AI CodingBackground agents
Background agents
Cloud agents that take a task and work on it asynchronously, returning a pull request. Editorial
Prices in this segmentChanges 38Comparisons 9
- Tools tracked
- 6
- Monthly entry price
- Per plan $20/mo4 of 6 tools · per-plan median $20/mo
- Lowest paid plan billed monthly, as a range per price basis (per plan, per seat, per user) — bases are never mixed
- Free tier
- 3of 6 verified
- Changes · 30 days
- 64 tools
- 20 pricing events on record (all time): price moves, plan, and availability changes
- Last 30 days
- This segment logged 6 verified changes in the last 30 days. No comparison with the 30 days before: direct tracking does not cover all of them.
- Last 30 days (evidence for last 30 days)
- Share of changes
- 6 of 71 (8%) verified changes across all tracked tools in the last 30 days came from this segment (4 tools with a change). It holds 6 of 72 tracked tools (8%).
- This segment · 30 days (evidence for share of changes)All · 30 days (evidence for share of changes)Tracked tools (evidence for share of changes)
- Most changes
- Amp (3), Augment Code (1), Ona (1), and 1 other tool. Median per tool: 1.
- Last 30 days (evidence for most changes)
- Monthly entry price
- 4 of 6 tools have a verified monthly entry price — 4 per plan: at $20/mo, median $20/mo. Of the other 2: 1 has only a free plan and 1 has no verified price.
- Prices (evidence for monthly entry price)
- Free tiers
- 3 of 6 tracked background agents have a verified free tier.
- Free tiers (evidence for free tiers)
- Activity
- Median 36 across 6 tools with a value, below the market median of 44. Observed change activity, not quality.
- Segment (evidence for activity)Market (evidence for activity)
Changes per week · Background agents
- Pricing & plans
- Releases
- Availability & platforms
- Ownership & names
| Week starting | Changes |
|---|---|
| 17 Aug 2026 | 0 |
| 24 Aug 2026 | 1 |
| 31 Aug 2026 | 1 |
| 7 Sept 2026 | 2 |
| 14 Sept 2026 | 2 |
| 21 Sept 2026 | 2 |
| 28 Sept 2026 | 0 |
| 5 Oct 2026 | 1 |
| 12 Oct 2026 | 2 |
| 19 Oct 2026 | 2 |
| 26 Oct 2026 | 1 |
| 2 Nov 2026 | 0 |
Recently active
- AmpAmp launches an Android app
- OnaOna Cloud will shut down on October 31, 2026
- OpenHandsOpenHands agents can run on DigitalOcean from Agent Canvas
- Augment CodeAugment Code sells Cosmos, Auggie CLI and its Context Engine to Harness
- FactoryFactory adds Factory Private for VPC, on-premises and air-gapped deployment
ActivityToolMarketCap Activity Index v1
- Amp76 / 100High confidence3 verified changes · 30d · 5 active days · 90d
- Ona42 / 100Moderate confidence1 verified change · 30d · 4 active days · 90d
- OpenHands38 / 100Moderate confidence1 verified change · 30d · 2 active days · 90d
- Augment Code34 / 100Moderate confidence1 verified change · 30d · 2 active days · 90d
- Factory26 / 100Moderate confidence0 verified changes · 30d · 2 active days · 90d
- Jules0 / 100Moderate confidence0 verified changes · 30d · 0 active days · 90d
Recorded change activity, ordered highest first — not quality, adoption, or popularity. Release cadence differs by segment. How it is calculated
Board
6 toolsOrdered by most recent verified change first · no ranking
| Select to compare | Segment | Delivery | The lowest verified paid plan billed monthly, in USD, read from the vendor’s own pricing page. Free plans and custom quotes are not entry prices. | Free tierYes when the vendor’s own pricing shows a plan that costs nothing to start — a verified $0 plan or a sourced free-tier fact. | ActivityThe Activity Index: 0–100 for how much verified, dated change was logged for the tool in the last 90 days. It measures activity — not quality, usage, or popularity.0–100 · 90 days | The most recent change logged from a first-party source — a price, plan, release, platform, availability, or ownership change — and how long ago it happened. | When the oldest current fact or price on this record was last checked against the vendor’s page. Everything in the row is at least this fresh. | How many of the standard profile facts are verified with a source. Gaps read “Not yet verified” — they are never guessed. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AmpMaker not yet verified | Background agents | Cloud agents | $20/moIndividual — Megawatt | Yes | 76 | Platform10 days ago Amp launches an Android app | 5 weeks ago | 7/9 | Background agentsFree tier5 weeks ago | |
