The Open Source Alternative to ChatGPT Work
ChatGPT Work keeps a team’s context and its work inside OpenAI’s product. Kortix is the open-source alternative to ChatGPT Work: agents, skills and memory in a git repo you own, and every session on its own cloud computer.
The open-source AI Operating System
One isolated sandbox per session. Each session has its own isolated machine and branch.
Self-host is free · Any model provider with your own keys · 3,000+ apps in a click
The session you're in is an isolated sandbox — an ephemeral branch of this repo, your own `/workspace` — so you can install, experiment, and recover freely.Only what you commit + push survives.Kortix and ChatGPT Work, side by side
The two systems differ in where they live before they differ in features.
Source
- Kortix, open source
- Yes, open source
- ChatGPT Work
- No, a hosted feature of ChatGPT
Models
- Kortix, open source
- Any model provider with your own keys. Or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for.
- ChatGPT Work
- Powered by GPT-6, OpenAI’s own models
Where it runs
- Kortix, open source
- Every session runs on its own cloud computer.
- ChatGPT Work
- In OpenAI’s cloud, on web and mobile
Your configuration
- Kortix, open source
- Agents, skills, memory and connectors live in a git repo you own.
- ChatGPT Work
- Set up inside the ChatGPT apps
Self-hosting
- Kortix, open source
- Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.
- ChatGPT Work
- No self-hosting; the work runs in OpenAI’s cloud
Sources: openai.com/chatgpt-work and the OpenAI help center, checked October 2026.
The whole install is three commands
curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bashkortix initkortix shipQuoted from the Kortix quickstart, unchanged.
What ChatGPT Work is
ChatGPT Work is OpenAI's agent for longer, multi-step work and finished deliverables, per OpenAI's help center. It runs in OpenAI's cloud on web and mobile, and in the desktop app it sits beside a toggle between Chat and Work. OpenAI offers it on every plan in the macOS and Windows desktop apps, and on web and mobile only to the paid tiers per the plan note on OpenAI's page.
OpenAI's ChatGPT Work page leads with one sentence: "Powered by GPT-6, ChatGPT Work brings together your team's context to tackle complex work—from weighing tradeoffs to creating polished presentations, reports, and analyses—while your team stays in control."
That sentence compresses the whole design. Your team supplies the context. GPT-6 is OpenAI's model. Control, as the page means it, is control inside ChatGPT, where files and past work sit in one team space.
The question under the feature list
For a team allowed to send its material to OpenAI, that design is a convenience: connect the tools, let the space accumulate, work in one product. Another group reads the same page under a different constraint. Hospitals, law firms, agencies carrying client work, and any company whose contracts name where data may live cannot put files and past work into OpenAI's team space, whatever the features around it are worth. For that group the product question is already answered. The question left is structural: where the system lives, and who owns it.
What the open-source route looks like
Kortix approaches the same job from the other end. The whole system is a git repository: agent definitions, skills, memory and connector settings are files in it. A session clones the repo and works on its own branch in its own sandbox. The agent file shown on this page carries the rule in two lines, and the file sits in Kortix on GitHub with the rest of the system.
The consequences are mechanical. A configuration change is a diff, so a teammate reviews an agent the way they review code. Connection breadth comes with the repo: 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, Postman, GraphQL and raw HTTP. Read the docs for the catalog.
Which one fits
ChatGPT Work is a sound choice for a specific team: one that already works in ChatGPT, is allowed to send its context there, and wants finished deliverables without operating anything. OpenAI built it for exactly that case, and on an eligible plan it arrives with the product.
The open-source route earns its setup when any of those givens breaks. If policy or contract keeps your files away from OpenAI, the structural question decides before any feature list does. If the system itself must be inspectable, a repository you can read answers that directly. Kortix is that route, and the three install commands on this page are the whole setup. The full comparison is in the open-source ChatGPT Work alternative piece on the Kortix blog.
Questions teams ask before switching
Is ChatGPT Work open source?
No. OpenAI hosts it as part of ChatGPT, and the work runs in OpenAI’s cloud. Kortix is open source, so the system your team runs is a repository you can read.
What can I use instead of ChatGPT Work if my team can’t send data to OpenAI?
An open-source alternative your team hosts where its rules require. Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free.
Can I use my own models with an open-source AI operating system?
Yes. In Kortix: any model provider with your own keys. Or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for. ChatGPT Work, as OpenAI’s page states, is powered by GPT-6.
Is there a free alternative to ChatGPT?
Yes. On the layer this page covers, the free option is the open-source route: self-host is free, and it runs with any model provider with your own keys. You pay the model provider for usage.
Who is ChatGPT’s biggest competitor?
Google, Anthropic, Microsoft and Meta are the companies most often named as ChatGPT’s main rivals. For the work this page is about, the comparison worth making is a hosted product against a system your team can run and read: Kortix.
Which AI is completely open-source?
Completely open-source means checking three layers: the model, the harness that runs it, and your configuration. Kortix is open source at the system layer: agents, skills, memory and connectors live in a git repo you own. The model is whichever provider your keys point to.
What is the leading open source AI right now?
Leading depends on which layer you mean. For the layer this page covers, Kortix is the open-source system to put on your shortlist: the whole system is a git repo you own, and self-host is free.
See what the open-source route changes
Kortix is open source: read the repo, read the docs, then decide where it runs.