# Reason — AI Coding Tool Review & Pricing > Reason is an autonomous software engineer for GitHub from Reason Machines. Connect a repository, assign issues, and its cloud agents open evidence-backed pull requests with screen recordings, logs and review-ready diffs. People drive it from the web app, a macOS desktop app (Reason for macOS runs cloud sessions against local files, tools and ports), and a CLI; programmatic access runs through an authenticated HTTP API and a Streamable HTTP MCP server with OAuth or API-key auth. Source: https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/reason · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Category: Autonomous & Async Agents · Published by dosa.dev ## At a glance - **Tool**: Reason - **Company**: Reason Machines - **Category**: [Autonomous & Async Agents](https://ai.dosa.dev/category/async-agents) - **Pricing model**: Freemium - **Official website**: https://reasonmachines.com/ ## Key features - Issue-to-PR autonomous agents: assign GitHub issues and Reason's cloud sessions produce review-ready pull requests with screen recordings, logs and diffs as evidence - Reason Agent 1.1 harness claims a Coding Agent Index of 65.1 on GPT-6 Astra, beating Codex (62.5) at up to 22% lower cost per solved task, using parallel tool execution via a codemode tool and a fully cache-eligible prompt - Backlog chore daemon: Team Platform connects Linear and GitHub and runs parallel background agents on routine fixes and maintenance PRs - Multiple surfaces: web app, macOS desktop app, CLI, plus reason-plugins for Claude Code and Codex and a plugin marketplace - Full HTTP API (v3) with per-user API keys, idempotent session creation and a Reason MCP server (OAuth or Bearer key) for agent clients - Bring Your Own Key: plug in your own Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter keys on the free Developer tier ## Pricing **Model**: Freemium Developer plan is free with $10 in welcome compute credits, unlimited Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) support and one active cloud session at a time, no card required. Team Platform covers up to 15 members with zero per-seat fees, monthly platform credits and parallel background runners (price not published, 30-day money-back guarantee, no annual lock-in). Enterprise is custom with dedicated VPC/on-prem runners, SSO/SAML and custom SLAs. YC companies get $1,000 in credits. ## Who it is for - **Best for**: Indie developers and engineering teams who want an async agent to clear GitHub/Linear backlog chores autonomously, with verifiable PR evidence, and prefer BYOK pricing or predictable platform credits over per-seat fees. - **Not ideal for**: Teams needing non-GitHub providers (GitLab/Bitbucket are not listed), anyone wanting fully on-prem code execution on the free tier (cloud sessions run on Reason's infrastructure; dedicated VPC/on-prem is Enterprise-only), or buyers who need a published Team Platform price before talking to sales. ## Verdict Reason pairs a credibly benchmarked agent harness (its own public Harbor jobs back the Codex-beating claims) with the surfaces teams actually need: web, desktop, CLI, API and MCP. The free BYOK Developer tier is genuinely usable for evaluation; the gaps are GitHub-only repo support, unpublished Team Platform pricing, and benchmark numbers that are self-reported rather than third-party-verified. ## Recent updates Reason Agent 1.1 (October 10, 2026) claims to beat Codex on the Coding Agent Index, 65.1 vs 62.5 on GPT-6 Astra, at 22% lower cost per solved task; Reason for macOS brings cloud sessions to local files and ports; Agent 1.0 had earlier reported up to 39% lower median solving time on DeepSWE v1.1. Reason also launched a Reason for Startups deal giving current and alumni YC companies $1,000 in credits via Bookface. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Reason free? Reason is Freemium. Developer plan is free with $10 in welcome compute credits, unlimited Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) support and one active cloud session at a time, no card required. Team Platform covers up to 15 members with zero per-seat fees, monthly platform credits and parallel background runners (price not published, 30-day money-back guarantee, no annual lock-in). Enterprise is custom with dedicated VPC/on-prem runners, SSO/SAML and custom SLAs. YC companies get $1,000 in credits. Check the official site for current plans. ### Is Reason open source? Reason is not listed as open source on ai.dosa.dev - it is Freemium. ### How much does Reason cost? Developer plan is free with $10 in welcome compute credits, unlimited Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) support and one active cloud session at a time, no card required. Team Platform covers up to 15 members with zero per-seat fees, monthly platform credits and parallel background runners (price not published, 30-day money-back guarantee, no annual lock-in). Enterprise is custom with dedicated VPC/on-prem runners, SSO/SAML and custom SLAs. YC companies get $1,000 in credits. Pricing changes often - verify on the official site. ### Who is Reason best for? Indie developers and engineering teams who want an async agent to clear GitHub/Linear backlog chores autonomously, with verifiable PR evidence, and prefer BYOK pricing or predictable platform credits over per-seat fees. ### Who is Reason not ideal for? Teams needing non-GitHub providers (GitLab/Bitbucket are not listed), anyone wanting fully on-prem code execution on the free tier (cloud sessions run on Reason's infrastructure; dedicated VPC/on-prem is Enterprise-only), or buyers who need a published Team Platform price before talking to sales. ### What are the best Reason alternatives? The closest Reason alternatives on ai.dosa.dev are Jules, OpenHands, SWE-agent - all listed under Autonomous & Async Agents. ### Who makes Reason? Reason is developed by Reason Machines. It is listed in the Autonomous & Async Agents category on ai.dosa.dev. ## Top alternatives - [Jules](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/jules) (Freemium) — Developers looking to automate routine maintenance, bug fixing, dependency upgrades, and complex multi-step coding tasks within a GitHub-centric workflow. - [OpenHands](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/openhands) (Freemium) — Individual developers and software teams looking to automate repetitive coding tasks, repository maintenance, and issue resolution through autonomous agents. - [SWE-agent](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/swe-agent) (Open Source) — Developers and researchers looking to automate software engineering tasks, resolve GitHub issues, or perform complex coding challenges autonomously. - [Sweep](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/sweep) (Freemium) — Individual developers and teams who live in JetBrains IDEs and want a native-feeling assistant for autocomplete, bug fixes, and routine coding tasks. - [Ellipsis](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/ellipsis) (Freemium) — Engineering teams needing to automate repetitive coding tasks, code reviews, and maintenance workflows with governance and security oversight. - [Genie](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/genie) (Freemium) — Teams working with large, complex production codebases that require an autonomous agent to handle full engineering tasks asynchronously rather than acting as a real-time typing assistant. - Full alternatives guide: https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/reason/alternatives