Maude vs Claude Code on the web

Claude Code on the web is Anthropic's cloud option. You pick a repository and branch, describe a task, and it runs on a virtual machine Anthropic manages. You can close the laptop and lock the phone and it keeps going. You can start one from a browser at claude.ai/code, from the Code tab of the Claude app, from the Desktop app, or from your terminal with claude --cloud. Anthropic took cloud sessions out of research preview on 23 September 2026 (announcement).

For a lot of work it's the right choice and it costs nothing extra. This page is about where it differs from running agents on your own server with Maude.

Where the code runs

Each cloud session gets a fresh VM running Ubuntu 24.04 on x86-64, with your repository cloned and common toolchains preinstalled. Docker is available, and a setup script can install whatever else you need. After a few minutes without activity the VM pauses with its files saved, and Anthropic can later reclaim a paused VM. Reopening the session then provisions a fresh VM with the conversation restored, but background work that was still running isn't restored. Anthropic's cloud environments documentation covers the details. Team and Enterprise organizations can also route sessions to a self-hosted environment on their own infrastructure.

With Maude the code runs on a machine you already have: a VPS, a box at work, a Mac mini at home. Any Linux distribution or macOS, x86-64 or ARM, works as long as the app can reach it over SSH. The app deploys its own daemon there and installs each agent at a pinned version. The machine persists, so your installed toolchain, caches, databases and half-finished branches are still there next week. Sessions keep running when the app is closed.

Repos and environment

Cloud sessions are built around GitHub. Per Anthropic's docs, repository cloning and pull request creation require GitHub (GitHub Enterprise Server is supported on Team and Enterprise). You can send a GitLab, Bitbucket or other repository as an uploaded bundle with claude --cloud, but the session can't push results back to that remote. In return you get a good GitHub flow: diff review with inline comments, PR creation, and auto-fix, where Claude watches a PR and responds to CI failures and review comments.

Network access is a per-environment setting. The levels are None, Trusted (package registries, GitHub, cloud SDKs and other allowlisted domains; the default), Full (any domain) and Custom. That reaches the public internet. A database that only listens on your private network, an internal registry or a service behind a VPN is only reachable from an Anthropic-hosted VM if you expose it. The self-hosted option is the official answer for Team and Enterprise.

On your own server, all of that is already there, because it's the machine where those things live. Maude doesn't care where the repository is hosted or whether there's one at all. The Git tab reviews the diff hunk by hunk, commits, pushes and switches branches. It opens a PR through gh when that's installed on the server. Maude has no built-in equivalent of auto-fix.

Cost

Cloud sessions are available on Pro, Max and Team plans, and for Enterprise users with premium seats or Chat + Claude Code seats. They share rate limits with the rest of your Claude usage, and there's no separate compute charge for the VM. So the cost is the plan you already pay for.

Maude is $2.99 a week after a 3-day free trial, or $29.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, and it covers the app only. You also pay for the server (a small VPS costs a few dollars a month; see picking a VPS for coding agents) and for each agent's own plan or API key. If saving money is the goal, cloud sessions win.

Phone experience

From the Claude app you can start a cloud session, check progress, answer Claude's questions and steer it. You can also tell it to watch a PR. The app's mode dropdown offers Accept edits, Plan and Auto for cloud sessions; Bypass permissions can't be selected from the app. Terminal-only commands such as /plugin and /resume aren't available, and /clear isn't either (start a new session instead), while /compact works.

Maude's app is built around sessions on your servers. An inbox collects errors, sessions ready for review and permission prompts you answer inline. Push notifications carry Allow and Deny buttons. Each session has Files, Git and a real Terminal tab. You can choose any permission mode the agent supports, including bypass (for Claude, on a non-root user). Maude also drives Codex, OpenCode, Grok Build and Antigravity alongside Claude Code, and can hand an idle session from one to another.

Side by side

Cloud session details checked against Anthropic's documentation on 1 October 2026.

Verdict

The two also work together, and both can use the same Claude subscription. Cloud sessions suit tidy GitHub tasks, and a server suits anything that needs the real environment. If your own laptop is the machine you want to drive, also look at Remote Control, and our guide to keeping Claude Code working with the laptop closed covers every route.

Frequently asked questions

What changed

• October 1, 2026 — Rewritten for Maude 2 and its new pricing. Cloud sessions are now generally available (23 September 2026). Added the VM details, network access levels, self-hosted environments, non-GitHub uploads and auto-fix. The phone permission modes now include Auto.
• July 25, 2026 — First published.