
Warp
Agentic development environment terminal
The Lens
By Erik Loyd, SaaS CEO and former COO/CFO of an AWS Premier Partner.
Updated Oct 2026
Warp is a terminal that grew a coding agent, and since April 2026 the client is open source under AGPLv3. Use its built-in agent or run Claude Code or Codex inside it. The terminal is free on macOS, Linux and Windows.
Install is a download or brew install --cask warp. You can build the client from source, but the server, Drive backend, hosted auth and Oz, the agent orchestration layer, stay proprietary. A source build gets you the terminal, not the agent.
Agent usage is billed in dollars. Free includes none, but you can bring your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Google key if your company has 10 or fewer employees. Build is $20/mo ($18 annually) with $20 of usage, Max $200/mo, and Business is $50 per user per month for SAML SSO, up to 25 seats. Solo: free with your own key. Small teams: Build. Larger teams: Business or Enterprise.
The catch: the open repo is the client, while the agent you pay for runs on Warp's servers. In June Warp published ten security advisories, nine rated high, including command injection via Git branch names. All patched; stay current. Ghostty and kitty are fully open terminals with no account.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
open coreFree: $0. The full terminal, Warp Agent CLI access, bring your own AI inference, limited cloud agents, 3 indexed codebases, 30 stored cloud conversations, and a shared Warp Drive capped at 10 workflows and 3 notebooks. No agent usage is included; you can buy usage at prices 20% above paid-plan rates, or connect your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Google API key, a SuperGrok subscription, or an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Self-serve keys and endpoints are limited to individuals and organizations with 10 or fewer employees; bigger companies need Business or Enterprise.
Self-hosted: The client is open source (AGPLv3, with the warpui_core and warpui crates under MIT) and builds on macOS, Linux and Windows with ./script/bootstrap and ./script/run. The server, Warp Drive backend, hosted authentication and Oz orchestration are not in the repo and remain proprietary, so a self-built client still needs Warp's backend for Drive sync, hosted-model agents and team features. Self-hosted cloud agents and inference in your own cloud (AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI) are Enterprise-only. Contributions require a CLA.
Paid: Build: $20/mo, or $18/mo billed annually, with $20 of agent usage at API rates each month, full Warp Agent access, unlimited Drive and conversation storage, 40 indexed codebases, private email support. Max: $200/mo, or $180/mo billed annually; the plan card says $200 of usage (10x Build), while the comparison table still lists "$240 (18,000 credits)" from the old credit system. Business: $50 per user per month, or $45 billed annually, up to 25 seats, $20 of usage per seat, SAML SSO, team usage metrics, admin-configurable data controls, team BYO API keys and custom endpoints. Enterprise: custom; unlimited seats, shared usage pools, BYOLLM, self-hosted cloud agents, multi-admin controls. Purchased add-on usage rolls over and stays valid for 12 months.
The terminal is free and the client is AGPL, but the agent is metered in dollars: free with your own API key at companies of 10 or fewer, otherwise Build at $20/mo or Business at $50 per user per month.
What to do by team size
- Solo
- free with your own API key; Build at $20/mo if you want Warp's models without managing keys
- Small team
- free with your own keys up to 10 employees, or Build at $20/mo per person for included usage
- Medium team
- Business at $50 per user per month ($45 annually) once you need SAML SSO or pass 10 employees
- Large team
- Enterprise; Business stops at 25 seats and BYOLLM plus self-hosted cloud agents live there
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Trust Signals
License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
MIT for the warpui_core and warpui crates; the server and agent orchestration stay proprietary.
Commercial use: ✓ Yes
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