# Vellum for teams: the open-source alternative a company shares

> Vellum is built around one person, an assistant you name and keep on your own machine. A company needs shared context, scoped permissions, isolation per task, and review before work lands. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System for that.

URL: https://vellumalternative.com/vellum-for-teams

## Vellum for teams, or Kortix for a whole company?

Kortix is the open-source option we recommend. Every Vellum cell quotes Vellum's own site, checked October 2026.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Vellum |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes | Yes, its own site says you can inspect the code. |
| Designed for | An AI Operating System a whole team shares | A personal assistant you fully own and customize |
| Shared memory and context | Company memory as files in one git repo you own | Memory about you across every conversation |
| Tool permissions | Each tool call set to Allow, Ask or Block | Permission prompts on high-risk tasks until you mark them trusted |
| Session isolation | One isolated sandbox per session | One assistant identity available on every device |
| Who reviews and approves work | Session work reaches `main` through a change request | You are always in control |
| Where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network | Locally on your machine or in Vellum Cloud |
| Price shape | The team plan is $40 per seat per month, pooled | Free to download; cloud plans from $30 per month |

Kortix prices come from its pricing page. Vellum cells quote vellum.ai, checked October 2026. Confirm both vendors before you buy.

## Vellum fits one person; a company needs a shared system
Vellum is a personal assistant. Its own homepage describes an assistant you name and shape, that remembers you across conversations and lives on your machine or in Vellum Cloud. That design serves one person, and Vellum's cloud plans are priced for one assistant. A company has a different problem: several people, one set of tools, and work that has to survive a person leaving.

## The team dimensions a personal assistant leaves open
Three things separate a personal assistant like Vellum from a company system: where the shared context lives, which tool each agent may touch, and who reviews the work before it lands. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and it answers all three in one place. Its agents, skills, company memory, and connectors live in one git repo the team owns.

## Shared context you can grep, diff and audit
Kortix keeps company memory as files in the project repo. A new member gets the same context as everyone else by cloning the repo, and a change to how a job runs shows up as a diff. Vellum keeps memory with the one person who owns the assistant, on their machine or in their cloud.

## Permissions, isolation and review are files you can read
Kortix gives each session its own isolated sandbox and its own branch, and it sets each tool call to Allow, Ask or Block. Approval gates you set. Off until you set them. You keep the rules in `kortix.yaml`, so an agent's reach is reviewed like code. Session work reaches `main` through a change request a person approves. The shape fits in one file:

```yaml
kortix_version: 2
default_agent: kortix
agents:
  support-triage:
    file: agents/support-triage.md
    connectors: all
triggers:
  - slug: weekly-digest
    type: cron
    cron: "0 0 9 * * 1-5"
    prompt: Summarize yesterday's support tickets and open a change request.
```

## Running the open-source platform for your team
Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free. The [self-hosting guide](https://vellumalternative.com/self-hosting) walks through the platform on a server you control. When you would rather not run a server, the managed cloud charges per seat, so a team grows by adding people instead of standing up another assistant.

_FAQ_

## Vellum for teams, questions buyers ask

Short answers, each quoting Vellum's own page or Kortix's docs.

### Is Vellum good for a team?

Vellum is built for one person: its own page calls it a personal assistant you name and shape, with memory about you and a credentials vault you control. For several people to share context and review work before it lands, Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System built for that.

### Can a whole team share one Vellum assistant?

Vellum describes one assistant with one identity and memory, and its cloud plans are priced for that assistant. Kortix starts from a team account, where one project is a repo everyone shares.

### How do team permissions work in Kortix?

Kortix has per-resource permissions for people and agents, with roles, groups, and an audit trail. You set each tool call to Allow, Ask or Block.

### What does a team pay?

Kortix's team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled, and self-host is free. Vellum's cloud plans run from $30 to $200 a month for one assistant.

## Run your whole team on one repo you own.

Start with one job and grow from there.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [See the full comparison](https://vellumalternative.com/kortix-vs-vellum)

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