Local process dashboard vs a terminal multiplexer
Official product sites
tmux is an ISC-licensed terminal multiplexer for sessions, windows, panes, and detach/reattach on supported Unix systems. Sessions survive client and SSH disconnects while the host and tmux server remain running; ordinary sessions do not survive a host reboot without separate tooling. The latest release reviewed is 3.7c from August 2026.
Solo is a desktop workspace for local agents and project commands, with automatic self-exit and file-watch restart for commands, notifications, resource visibility, and shared configuration through solo.yml.
Choose tmux for host-side detachable terminal sessions. Choose Solo for local project-process supervision.
Choose tmux for host-side detach and reattach, remote use, and scriptability. Choose Solo for a visual desktop workspace that supervises local project commands.
Solo fits best when you want local agents, shell sessions, services, and shared startup commands managed in one visual desktop app.
tmux fits best when you need detach/reattach workflows, pane splitting, and remote or headless environments that survive disconnects.
| Feature | Solo | tmux |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Local process dashboard for agents and project commands | Terminal multiplexer with sessions, windows, and panes |
| Visual dashboard | Yes — sidebar with CPU/memory stats per process | Text-based status bar; no GUI |
| Window/pane splitting | — | Yes — horizontal and vertical splits with flexible layouts |
| SSH session persistence | — | Sessions survive client disconnects while the same host and tmux server remain running |
| Runs on remote/headless servers | — |  |
| Interactive shell sessions | | |
| Use your own local agents | Yes — supported agents get first-party status and session features; other CLIs run as generic processes | Yes — any CLI agent in a tmux pane, but no agent-specific status or management |
| MCP integration | Yes — exposes an MCP server for external tools | — |
| Auto-restart on crash | Automatic self-exit restart for commands, with rate limiting | Not built in; use a process supervisor or wrapper around respawn-pane |
| File-watch restarts | | — |
| Process notifications | Yes — native desktop notifications, in-app toasts, OSC escape sequences | Bell and activity alerts in the status bar; no system notifications |
| Shared workspace config | solo.yml — version-controlled, team-shareable | tmux.conf for settings; tmuxinator or tmuxp for YAML session layouts |
| Plugin ecosystem | — | TPM ecosystem including resurrect, continuum, yank, and themes |
| Scriptability | MCP, local HTTP API, and Solo CLI | Extensive command interface and format strings |
| Mouse support | Yes — native GUI | Optional — captures all mouse events when enabled; hold Shift to bypass |
| Copy mode / scrollback | Native terminal scrollback | Dedicated copy mode (Ctrl-b [) with vi/emacs keybindings |
| Learning curve | GUI-based — minimal | Significant — prefix keys, commands, config syntax, copy mode |
| Price | Free (4 projects, 20 processes); Pro $99/year | Free and open source (ISC license) |
| Platform | macOS and Windows | macOS, Linux, BSD, Solaris (no native Windows) |
Solo is a native desktop app that gives you one visual dashboard for all the commands a project needs running locally. It is a GUI application, not a terminal multiplexer.
tmux is a command-line terminal multiplexer.
Solo is a local desktop application, not a remote session server.
tmux provides host-side terminal persistence.
Solo is purpose-built for local process management.
tmux multiplexes terminals rather than supervising child processes.
Solo uses a GUI for setup and an optional solo.yml file for version-controlled command definitions. The tradeoff is that Solo is less flexible and scriptable than tmux.
tmux is configurable and extensible.
tmux is free and open source. Solo has a free tier plus a paid layer. The deciding factor is almost never price; it is whether your workflow is remote-first and script-driven or local-first and app-driven.
Solo pricing lens
Solo has a free tier for up to 4 projects and 20 processes, with Pro above that.
tmux pricing lens
tmux is free and open source.
Decision shortcut
If you need remote persistence, tmux wins. If you need local visibility, notifications, and shared startup locally, Solo is easier to live in.
tmux and Solo can run together because they manage different parts of the terminal and local process workflow.
tmux provides detachable sessions, windows, panes, and extensive scripting on supported Unix systems. Solo provides a desktop project-process workspace with automatic command restart, notifications, resource monitoring, and shared startup configuration. Choose tmux for host-side terminal persistence, Solo for local process supervision, or use both.
Solo is a lightweight desktop terminal workspace for local agents, project commands, interactive terminals, and long-running services. It sits beside your editor, keeps your stack visible, and gives Claude Code, Codex, and the rest of your tools one shared local control surface.
Solo is built by Aaron Francis, creator of faster.dev and Database School, and VP of Marketing at Laravel. He built Solo after running Claude Code alongside his own dev stack and getting tired of juggling nine terminal tabs just to keep local agents, services, and project commands visible.
He is also a dad to two sets of twins, which tends to create a strong preference for software that reduces chaos instead of adding more of it. That is why Solo keeps showing up in these comparisons as the local workspace around your tools, not another editor or orchestrator trying to absorb the whole workflow.
Related comparisons
If you are evaluating Solo, tmux, these are the closest next comparisons in the matrix.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-24
The Free plan includes every feature, so you only need Pro after you outgrow four projects.
Team seats
Buy seats under one Stripe subscription, then share a claim link in Slack or email. Each claimant signs in or registers and receives a normal Solo Pro license. Optional auto-grow adds prorated seats automatically when the pool is full, so your team never hits a license wall.
Seats 1–3
$99/seat/yr
Seats 4–10
$89/seat/yr
Seats 11–50
$79/seat/yr
Seats 51+
$69/seat/yr
Brackets apply per seat — a 10-seat team pays $99 each for seats 1–3 and $89 each for seats 4–10.
Free for four projects on macOS and Windows.
Start with a terminal and add the programmable meta-harness when you need to coordinate agents with your local development stack.
“I can't live without it.”
