Emdash vs Open Code (2026)

Pros

• Fully open source (MIT) with zero cost and no vendor lock-in — 2,900+ stars and 220K+ downloads
• True multi-agent parallelism with Git worktree isolation preventing conflicts between agents
• Provider agnostic supporting 23+ coding agent CLIs from all major providers
• End-to-end workflow from issue tracker to PR merge including diff review and CI/CD checks
• Remote SSH support enabling use with cloud dev environments and powerful remote hardware

Cons

• No built-in AI — requires separate paid subscriptions for each coding agent CLI
• Electron-based and can be resource-heavy when running 20+ agents concurrently
• Enterprise features like team management and auth are planned but not yet shipped
• Early-stage desktop app at v0.4.x — users may encounter stability issues

Pros

• Open-source under MIT — 147K+ GitHub stars, no vendor lock-in
• Privacy-first design with zero data retention
• 75+ providers including local, GitHub Copilot, and ChatGPT Plus/Pro accounts
• Multi-session parallel agents (build + plan modes)
• Free with optional Zen service for optimized models

Cons