umadev vs Poolside AI

Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings

Analysis reviewed Live tool data as of 2026-10-02
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At a glance

DimensionumadevPoolside AI
Target AudienceSolo devs & small teamsEnterprises in regulated industries
DeploymentLocal CLI (open-source)On-prem / VPC / workstation (defense)
PricingFree (MIT license)Contact sales (enterprise)
ModelBrings your own (Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode)Laguna XS.2 / M.1 (proprietary)
Context LengthDepends on backend (no fixed limit)Up to 256K tokens
Governance112 rules, quality gate, delivery proof packRBAC, audit logs, compliance

Choose Poolside AI if you're an enterprise in a regulated industry needing on-prem, custom models with full governance. Choose umaDev if you're a solo developer or small team wanting a free, open-source, structured AI development workflow with quality gates and audit trails, running on your existing CLI tools.

umadev
umadev

Open-source Rust CLI that turns your logged-in local coding agents into an eight-role dev team with governance and audit packs.

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Poolside AI
Poolside AI

Open-weight agentic coding models — Laguna XS 2.1 (33B) and Laguna S 2.1 (118B) — built for code that cannot leave your security boundary.

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Pricing
Free
Contact Sales
Plans
$0
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Popularity
16 views
7.1k views
Skill Level
Intermediate
Advanced
API Available
Platforms
CLI
DesktopCLIAPIWeb
Categories
🛠️ Autonomous Coding Agents🛡️ AI Governance & Guardrails
💻 Code & Development🛠️ Autonomous Coding Agents⚛️ Foundation Models & LLM APIs🛡️ AI Governance & Guardrails
Features
Orchestrates five local CLI bases: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build, Kimi Code
Vendor-protocol driving for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode; official ACP v1 for Grok Build and Kimi Code
Eight expert dev roles: product, architecture, design, frontend, backend, QA, security, DevOps
Single-writer main session with independent read-only fork cross-review
Five task modes: Chat, Explain, QuickEdit, Debug, Build — small fixes skip the heavy pipeline
34 formal clauses and 113 content governance checks enforced per run
Configurable quality gate (default 90 points) with skip list
Two human-in-the-loop confirmation gates, including for preview and irreversible actions
Visible DAG plan in .umadev/plan.json with live steering via /plan (skip, veto, add, up, down)
Project memory across sessions: facts, pitfalls, validated experience, run notes
Local hybrid RAG retrieval: BM25 + optional local vector model + HyDE, degrading to BM25 alone
repo-map parsing of symbols and import edges for task-scoped context injection
Auditable delivery pack: output/ design docs, .umadev/audit/ proof files (runtime-proof.json, deploy-proof.json), release/ handoff
Trust gradients (plan / guarded / auto) with confirmation required for push and deploy
MCP server mode exposing governance to other tools and CI
Laguna S 2.1 open-weight model: 118B params, 8B active, 1M context
Laguna XS 2.1 open-weight model: 33B params, 3B active, 256K context
Laguna XS 2.1 sized to run on-device for lightweight scenarios
Laguna S 2.1 positioned for frontier-class long-horizon reasoning
Single-agent and multi-agent orchestration with planning and tool use
Sandboxed agent execution environments for running generated code safely
Desktop app and CLI for agentic coding sessions
VS Code and Visual Studio extensions (per Poolside blog)
macOS desktop assistant (per Poolside blog)
Model selection, tool grouping, and project management in the client
Always-ask approval mode before edits are accepted
Data connectors to repositories, databases, and warehouses
Role-based access control for both human users and agents
End-to-end trace observability for agent runs
Governance and auditability built for regulated environments
Integrations
Claude Code
Codex CLI
OpenCode
Grok Build
Kimi Code
OpenRouter
Vercel AI Gateway

What real users say: umadev vs Poolside AI

Not marketing copy and not our opinion — a structured sweep of public discussion (reviews, forums, communities and video comments), showing what people praise and what they complain about for each tool.

umadev

No verifiable community signal. We scanned public discussion on Jul 1, 2026 and found posts matching the name “umadev”, but could not establish that they are about this product rather than something else sharing its name. Rather than publish a score built on the wrong subject, we publish none.

Poolside AI

40 mentions across 4 sources · 48% positive — mixed (averaged across 4 sources)

Hacker News, YouTube, Bluesky, Lemmy

What users praise

  • • Open-weight models with strong SWE-bench scores (72.5%).
  • • On-prem, VPC, and air-gapped deployment for high security.
  • • 256K context length supports long-horizon reasoning tasks.
  • • Multi-agent orchestration with sandboxed execution environments.

What frustrates them

  • • Community feedback is scarce; limited real-world user reviews.
  • • Platform is still in research preview as of April 2026.
  • • Pricing is opaque; only 'contact us' with no published tiers.
  • • Trademark dispute with Poolside FM creates name confusion.

Researched Jul 17, 2026

Who should pick which

  • Enterprise in finance/healthcare/defense
    Pick: Poolside AI

    Poolside AI offers on-prem deployment, custom models inside security boundaries, and governance/auditability required for regulated industries.

  • Solo developer building production apps
    Pick: umadev

    UmaDev provides a free, structured multi-agent workflow with quality gates and audit trails, all running locally via CLI.

  • Small team needing consistent code quality
    Pick: umadev

    112 governance rules and a quality gate enforce standards across the team without extra cost.

  • Organization with air-gapped environment
    Pick: Poolside AI

    Poolside AI's workstation deployment (defense) and VPC/on-prem options fit air-gapped scenarios.

  • Developer using Claude Code already
    Pick: umadev

    UmaDev integrates directly with Claude Code as a backend, adding structured workflow and governance.

Frequently Asked Questions

umadev vs Poolside AI: which should you choose?

Choose Poolside AI if you're an enterprise in a regulated industry needing on-prem, custom models with full governance. Choose umaDev if you're a solo developer or small team wanting a free, open-source, structured AI development workflow with quality gates and audit trails, running on your existing CLI tools.

Can I try Poolside AI for free?

No, Poolside AI requires contacting sales for access; there is no free tier.

Is umaDev truly free?

Yes, umaDev is open-source under MIT license and costs nothing to use.

Does Poolside AI support local CLI use?

Partially: it offers developer surfaces including TUI, IDE extensions, and binaries, but is primarily enterprise-focused.

Does umaDev require cloud infrastructure?

No, it runs entirely locally as a Rust binary; no cloud account needed beyond optional backend APIs.

Which tool has better governance features?

Both offer governance: Poolside AI has RBAC and audit logs; umaDev has 112 rules, a quality gate, and compliance mapping.

Can umaDev run on Windows?

Yes, the latest version (1.0.20) includes full Windows fixes and PTY support.

Does Poolside AI work with any codebase?

It integrates via data connectors to repos, databases, data warehouses, and supports custom models.

Can I use umaDev without any backend API key?

No, you need one of Claude Code, Codex CLI, or OpenCode installed and logged in.

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Last reviewed: July 1, 2026