comparison · claude cowork

Plainwork
vs Claude Cowork

Both put AI to work for you, but in different places. Claude Cowork is a shared cloud workspace your team directs. Plainwork runs on your own device. It proposes automations from the work you already do, and runs the habits you teach it.

Plainworkwatches & proposes

Observes how you work and proposes automations for what you repeat. No prompt required.

Claude Coworkyour team directs it

A collaborative AI workspace in the cloud, where you and your team hand it tasks to run.

Why Plainwork

Four reasons people
move over

01

It runs on your device

Capture, storage and detection all happen locally. Your screen activity never leaves the device it was recorded on.

02

There is nothing to set up

It watches what you repeat and proposes the automation. No prompts, no building.

03

It works with your oldest apps

Even the clunky internal software nothing else can automate. If you can click it, it can repeat it.

04

You approve every action

It proposes. Anything that sends, deletes or pays waits for you every single run.

Feature by feature

Where the two tools line up, and where they part ways.

Plainwork
Claude Cowork
Setup
Nothing. It watches you work
Invite your team, set up a workspace
How it learns
Detects what you repeat, or you teach it
You assign it tasks
Where it runs
On your device
The cloud
How it acts
In your real apps, in the background
Cloud connectors and screenshots
Where models run
On your device, except smart steps
Anthropic's servers
Your private data
Screen activity never leaves your device
Uploaded to the cloud as screenshots
Works with
Any app on your desktop
Docs and team workflows
Trains on your data
Never
Not on business plans
Who drives
It proposes, you approve
You delegate each job
Best for
Repetitive work you never scripted
Collaborative AI projects

Competitor column checked against each vendor’s own published terms in July 2026. Training policies differ by plan tier and change often, so check theirs before you decide. If we have something wrong here, tell us at help@plainwork.com and we will correct it.

faq

Plainwork vs Claude Cowork, answered

The questions people ask before they switch. For the short version: different tools, different jobs.

Good fit

If this is your week,
Plainwork is for you

  • You repeat the same steps across apps every day.
  • You'd rather approve an automation than build one.
  • Your screen activity has to stay on your device.
  • You don't know which tasks are worth automating yet.

Ticked more than two?

It is free during the beta, and you can have a working habit before you close the laptop.

Download
Get started

Stop setting up automations.
Start approving them

Teach it one task on the first day, and let it find the rest while you work.

macOS, Windows coming soon · Free during beta