Factory vs OpenHands (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Factory grades higher than OpenHands: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Factory grades higher on features and ease of use. OpenHands grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Factory
Coding agents called Droids for desktop, terminal and web
OpenHands
Open-source platform for AI coding agents and automations
Which one is for you
Pick Factory if
- Fits if you already pay for ChatGPT or Copilot and want to run a coding agent on it
- Works for a developer who wants desktop, terminal and SDK in one product
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: the page shows monthly figures without saying whether they are billed monthly or annually
- Pricey if you want more usage: Plus and Max are only 5x and 10x Pro with no token numbers
- Not for you if you need SSO, SAML or audit logs, which are Business and Enterprise with no price
- Tight if you are a group over 10, as Teams covers up to 10 seats
Pick OpenHands if
- Fits if you can self-host and want coding agents on your own machine
- Makes sense if you already pay an LLM provider and want to use that key
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a hosted service, as the pricing page lists no vendor-hosted plan
- Tight if you grow, since Teams is capped at 10 users and 5,000 sessions a month
- Watch out: every plan needs your own LLM key and that cost is paid separately
- Watch out: SSO and roles are not in the free version
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAFactoryGood | 2.4GPAOpenHandsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $20 a month, in the middle of the category, with Plus at $100 and Max at $200. | BAgent Canvas is free (MIT) on your own machine, but the LLM bill is yours. Teams is $500 a month for 10 users, $50 a seat past that. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree works if you sign in with ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot or OpenRouter, or use your own keys, so the model costs are yours. | BA free open-source program you can run on a laptop, with no caps, but with your own LLM key and one shared identity. |
| Features | BDroids across desktop, terminal, web and SDK, with code review, automations and analytics; the listing shows no gap in the core job. | CBring-your-own-agent canvas, event-driven automations and team controls. The listing's gaps: no roles or SSO on the free version and no vendor-hosted plan. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It has a terminal quickstart and model and key setup to do. | DNo store rating, and the route is to self-host it on a laptop or shared VM. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Mac, Windows and Linux with four integrations; no phone app is listed. | BWeb, with GitHub, Slack, Jira, Linear and Notion listed, plus an SDK. |
| Best for | coding agents called Droids | running coding agents on your own machine for free |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Factory and OpenHands. How we grade
Price against what you get
Factory starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. OpenHands starts at $500 a month and scores 2.0.
Factory scores higher and starts $480 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 4 score higher than Factory for less, and 57 score higher than OpenHands for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- OpenHands is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Factory | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $20 per individual / month (billing basis not stated) | $500 per month for up to 10 users |
| Free plan | Bring your own inference by signing in with ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot or OpenRouter, or by connecting your own API keys. | Agent Canvas is free and open source (MIT) to self-host on a laptop or shared VM, with your own LLM key and a single shared identity. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | The San Francisco AI Factory, Inc. | OpenHands |
| Price read from | factory.com | openhands.dev |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Factory
- The pricing page shows monthly figures without saying whether they are billed monthly or annually.
- Plus and Max are described only as roughly 5x and 10x the usage of Pro; no token or task numbers are given.
- Business and Enterprise have no published price, and SSO, SAML/SCIM and audit logging sit behind them.
- The Teams plan covers up to 10 seats; larger groups are routed to sales.
OpenHands
- You pay your LLM provider separately: every plan is bring-your-own-key.
- Teams is capped at 10 users (+$50 a month per seat) and 5,000 sessions a month.
- The free Agent Canvas has a single shared identity, with no user roles or SSO.
- Teams and Enterprise are self-hosted; the pricing page lists no vendor-hosted plan.
Key features
Factory
- Droid agents
- Droids plan, build and validate changes in a repository. The CLI quickstart shows the agent proposing edits and waiting for review before it changes files.
- Desktop, terminal, web and SDK
- The homepage lists desktop, terminal, web and CLI surfaces, and the docs cover an SDK, a sessions API and a non-interactive exec mode.
- Model routing
- Tasks can be routed across models, and the pricing page says the platform supports frontier and open-weight models from several providers.
- Code review and Automations
- Droids can review pull requests with inline comments, and Automations put repeated engineering work on a schedule.
- Analytics and Agent Readiness
- Per-developer and per-team usage reports, plus a readiness score for each repository, are listed as enterprise-facing features.
- Governance and deployment options
- Business and Enterprise plans add SSO, audit logging, zero data retention and admin controls, and Enterprise lists on-premise deployment.
OpenHands
- Agent Canvas
- A workspace for chatting with coding agents, customizing them and setting automations, run locally with your own LLM key.
- Bring your own agent
- Use third-party agents such as Claude and Codex alongside OpenHands, with MCP servers and secrets on every plan.
- Event-driven automations
- Start work from GitHub, Slack, Jira, Linear, schedules or other integrations, such as PR review or CI-failure fixes.
- Team controls
- Teams adds user identity and RBAC, SSO/SAML, budgeting and usage controls, and built-in OAuth integrations.
- SDK and control plane
- The product menu lists an SDK and an Agent Control Plane for building and governing agents across an organization.
Plans
Factory
Free$0
per individual / month
Bring your own inference: sign in with ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot or OpenRouter, or use your own API keys or endpoint.
Pro$20
per individual / month, billing basis not stated
Desktop, CLI and SDK access with full model availability.
Plus$100
per individual / month, billing basis not stated
Everything in Pro with about 5x the usage.
Max$200
per individual / month, billing basis not stated
Everything in Pro with about 10x the usage.
Teams$60
per team / month, plus $40 per individual / month
Everything in Pro for up to 10 seats, with centralized billing.
Business and EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales: custom limits, SSO, SAML/SCIM, audit logs; Enterprise adds on-premise options and data residency.
OpenHands
Agent Canvas$0
Open source (MIT), self-hosted on your laptop or a shared VM; bring your own LLM key and agent.
Teams$500
per month for up to 10 users
Self-hosted, multi-user RBAC, SSO/SAML, budgeting, built-in integrations; +$50 a month per extra seat.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited seats and organizations, enterprise agreement, SLA-based support and a customer success manager.
Ways to pay less
Factory
No public discounts listed.
OpenHands
- Other savings
30-day trial of Teams
The Teams plan is listed with a 30-day trial that can be started from the pricing page.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Factory or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Factory is cheaper to start with: $20 a month, against $500 a month for OpenHands. Factory starts at $20 per individual / month (billing basis not stated), and OpenHands starts at $500 per month for up to 10 users.
Which has a free plan, Factory or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Factory and OpenHands have a free plan.
Which platforms do Factory and OpenHands run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Factory lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.