7 Best Claude Cowork Alternatives for Teams in 2026

Anthropic describes Claude Cowork as a way to delegate multi-step knowledge work across the files and tools you choose, then review the finished result. It runs on desktop, web and mobile, and the desktop app can reach local folders and applications.

Teams start looking elsewhere for a few recurring reasons. Comparison write-ups point to work that keeps running in the background with shared team context, access from the browser and the tools a team already uses, and running several agent sessions side by side with more than one model. Others want source they can inspect and host themselves.

We compared seven tools on three questions a team buyer asks first: where the agent does its work, whether teammates can see and steer that work, and how a person approves what goes out. Product details were checked on each vendor's own site on 3 October 2026. Kylon is our product, so it is listed first.

Quick comparison

1. Kylon

Kylon is a workspace where agents are members of the team. Each agent has its own identity, memory, skills and permissions, and several of them can sit in the same Room with the people they work for.

• Where the work happens: You ask for the work in a Room, in plain language. The agent reads the thread that is already there and posts the result back into it, so the request, the work and the review stay in one place.
• Shared by default: Everyone in the Room sees what an agent did and can pick it up in the same thread. More than one agent can carry different parts of a piece of work and hand off to each other.
• Tools: Agents reach your accounts through Connections, with more than 3,000 services available. Apps give the team trackers and internal tools with their own data, next to the conversation.
• Approval: Sensitive actions, such as an outgoing email, stop as a draft until the person who asked approves them.
• Repeat work: A run you want again is saved as a workflow on a schedule or trigger, and posts into the same Room each time.
• Bring your own agents: Claude Code, Codex and Devin can join a Room as members, next to the business agents.

Best for: teams across sales, operations, marketing and finance that want agents to finish shared work, not only one person's tasks. For a deeper look at the two approaches, see Kylon vs Claude Cowork vs ChatGPT Work.

2. ChatGPT workspace agents

OpenAI positions workspace agents as shared agents that turn a team's knowledge and repeatable processes into workflows across connected tools.

• Where it runs: Agents run in the cloud and are used from ChatGPT or Slack, and scheduled runs can continue while people are away.
• Sharing: Agents can be shared through an organisation link or directory, and owners can give teammates edit access to the agent draft.
• Tools: Builders add apps, custom MCP connections, skills and files.
• Approval: App write actions ask for approval by default.

Best for: teams that already work in ChatGPT and want to standardise repeatable workflows.

3. Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork

Microsoft describes Copilot Cowork as an agent that plans and completes multi-step work across business applications using the user's work context.

• Where it runs: People use it from a browser, the Copilot desktop app or the Copilot mobile app.
• Context: Work IQ supplies context from email, meetings, files and business data, and plugins extend it to other systems.
• Sharing: It edits existing Office files in OneDrive and SharePoint and posts results to Teams channels or chats.
• Approval: It pauses before important actions such as sending email or scheduling meetings.

Best for: teams whose work already runs on Microsoft 365. See also Kylon vs Microsoft Copilot.

4. Dust

Dust describes itself as multiplayer AI that connects company knowledge, tools and teams so people can create, share and run agents.

• Where it runs: Agents are used in the Dust web app or called from Slack.
• Sharing: Pods combine shared conversations, tasks and files, and agents can reference earlier discussions.
• Tools: It connects systems such as Slack, Notion, Google Drive, GitHub, Salesforce and Zendesk.
• People in the loop: Builders can tell agents to escalate to named colleagues when human input is needed.

Best for: cross-functional teams building agents around shared company knowledge. See also Kylon vs Dust.

5. Lindy

Lindy presents itself as an AI teammate that connects company tools and context to complete work for the whole team.

• Where it runs: People use Lindy in Slack DMs, and teams work with it in shared channels.
• Context: Workspace context includes reusable skills, scheduled routines and memory.
• Tools: It supports app integrations and MCP, and connections can be shared across the workspace.
• Approval: Write actions can require approval through Slack buttons in shared threads.

Best for: teams that delegate cross-tool projects from Slack. See also Kylon vs Lindy.

6. Manus

Manus describes itself as a general-purpose agent with its own computer that plans, executes and delivers complete work products.

• Where it runs: In a virtual computer with internet access and a cloud browser.
• Sharing: Collab lets an owner invite teammates into one task to see the history, prompt Manus and refine outputs together.
• Tools: It connects through MCP integrations, Zapier and an API.
• In Slack: Manus posts progress and results in the tagged thread for the team to review.

Best for: teams co-creating research, reports and presentations. See also our Manus alternatives guide.

7. OpenWork

OpenWork describes itself as an open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and Codex, where agents work on your files and teams reuse shared capabilities.

• Where it runs: A desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, on a folder and model you choose, including local models.
• Sharing: Teams distribute skills, plugins and connectors through OpenWork Cloud or a self-hosted control plane.
• Tools: Shared MCP connectors can use each person's account or one shared account.
• Memory: Agents can search earlier session transcripts for context.

Best for: teams that want an open-source desktop agent and shared tooling.

How to choose

Start from where the work should live. If it is one person's files and documents, Claude Cowork or OpenWork keep it on that person's desk. If your team already lives in ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 or Slack, the agents built into those tools meet people there. If the work belongs to a team, with several people and several agents carrying different parts of it, a shared workspace keeps the request, the work and the approval in one thread.

Kylon is that shared workspace. Plans are on the pricing page.