A guide to cloud agents: what they hand back, how they compare, what they cost, and how to run them on infrastructure you own. It recommends open-source Kortix. https://cloudagentsguide.com/ 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z Cloud Agents Guide https://cloudagentsguide.com/ 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

Kortix runs open-source cloud agents on their own cloud computer and hands back a change request on a branch of your repo.

A cloud agent runs on a machine somewhere other than your laptop, keeps working while the tab is closed, and sends the result back to you. What comes back decides whether the work lands: a transcript you retype, or a change request your team reviews and merges. https://cloudagentsguide.com/what-is-a-cloud-agent 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

A cloud agent runs work on a machine that is not your laptop and ends as a change request you review. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System.

A cloud agent is agent work that runs on a machine you never opened, and the half most definitions skip is what it hands back when the task ends. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers. https://cloudagentsguide.com/cloud-agent-vs-local-agent 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

Compare a cloud agent and a local agent on where the machine runs, what each can see and what you get back, and why Kortix is the open-source answer.

A local agent edits the checkout in front of you; a cloud agent boots its own machine and hands back a branch. Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, is the cloud side of that split, managed or self-hosted. https://cloudagentsguide.com/self-hosted-cloud-agents 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

Four questions separate a self-hosted cloud agent from a vendor cloud with a proxy, and open-source Kortix answers all four on your server.

A self-hosted cloud agent is yours when the agent's definitions and its grants live in files on a branch you can diff and roll back. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System. Its control plane runs on your server. The sessions it starts run on Platinum sandboxes. https://cloudagentsguide.com/cloud-agents-that-open-a-pr 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

A pull request from a cloud agent is only as good as its merge rule. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and agents merge only by grant.

A cloud agent that opens a pull request is worth the review only when the branch, the tests and the merge rule are real. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers. https://cloudagentsguide.com/cloud-agent-pricing 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

Cloud agents bill by seat, credit, token or machine hour, and Kortix is the open-source credits option at $50 a month for 5,000 credits.

Cloud agents are billed in one of four shapes: a seat, a credit, a token bill or a machine hour. Which shape you sign decides what the bill does when the work changes. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and it sells the agent computer in credits from $50 a month. https://cloudagentsguide.com/cloud-agent-alternatives 2026-10-25T00:00:00Z

Cloud agent alternatives compared on the machine, the handoff and who owns the setup, with open-source Kortix first and the self-hosted branch named.

Most lists of cloud agent alternatives rank the vendor clouds and stop there. The fork that decides the next year is whether the agent runs in a product you rent or on a machine and a repo you own. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors in one git repo you own.