OnaOpenAI | Background agents | Cloud agents | $20/moCore (from) | Not yet verified | 42 | Availability3 weeks ago Ona Cloud will shut down on October 31, 2026 | 5 weeks ago | 6/9 | Background agents5 weeks ago | |
OpenHandsMaker not yet verified | Background agents | Agent platform | Not yet verified | Yes | 38 | Platform3 weeks ago OpenHands agents can run on DigitalOcean from Agent Canvas | 5 weeks ago | 7/9 | Background agentsFree tier5 weeks ago | |
Augment CodeMaker not yet verified | Background agents | Cloud agents | $20/moStandard (flat, up to 50 seats) | Not yet verified | 34 | Ownership4 weeks ago Augment Code sells Cosmos, Auggie CLI and its Context Engine to Harness | 5 weeks ago | 7/9 | Background agents5 weeks ago | |
FactoryFactory | Background agents | Cloud agents | $20/moPro | Not yet verified | 26 | Availability7 weeks ago Factory adds Factory Private for VPC, on-premises and air-gapped deployment | 5 weeks ago | 5/9 | Background agents5 weeks ago | |
JulesGoogle | Background agents | Cloud agents | Not yet verified | Yes | 0 | Release8 months ago Gemini 3.1 Pro becomes available in Jules | 5 weeks ago | 5/9 | Background agentsFree tier5 weeks ago |
Activity is the 0–100 Activity Index: verified change over 90 days, not quality. How it is measured →
Select two rows to compare them side by side.
Entry prices & free tiers
Lowest verified paid monthly list price per tool, ordered by price — not a ranking. “—” means not yet verified.
Latest releases
- AmpRelease
Amp becomes an agent in Linear
Assigning or mentioning Amp on a Linear issue starts a Linear Agent Session and spawns an orb; the session also appears in Amp's sidebar.
ampcode.com
- AmpRelease
Amp runners can be shared with a whole workspace
Start a runner with --share and everyone in the workspace can start threads on that machine from ampcode.com.
ampcode.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 24 Sept 2026Amp — Chronicle (product news)https://ampcode.com/news/shared-runners ↗ - OpenHandsRelease
OpenHands 1.23 ships a universal macOS desktop build
The desktop app ships as a universal macOS DMG with per-architecture bundled runtimes.
github.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 23 Sept 2026OpenHands — GitHub releaseshttps://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands/releases/tag/v1.23.0 ↗ - Augment CodeRelease
Augment's IntelliJ plugin asks before reading sensitive files
IntelliJ plugin v0.491.0: the agent asks for approval before reading .env files, private keys, certificates, and credential-named files, and MCP over HTTP now uses the configured proxy.
augmentcode.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 14 Sept 2026Augment Code — official changeloghttps://www.augmentcode.com/changelog ↗ - OnaRelease
Codex in Ona follows the organization's configured model access
Inherited Codex access tokens no longer override the model access configured for the organization.
ona.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 31 Aug 2026Ona — official changeloghttps://ona.com/docs/changelog ↗
Alternatives in Background agents
Comparisons in this segment
What changed
- AmpPlatform
Amp's mobile app, previously on iOS and macOS, becomes available on Android, with threads, portals and changes views.
ampcode.com
- AmpPlatform
Amp orbs can run on self-hosted infrastructure
Teams can run an orb provider inside their own infrastructure (Docker, E2B, Kubernetes and others) so Amp spawns, pauses and deletes orbs on compute they control.
ampcode.com
- AmpRelease
Amp becomes an agent in Linear
Assigning or mentioning Amp on a Linear issue starts a Linear Agent Session and spawns an orb; the session also appears in Amp's sidebar.
