Claude Cowork is closed source, runs Anthropic-only models, has no self-host option, and needs a paid subscription. If any of those four constraints is why you are looking for a Claude Cowork alternative, the decision comes down to three things you actually end up owning. Kortix is the open-source alternative to work through them with.
Kortix is the open-source AI Management System and the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work. The whole company — agents, skills, memory, connector config and triggers — lives as files in one git repo you own. It runs any model with your own keys, self-hosts on a laptop, a VPS, your VPC or on-prem, or runs as managed cloud at $40/seat/month plus usage (self-hosting is free). Every session gets its own isolated Linux machine, and finished work lands as a change request a person reads as a diff.
1. What you own
Ownership is the first thing to test. In Claude Cowork the agent lives inside the Claude desktop app and gets access to a folder you grant; the platform underneath is Anthropic's. In Kortix the configuration is text you can grep, diff and roll back, and there is a documented path that moves existing agents, skills and memory into a repository you own — the migration guide maps that move step by step. If part of the appeal is knowing what a closed platform can do with company data, the Claude Cowork open-source page explains what closed source means in practice.
2. How you evaluate the rest of the field
Once ownership is settled, compare on the axes that decide a self-hosted deployment: model choice, hosting options, connector breadth and the review gate on changes. Kortix keeps the comparison honest by putting itself in the first row against both open and closed tools — OpenWork, OpenHands, Cursor, ChatGPT agent and Perplexity Computer — with sourced detail on each. Start from the full comparison, then read the head-to-head Kortix vs Claude Cowork page for the ownership, model, hosting and cost columns side by side.
3. How you run it
A self-hosted stack is only a real option if it comes up. Kortix connects 3,000+ apps plus any MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL or HTTP API, with connector credentials brokered server-side so they never enter the machine. The install guide covers the one-command start; the self-hosting guide covers evaluation mode, updates and backups; and the FAQ answers the common open-source Claude Cowork questions. Kortix is open source (Elastic License 2.0) — self-host, read and modify the code. The rest of the field, and where a self-hosted option fits, is collected at the open-source Claude Cowork hub.
A Claude Cowork alternative is worth switching to when it moves configuration, not workflows. Pick the repo you own, point each agent at your own model keys, re-attach your apps, and the rest of the work stays the same.
Get started with open-source Kortix at kortix.com, or read the code behind the open-source Claude Cowork alternative at Kortix on GitHub.
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