At a glance
| Point | Factory AI | OpenClowd |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Droid agent plus Factory's application, CLI, SDK, router, and cloud computers. | A planned control plane for terminal agents supplied by other tools. |
| Model choice | Factory supports multiple frontier and open-weight models inside Droid. | Model choice stays inside each terminal agent and its account. |
| Execution | Local and cloud background agents; Droid Computers on Plus and above. | Developer-controlled host first; a managed host is planned later. |
| Bring your own agent | Factory is organized around Droid rather than arbitrary external agent CLIs. | Any terminal agent at baseline. |
| Enterprise controls | SSO, provisioning, audit trails, model and autonomy controls, deployment options. | Team and enterprise scope is later and still being shaped around consent and security. |
| Availability | Shipping now. | In development with no public installer or managed service. |
What Factory does well
It gives an enterprise one throat to choke
Factory can own the agent experience, model routing, autonomy settings, cloud computer, usage controls, audit trail, and support relationship. That is attractive when a company wants a standardized agent platform rather than a neutral launcher for tools employees selected individually.
Its current individual plans also include local and cloud background agents, while Business and Enterprise add SSO, SAML and SCIM, audit logging, model controls, dedicated compute, and on-premise options. The supplied draft was directionally right about the full-stack model but too narrow about where Droid can run.
A distinction worth preserving
Many models do not make the platform bring-your-own-agent
Factory supports a broad model menu and documents bring-your-own-key allowances. Those are meaningful forms of provider choice inside Factory's Droid experience.
They are different from running Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or another independent terminal agent as the agent itself. OpenClowd's planned boundary is agent-level neutrality, not only model choice inside one vendor's harness.
Model choice inside one agent platform is useful. It is not the same as choosing the agent platform.
Where OpenClowd differs
The infrastructure layer should not require a replacement agent
OpenClowd is intended to sit below terminal agents rather than wrap their model calls. The developer installs and authenticates the tools on the host, and OpenClowd organizes their sessions and repository context.
That approach gives up some of the consistent policy and telemetry a vertically integrated platform can provide. In return, the agent remains replaceable, the self-hosted control plane remains inspectable, and the business does not depend on metering AI tokens through OpenClowd.
The decision
One accountable platform or a neutral environment layer
Factory's integration is a feature for centralized buyers and a dependency for developers who want agent-level choice.
Choose Factory when you want Droid, cloud computers, model controls, usage policy, auditability, and enterprise support from one established vendor.
Follow OpenClowd when the agents are already chosen, agent-level neutrality matters, and the control plane should be self-hostable without adopting a new agent platform.
Questions, answered
What people usually ask next
01Can Factory run locally?
Yes. Factory's current plans document local and cloud background agents. Droid Computers are Factory-managed remote environments available on Plus and higher plans.
02Does Factory support multiple models?
Yes. Factory supports multiple frontier and open-weight models and documents some bring-your-own-key usage. The product remains centered on the Droid agent experience.
03Is Factory the same category as OpenClowd?
They overlap in agent execution and remote environments, but Factory sells the agent platform while OpenClowd is intended to remain infrastructure for external terminal agents.
Research notes
Sources
Product details change quickly. These first-party pages were checked on .
- 01Factory plans and pricing
Current plan structure, Droid Computers, local and cloud agents, usage, and enterprise controls.
- 02Factory pricing overview
Public plan packaging and supported model positioning.