# Is Vellum free? What an open-source alternative costs to self-host

> Vellum is free to download and start, and its cloud plans run from $30 to $200 a month. Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System a team owns, is $0 to start, free to self-host, and $40 per seat each month on the managed cloud.

URL: https://vellumalternative.com/is-vellum-free

_Quickstart_

## Self-host is free, and it starts with two commands.

`terminal`

```sh
$ curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
$ kortix self-host start
```

Source: https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna

Install the CLI, then start the Kortix stack on a machine you control.

## What Vellum gives away, and what its cloud charges for

Vellum is a personal AI assistant that [Vellum](https://www.vellum.ai/) says is free to download and start. On the free path you run the assistant yourself, on your own hardware, a VPS, or a private cloud, and Vellum's own [pricing page](https://www.vellum.ai/pricing) lists no platform fee and no computer-tier charge on that path. Vellum Cloud is the paid path. That same page names three packages: Mighty at $30 a month, Super at $100 a month, and Ultra at $200 a month, each bundling a machine, storage, and a monthly usage allowance. Past the allowance, Vellum bills in credits, where the company prices $1 as 1 credit.

## What an open-source system your team owns costs to run

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own. The [Kortix](https://kortix.com/pricing) price line reads, "Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project. The team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled." Self-host is free, so a team can run the whole platform on its own network and pay only its own model and compute bills. The [self-hosting guide](/self-hosting) covers the free path, and [what Vellum costs](/vellum-pricing) sets the two shapes beside each other.

## Which shape fits one assistant or a whole team

Vellum prices one assistant. A Vellum Cloud package covers a single assistant, and its usage allowance and credits draw on that one assistant's work. Kortix prices a team. Each seat adds a person and carries pooled credits the whole team draws on, and the free tier is one project with 200 credits a month for sandbox compute. A team that wants its agents, skills, memory, and connectors in one repo it owns self-hosts Kortix at no platform fee. Vellum's figures come from its own site, checked October 2026.

_FAQ_

## Vellum pricing questions

### Is Vellum free to download?

Yes. Vellum says its assistant is free to download and start, and the local install path carries no platform fee. Vellum Cloud is the paid path, with packages from $30 to $200 a month.

### How much does Vellum cost per month?

Vellum Cloud lists three packages: Mighty at $30 a month, Super at $100 a month, and Ultra at $200 a month. Each bundles a machine, storage, and a monthly usage allowance, and usage beyond it is billed in credits at $1 each.

### Do I pay for models on top?

You can. Any model provider with your own keys. Or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for. Vellum passes model provider costs through at cost on its cloud and lets you switch between models.

### Is there a free open-source alternative to Vellum?

Yes. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and its free path is self-hosting, where the whole platform runs on your own network with no platform fee. Its Free tier is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project, and the team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled.

## Run your team on an open-source system you own.

Start on the managed cloud, or self-host for free.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the self-hosting guide](https://vellumalternative.com/self-hosting)

Open source · Any model, your keys · Self-host, VPC, or on-prem