Amp is a single agentic coding tool you run from the terminal or a VS Code extension, billed as you go. Lanes is a workspace that runs many agents in parallel, each the official CLI on the plan you already pay for. They differ in both shape and billing.
This page is about both differences, and why the second one follows from the first.
At a glance
| Dimension | Lanes | Amp |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Workspace orchestrating many CLI agents | Single agentic coding tool (CLI and VS Code) |
| Parallelism | Many isolated sessions on a board | One agent stream |
| Agents | Official Claude Code and Codex | Amp's own agent and models |
| Billing | Your existing CLI subscription | Usage based, pay as you go |
| Model providers | Your subscription, a local model at no marginal cost, or a provider you buy | Amp's own models on Amp's meter |
| Isolation | A git worktree and branch per session | Your working tree |
| Planning and review | Board columns from Backlog to Done | In the conversation, as you go |
| Runs | Locally, on your machine | Local CLI and editor |
| Docs | Lanes Desktop docs | ampcode.com |
Where Lanes fits
Lanes is for running several agents at once with oversight, without a metered bill that climbs with usage. Sessions run the official Claude Code and Codex CLIs, so they draw from your existing subscription, and each lives in its own worktree on the board.
The billing point is architectural, not a discount. A session is the real claude or codex binary in a real terminal, which is the interactive CLI surface that stayed on plan limits when the June 2026 Agent SDK credit split moved programmatic usage onto a separate meter. The same architecture is what lets a session skip the meter entirely: a Gateway profile points it at a provider you host or buy, and Local LLMs runs it against Ollama on your own machine, where the marginal cost of a retry is zero. Anthropic just split the bill walks through that change. Around the CLI, Lanes adds the workspace: an issue per task, a worktree and branch per issue created under .worktrees/ and cleaned up when the work lands, and live status on every card so you can see who is busy and who is waiting on you.
Where Amp fits
Amp is a capable single agent with usage-based pricing. If you want one strong agent in the terminal or editor and do not need parallel orchestration, Amp is a straightforward choice. It is also a different bet: one opinionated tool end to end, rather than a workspace wrapped around the CLIs you already use.
How Lanes does it
- Sessions are real terminals. Each is a PTY running the official CLI, attached to an issue, started in Plan or Implement mode with the issue's instructions as the initial prompt. Status (Busy, Awaiting input, Stopped, Exited, Error) shows on the card, and the Meta tab tracks tokens, cost, and runtime per session. See working with sessions.
- Worktrees keep parallel work apart. Every issue gets its own branch and directory off the project's base branch, with dirty-state warnings before anything uncommitted is removed and automatic cleanup on completion. See worktree management.
- Lanes Desktop MCP closes the loop. A research preview built into the app: 30 tools over SSE on localhost port 5353, so an agent can read the board, file issues, and start more sessions. See Lanes Desktop MCP.
Choose Lanes if
- You want many agents in parallel, isolated per branch.
- You would rather run on your existing subscription than a usage meter.
- You want a board to plan and review the work.
- You want per-task cost visibility, with tokens and runtime on every issue.
Choose Amp if
- You want a single agentic tool in your terminal or editor.
- Usage-based pricing suits how you work.
They can also coexist: keep a single-agent tool for quick hits and hand the parallel backlog to Lanes.
Further reading
- Quick start: install Lanes and run your first session in about two minutes.
- Working with sessions: lifecycle, statuses, and per-session metrics.
- Run agent fleets on your Claude subscription: the full billing picture.
- Run a fleet on mixed models: local models on the mechanical work, frontier models on the rest.
- Anthropic just split the bill: what changed in June 2026 and who it hit.
See Lanes Desktop or read the quick start.