ampcode.com
- OnaAvailability
Ona Cloud will shut down on October 31, 2026
Following Ona's move to OpenAI, Ona Cloud winds down on October 31, 2026; new sign-ups have closed, October payments and unused credits will be refunded, and users are pointed to Codex Cloud.
ona.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 13 Oct 2026Ona — storieshttps://ona.com/stories/ona-core-shutdown ↗ - OpenHandsPlatform
OpenHands agents can run on DigitalOcean from Agent Canvas
With OpenHands 1.27.0, developers can create and manage DigitalOcean-hosted agents in isolated microVM sandboxes directly from Agent Canvas.
openhands.dev
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 13 Oct 2026OpenHands — bloghttps://www.openhands.dev/blog/run-digitalocean-managed-agents-with-openhands ↗ - Augment CodeOwnership
Augment Code sells Cosmos, Auggie CLI and its Context Engine to Harness
Augment Code agrees to sell select assets, including Cosmos, the Auggie CLI and the Code Context Engine, to Harness, and the team behind them moves to Harness.
augmentcode.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 8 Oct 2026Augment Code — bloghttps://www.augmentcode.com/blog/augment-code-next-chapter ↗ - AmpRelease
Amp runners can be shared with a whole workspace
Start a runner with --share and everyone in the workspace can start threads on that machine from ampcode.com.
ampcode.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 24 Sept 2026Amp — Chronicle (product news)https://ampcode.com/news/shared-runners ↗ - OpenHandsRelease
OpenHands 1.23 ships a universal macOS desktop build
The desktop app ships as a universal macOS DMG with per-architecture bundled runtimes.
github.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 23 Sept 2026OpenHands — GitHub releaseshttps://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands/releases/tag/v1.23.0 ↗ - FactoryAvailability
Factory adds Factory Private for VPC, on-premises and air-gapped deployment
Factory introduces two deployment models, Factory Managed and Factory Private, the latter for VPCs, on-premises and air-gapped networks.
factory.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 18 Sept 2026Factory — newshttps://factory.com/news/factory-private ↗ - Augment CodeRelease
Augment's IntelliJ plugin asks before reading sensitive files
IntelliJ plugin v0.491.0: the agent asks for approval before reading .env files, private keys, certificates, and credential-named files, and MCP over HTTP now uses the configured proxy.
augmentcode.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 14 Sept 2026Augment Code — official changeloghttps://www.augmentcode.com/changelog ↗
Pricing in this segment
- OnaAvailability
Ona Cloud will shut down on October 31, 2026
Following Ona's move to OpenAI, Ona Cloud winds down on October 31, 2026; new sign-ups have closed, October payments and unused credits will be refunded, and users are pointed to Codex Cloud.
ona.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 13 Oct 2026Ona — storieshttps://ona.com/stories/ona-core-shutdown ↗ - FactoryAvailability
Factory adds Factory Private for VPC, on-premises and air-gapped deployment
Factory introduces two deployment models, Factory Managed and Factory Private, the latter for VPCs, on-premises and air-gapped networks.
factory.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 18 Sept 2026Factory — newshttps://factory.com/news/factory-private ↗ - AmpPlans
Amp adds a free Hobby tier for bring-your-own compute and models
Amp becomes free to use with your own compute and model subscriptions or keys, introducing a free Hobby tier and removing BYOK token fees outside Enterprise; it charges for remote orbs.
ampcode.com
- FactoryPlans
Factory Pro plan adds managed computers with five compute hours a month
Factory's Pro plan now includes managed computers with five compute hours each month.
docs.factory.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 9 Sept 2026Factory — changeloghttps://docs.factory.com/changelog/cli-updates ↗ - OnaAvailability
Ona Cloud drops the Anthropic harness on Ona-managed model access
Ona says the Anthropic harness is no longer available with Ona-managed model access, effective immediately, and migrates existing automations to equivalent OpenAI models; enterprise BYOK customers can keep their own Anthropic keys for now.
ona.com
ObservedHigh confidencePublished 5 Aug 2026Ona — storieshttps://ona.com/stories/anthropic-model-access-in-ona ↗