# Cua review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Shared desktops on your own computers for you and your AI agents Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Cua Spaces turns Macs, Linux machines and cloud VMs that you own or rent into desktops that AI agents can operate and people can watch or share. Cua does not host the computers; it supplies the app, sharing and a relay for reaching them. The open-source Cua Driver lets agents use native desktop apps on macOS, Windows and Linux. - **Category:** AI Agents - **Made by:** Cua AI, Inc. - **Website:** https://cua.ai - **Runs on:** macOS, Windows, Linux - **Who should skip it:** Watch out: Cua does not rent computers, so the VMs are billed by your cloud provider. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Cua has a free plan, and paid plans start at $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Free: Spaces on every computer you connect, Teleport, sharing with named people, and the relay for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | No account needed to start. Up to 2 computers in use at once and 20 remote hours a month through the relay. | | Pro | $15 per month, billed annually ($18 billed monthly) | For one person: up to 5 computers in use at once and 200 remote hours a month. Billed $180 a year. | | Teams | $25 per seat / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly) | 1 to 100 seats. Each seat adds 5 computers at once and 200 remote hours to a shared pool, plus shared team computers, roles and device approval. | Read from https://cua.ai/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Cua before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Two months free on yearly billing** (Annual discount): Pro is $180 a year ($15 a month) against $18 a month; Teams is $300 per seat a year against $30 per seat a month. Source: https://cua.ai/pricing ## Key features - **Spaces:** A Space is a full desktop, a virtual machine or container, that agents can use and people can watch, running on your Mac, your own computers or your own cloud. - **Teleport:** Packs an app's session (open tabs, profile, sign-ins) into a bundle and moves it into a Space after the user approves it on a consent screen. - **Shared control:** Share a Space with named people as viewer or editor. Each person and each agent gets its own cursor, so someone can step in and hand the desktop back. - **Cua Driver:** An MIT-licensed driver that lets an agent operate native apps on macOS, Windows and Linux without taking over the user's cursor or keyboard. - **Agent connections:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Cline, Kiro and OpenClaw connect through the Cua MCP server. ## Good for - Developers who want coding agents to work on a separate desktop, not their own - Teams that already own spare Macs or Linux machines and want to share them - People who need an open-source driver for computer-use agents ## Worth knowing - Cua does not rent computers: Spaces run on machines you own or rent, and your cloud provider bills those VMs. - Running a Mac Space needs macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon; the Windows app is a preview. - Share links that expire and 90-day audit history are listed as coming soon, and SSO and audit export as not yet included. - There is no trial. Anonymous usage data is collected by default, per the vendor's FAQ. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Cua gives AI agents their own computers, called Spaces, and lets you hand control back and forth. Pro is $15 a month on yearly billing and Free covers 2 computers and 20 remote hours. It does not rent the machines, a Mac Space needs macOS 26, and several security features are still marked as coming. - **Value for money: B.** $15 a month billed yearly ($18 monthly) is under the category's cheaper quarter of $19. Your cloud provider bills the VMs on top, because Cua does not rent computers. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The free plan has Spaces, Teleport and sharing, for up to 2 computers at once and 20 remote hours a month. No trial, but a person can live on it. - **Features: C.** Spaces, Teleport, shared control and a driver for agents. The listing shows gaps: expiring share links and audit history are coming soon, and SSO and audit export are not included. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating on record. It is a developer tool with a driver, agent connections and your own machines to set up; Mac Spaces need macOS 26 on Apple silicon. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Mac, Windows (a preview) and Linux only, with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Docker connections. Nothing for phones. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Cua's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI agents - Cua's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 81 of the 178 other AI agents we grade, and level with 41. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 144 of 178) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $15 a month, against a middle price of $25 for the category: 6 of the 98 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 1.7 out of 4. 13 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-agents ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Cua you would be making an AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $180 a year. Cua is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: A fast, secure link to another computer through any network. - You could not: Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Claude Code, Codex and Cursor among them. - You could not: Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Cline, Kiro, OpenClaw, Docker **Tags:** AI agents, Remote desktop, Open source ## Alternatives - [E2B](https://toolgpa.com/tools/e2b): Cloud sandboxes where AI agents run code and tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cua-vs-e2b) - [Browserbase](https://toolgpa.com/tools/browserbase): Cloud browsers and APIs for agents that use the web. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/browserbase-vs-cua) - [Open Interpreter](https://toolgpa.com/tools/open-interpreter): Open-source coding agent and desktop agent using your own model keys. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cua-vs-open-interpreter) - [Kernel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kernel): Cloud browser infrastructure for web agents and automations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cua-vs-kernel) - [Browser Use](https://toolgpa.com/tools/browser-use): Browser agents and cloud browsers for AI apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/browser-use-vs-cua) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://cua.ai/pricing - https://cua.ai Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/cua Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).