Factory deploys "droids" — AI agents that automate software delivery tasks including coding, review, and testing. It targets engineering teams that want autonomous software delivery. Droids run from a local CLI/terminal UI and desktop app, and a Bring Your Own Machine mode lets you register your own Linux, macOS, or Windows hardware as a droid computer, so Factory is not strictly cloud-only — but the orchestration and accounts remain Factory's managed platform.
If you want similar autonomous software delivery capabilities fully self-hosted, without vendor lock-in or per-seat SaaS pricing, here are the alternatives most commonly considered alongside Factory.
Where Fleet fits
Factory is a managed platform that orchestrates agents for you. Fleet is the self-hosted alternative for teams that want to own their agent infrastructure. Fleet orchestrates Claude Code agents using a fabric event bus, assigns work based on GitHub label changes, enforces per-agent budgets, and keeps a full audit trail — all running on your own hardware, with your source code staying private (it goes only to your model backend and GitHub). For teams evaluating Factory but concerned about data residency, vendor dependence, or per-seat pricing, Fleet plus Claude Code covers most of the same workflow on your own terms.
How to choose
Pick Factory if you want a fully managed SaaS agent platform with minimal internal infrastructure.
Pick Devin if you want a managed cloud agent focused on discrete coding tasks.
Pick OpenHands if you want self-hosted autonomy with a Docker-based sandbox.
Pick Fleet if you want the orchestration and governance that Factory provides but self-hosted on your own infrastructure, with your source code staying private.
