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Comparison

Fleet vs Factory: Self-Hosted Orchestration vs Cloud AI Development Platform

Factory is an agent-native development platform with a free tier, a $20/mo Pro plan, and local droids (CLI / BYO machine) as well as IDE and web surfaces. Fleet is a self-hosted orchestration layer that coordinates a governed team of Claude Code agents through a GitHub-native event chain.

Factory provides AI 'droids' for software engineering across the IDE, the command line, and the web — with a free forever tier (bring your own keys), paid plans starting at $20/month, and the ability to run droids locally on your own machine. It is a broad agent-native platform for delegating code-level tasks.

Fleet takes a different approach: a single Go binary that you self-host, wiring together specialized agents (developer, reviewer, release-manager) through a GitHub-native event chain with role-based governance. It is leaner and more tightly focused on the autonomous dev-review-release loop than a broad coding-agent platform.

Choose Fleet if

Teams that want self-hosted, GitHub-native multi-agent orchestration with role-based governance and an autonomous event chain.

Choose Factory if

Developers and teams who want flexible AI coding droids across the IDE, terminal, and web — with a free tier, low-cost paid plans, and the option to run droids locally.

Fleet vs. Factory: side by side

FeatureFleetFactory
DeploymentSelf-hosted Go binaryCloud platform; droids also run locally via CLI (BYO machine)
Agent runnerRuns Claude Code as the agent runnerFactory's own droids and model stack
Agent coordinationEvent-driven Fabric bus with role-based handoffsPer-droid task delegation
GitHub integrationNative label watcher, PR lifecycle, release gate built-inGitHub integration via platform connectors
GovernancePer-agent run-time budgets, 6-dim evaluation, auto-quarantine risk model, approval gates, audit logTeam/enterprise controls on paid tiers
Pricing modelFree tier + $49/slot/mo Team tierFree tier + Pro from $20/mo + Enterprise

Where Fleet is the better fit

  • Self-hosted single binary with no third-party platform in the loop beyond model API calls
  • Event-driven role-to-role handoffs (dev to reviewer to release-manager) run autonomously
  • GitHub label automation drives the chain without platform-specific connectors
  • Governance stack: run-time budgets, 6-dimension evaluation, and a separate auto-quarantine risk model

Where Factory is the better fit

  • Flexible surfaces — droids in the IDE, terminal, and web, with a free tier to start
  • Low cost floor: free forever (BYO keys) and Pro from $20/month
  • Local droids via the CLI let developers keep code and work on their own machine
  • Broad coding-agent capability for delegating tickets without standing up an orchestration daemon

Pricing

Factory has a free tier (bring your own keys) and Pro plans starting at $20/month, with Max and Enterprise tiers above that. Fleet's Team tier is $49 per agent slot per month with a permanent free single-slot tier.

Do they compete, or coexist?

Factory and Fleet sit at different layers. A developer can use Factory droids interactively in the IDE or terminal while Fleet runs the autonomous reviewer and release-manager chain in the background. Teams that want both flexible interactive droids and a governed autonomous pipeline can pair them.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fleet a viable alternative to Factory?

They overlap but emphasize different things. Factory is a flexible coding-agent platform with IDE, CLI, and web droids and a free tier. Fleet is a self-hosted orchestration layer that runs a governed, autonomous team of Claude Code agents reacting to GitHub events. The right choice depends on whether you want interactive droids or an autonomous governed pipeline.

How long does it take to set up Fleet compared to Factory?

Fleet can be installed and running in under an hour with a basic config. Factory, as a managed platform, handles infrastructure setup for you but may require more onboarding time for enterprise integration. Fleet's setup overhead is configuration rather than infrastructure.

More comparisons

Fleet vs. Devin →Fleet vs. OpenHands →Fleet vs. Conductor →

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