Agents Never Sleep vs OpenWork: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Agents Never Sleep and OpenWork — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
Agents Never Sleep
Agents Never Sleep
A tiny $4.99 Mac menu bar app that keeps long-running AI agents alive with the laptop lid closed, using one three-level slider.
Key features
- Closed-Lid Operation: Keeps agents and background jobs running with the MacBook lid shut, which the built-in caffeinate command cannot do.
- Three-Level Slider: One control with Sleepy, Awake, and Never sleeps settings, so changing sleep behavior takes a single drag rather than a terminal command.
- Menu Bar Only: Lives entirely in the menu bar with no window, dock icon, or configuration screens to manage.
- Native and Tiny: A small native macOS binary rather than a wrapped web app, minimizing overhead on a machine already running agents.
- Zero Data Collection: No telemetry, analytics, or tracking; what runs on the machine stays on the machine.
- Safe Revert: Toggling back down restores normal sleep behavior, avoiding the common mistake of leaving sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 permanently enabled.
- No-Questions Refund: A 14-day money-back guarantee with no form to fill in and no reason required.
Best for
- Overnight Agent Runs: Letting a coding agent work through a long task while the laptop is closed and put away.
- Long Builds and Tests: Preventing a multi-hour build, test suite, or data job from being interrupted mid-run by sleep.
- Mobile Working: Carrying a MacBook between rooms or offices without propping the lid open to keep a job alive.
- Model Downloads and Training: Keeping large model downloads or local fine-tuning runs going unattended.
- Avoiding pmset Mistakes: Replacing manual sudo pmset toggles that are easy to enable and easy to forget to undo.
- Remote Sessions: Keeping a Mac reachable and working for a remote session or background service while it sits closed on a desk.
O
OpenWork
different.ai / OpenWork Labs
Open-source desktop app and MCP for sharing AI workflows — an OSS alternative to Claude Cowork and Codex.
Key features
- OpenWork MCP: One MCP server exposing search_capabilities and execute_capability to any compatible agent.
- Cross-Agent Skill Reuse: Same skills work inside Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients.
- Cross-Platform Desktop App: Optional macOS, Windows, and Linux workspace for people who prefer a dedicated UI.
- Google Workspace + Microsoft 365 Connections: Bring shared connected services into your agent via one MCP.
- Shareable Workflows: Create once, keep private, or share with coworkers and friends.
- Admin Interface: For organizations — publish capabilities, manage access, configure shared connections.
- Powered by opencode: Built on the open-source opencode runtime.
- Fully Free and Open Source: No paid tier, no vendor lock-in.
Best for
- Coding Agent Toolkit: Give Cursor or Claude Code a shared set of skills and MCPs across machines.
- Team Skill Library: Publish reusable AI workflows so teammates can invoke them from their preferred agent.
- OSS Alternative to Cowork: Replace closed-source workflow suites with a self-hosted OSS stack.
- Personal Automation Hub: Keep private skills across ChatGPT, Codex, and Claude Code without re-authoring each time.
- Enterprise Rollout: Use the admin UI to give employees curated, access-controlled AI capabilities.
- Connecting Google/Microsoft to Agents: Reuse one Workspace/365 connection across every agentic client.