Facts checked · Anthropic
Claude Cowork alternative: MausBot
A Claude Cowork alternative that is open source and runs Claude beside Codex and Grok: a team of agents on your own machine, free, on the Claude plan you have.
Claude Cowork is Anthropic's app for giving Claude your files, apps and browser, now part of the single Claude experience on every paid plan. MausBot is the open source Cowork alternative: a team of agents on your own machine where a Claude bot sits next to Codex and Grok bots, with approval cards and your data on your own disk.
What Claude Cowork is
Cowork launched as a macOS research preview on January 12, 2026, reached Windows on February 10, went GA in April, and on September 16, 2026 was folded into one unified Claude experience where Claude picks the mode. It plans, spawns sub-agents, reads and writes files, produces Office documents, researches the web and runs in a sandboxed Linux VM, with the desktop kept open for local files and the browser, with connectors, scheduled tasks and cloud sessions that continue with the laptop closed.
Launched: January 12, 2026 (preview); merged into Claude on September 16, 2026. Sources: Anthropic support: get started with Claude Cowork.
Why people look for a Claude Cowork alternative
- Single vendor, single model: no Codex or Grok, no local models, no bring-your-own key.
- Closed source: no harness to read, nothing to audit or air-gap.
- Usage caps: user reports of Pro subscribers hitting limits in minutes on agentic tasks.
- The desktop must stay open for local file, browser and computer access.
Claude Cowork vs MausBot
The Claude Cowork column comes from the vendor's own pages and the press cited above, checked on September 22, 2026. Where the vendor has not said, the cell says so.
| Claude Cowork | MausBot | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | All paid Claude plans: Pro $20, Max $100 or $200, Team, Enterprise; no free tier | Free. Model usage on the Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok account you already have. |
| Models | Claude only | Claude, Codex, Grok, and other CLIs, chosen per bot; switch mid-conversation |
| Local models or your own key | No | Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, for chat |
| Agents | One Claude with sub-agents | As many bots as you like, in group rooms |
| Where it runs | A sandboxed Linux VM; the desktop must stay open for local files; cloud sessions | Your own machine; or a cloud desktop per bot |
| Before it acts | Plans you review first; our sources do not describe a per-command gate. A reported rm -rf incident wiped about 15,000 family photos | Allow / Deny cards for shell commands and file edits; answer cards for questions |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux beta, web, iOS, Android, Chrome side panel | macOS, Windows, Ubuntu; iOS and Android companions |
| Documents | Excel, PowerPoint, Word, PDF | No document-generation feature |
| Open source | No | Yes. Apache 2.0, app and harness, on GitHub |
What MausBot is
MausBot is a free, open-source chat app where every contact is an AI bot with its own model, its own computer, and its own connected apps. Bots run on the claude, codex, and grok CLIs installed on your own machine, with your existing logins, so one bot can be on Claude and the next on ChatGPT. Shell commands and file edits surface as Allow / Deny cards before they run, bots share group rooms and hand work to each other, and your data stays in ~/.openmausbot on your disk. It is published on GitHub under Apache 2.0, with iOS and Android companions, and paid Cloud plans from $29 a month keep bots working with the laptop closed.
What Claude Cowork still does better
- Produces Excel, PowerPoint, Word and PDF documents directly.
- A Chrome side panel, cloud sessions that continue with the laptop closed, and first-party connectors to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
- Made by the company that makes the model.
Other Claude Cowork alternatives
MausBot is the open-source option. The other agents in this category, each with its own comparison page:
- Bops by Orgo (Organic Intelligence, Inc.): Bops is a macOS app from Nick Vasilescu, co-founder of Orgo, the cloud-computer company.
- Grok Bot by xAI: Grok Bot has been in beta since August 11, 2026.
- Meta Muse by Meta: Muse launched on September 8, 2026 from Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- OpenAI dots by OpenAI: Dots launched at DevDay on September 29, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Claude Cowork work on Windows?
- Yes, since February 10, 2026. The Windows complaint you still see in older threads is out of date.
- Can I use Cowork with a local model?
- No. Cowork is Claude only. MausBot bots can point at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint for chat, which is how a local model plugs in.
- Can I use my Claude subscription in MausBot?
- Yes. A MausBot bot on Claude runs the claude CLI with your existing login; your plan's limits apply as they do in Claude Code.
- Which is the best open source Cowork alternative?
- OpenWork, Eigent and Kuse Cowork are the other open-source options; MausBot is the one shaped as a team of bots on several models rather than one Claude workspace.
Read more
- Claude Cowork alternative: open source, any model, Windows: the full comparison this page summarises.
- MausBot vs Claude Code: what each is for, and using both
- Claude Code desktop app: the official GUI and 6 more