# Perplexity Computer & Open Source Alternatives — FAQ

FAQ

# Perplexity Computer & open source alternatives — FAQ

Short answers on what Perplexity Computer is, which open-source alternative to pick (Kortix), how self-hosting works, and what the licence allows.

### Is Perplexity Computer open source?
No. Perplexity Computer is closed and cloud-only, available to Perplexity Max subscribers. There is no self-hosted edition. Kortix is the open-source alternative: read, fork and modify the code.

### What is the best open-source alternative to Perplexity Computer?
Kortix — the open-source AI Management System and the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work. Your agents, skills, company memory and connectors live in one git repo you own; every session runs in an isolated Linux machine; 3,000+ apps and any MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL or HTTP API connect with credentials brokered server-side; and work lands as a change request a human reads as a diff. OpenClaw (MIT) is a narrower personal agent on your own computer, and Eigent (Apache 2.0) is a self-hostable multi-agent workstation.

### Can I run a Perplexity Computer alternative locally?
Yes. Kortix self-hosts on a laptop, a VPS, your VPC or on-prem, and so do OpenClaw, Eigent, AnythingLLM and Vellum. Model choice runs from hosted APIs to local models. See the [self-hosting guide](/self-hosting.html).

### What licence is Kortix under?
Elastic License 2.0 — self-host, read and modify the code. Install it with `curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash` and run it on your own infrastructure, or start at [kortix.com](https://kortix.com).

### Is there a free Perplexity Computer alternative?
Kortix is free to self-host: you pay only for the compute you run and any model API you choose. OpenClaw, Eigent, AnythingLLM and Lobehub also carry no subscription. The cost of every self-hosted option is your hardware and time. See the [cost comparison](/perplexity-computer-pricing.html).

### Which alternative is closest to Perplexity Computer's hands-off experience?
Kortix. Like Perplexity Computer it runs agents that plan and use tools end to end, and it adds ownership: self-host it or run managed cloud, choose any model with your keys, and review every change as a diff before it lands.

Next: [Kortix vs Perplexity Computer](/kortix-vs-perplexity-computer.html) · [every alternative, compared](/alternatives.html) · [the self-hosting guide](/self-hosting.html).

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Source: https://opensourceperplexitycomputer.com/faq.html