.js server and React app for running a team of AI agents toward a business goal. You define the goal, give agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode or OpenClaw roles in an org chart, set a budget per agent and approve the plan, then follow tasks, costs and an append-only audit log from one dashboard. A hosted Paperclip Cloud is on a waitlist.
Pricing: Free and open source (MIT), self-hosted. Paperclip Cloud has a waitlist and no public price.
Latest release 2026.1012.0:
- Workspace restore locks change protocol; stop every old process before upgrading. Restore and agent-file collection locks are now OS-backed SQLite file locks under <instance…
- Stored tool grants are enforced as written. A grant whose scope.allow list does not match a tool, connection, or application no longer falls through to a broader policy; grants with unknown…
- Assistants join your team over MCP — A new "Assistant Connection (MCP)" card in Connections lets Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, and generic MCP clients connect to Paperclip through browser OAuth or…
- Chat leads the way — With Agent Chat enabled in the streamlined UI (the default shell), Chat is the first row in the Work navigation, the chat rail lists every eligible agent, and the side panel…
Orca vs Paperclip: common questions
Which is more popular, Orca or Paperclip?
Paperclip has a Gid Score of 58 against 51 for Orca. The score combines package downloads, editor installs, GitHub activity and attention, updated daily.