Both products use the words company operating system, and both price per plan and not per person. Operately means something specific by it. It publishes a framework for how a startup should plan and review its work, then builds software that follows the framework. Nautis publishes no such method and doesn't teach or enforce one.
So your first decision is whether you want someone's method at all. We read Operately's product pages, pricing, blueprint, roadmap and release notes in October 2026. Its code is open under Apache 2.0, apart from an enterprise (ee) directory with its own license, which is a real point of difference, and you can inspect it yourself. We haven't tested either product side by side.
Operately has a method. Nautis doesn't.
Operately's blueprint sets out two ideas, and it takes about ten minutes to read. It's useful even if you never sign up.
The Cascade links levels of work: company-wide goals, usually for a year; shorter group goals, such as quarterly ones; projects that serve those goals, measured by milestones; and procedures for recurring work. Its authors aim this at a startup that has reached product-market fit.
The Cadence is a shared clock of events, which the blueprint calls mandatory. The table below shows each one against what you would do in Nautis, where none of this is prescribed.
| Operately Cadence event | Purpose in the blueprint | Nearest in Nautis |
|---|---|---|
| Annual review and planning | Reflect on the year, set company goals | Business plans and SWOT, without a set ritual |
| Quarterly review and planning | Assess goals, set the next quarter's | Outcome Workflows and task boards you set up yourself |
| Quarterly all-hands | Share updates, Q&A | Nothing specific. Use Meetings to schedule it |
| Monthly group reviews | Review goals, KPIs, projects | KPI tasks on boards. A built-in Monthly Review routine |
| Monthly leadership meetings | Align, resolve big issues | Meetings module, Decision Loop for what you decided |
| Weekly project check-ins | Written updates by project champions | No check-in format. A Monday Plan and Friday Review routine exist |
| Daily team huddle | Daily priorities in under 15 minutes | No format. The 7:00 am briefing is company-wide reading |
Operately softens this in places. Its OKR page says it supports OKRs but doesn't force a framework, and you can use targets or milestones instead. Even so, the product has a clear shape, with champions and reviewers on projects, and check-ins on a schedule. If your team drifts without structure, that shape is the product. If you haven't picked a method, read EOS vs Scaling Up vs OKRs first.
Nautis vs Operately in the software
| What you need | Operately | Nautis |
|---|---|---|
| Goals with measurable targets | Core feature, at company, team and individual level, with automatic progress from projects | Outcome Workflows and KPI tasks. No OKR tracker |
| Projects | Owners, milestones, check-ins, Kanban boards, message boards | Task boards with Outcome and KPI tasks, discussion, attachments |
| Status updates | Scheduled async check-ins, which it says replace status meetings | None built in as a format. Daily briefing pulls from records |
| KPIs | Added in v1.10, on 20 October 2026, with weekly or monthly cadence and a champion | KPI tasks hold one number and its target |
| Documents | Docs and files, public sharing links | Notes, Sheets, Docsign, data rooms |
| AI | Alfred coach in beta. CLI, API, MCP and skills so outside agents can act | Chief of Staff briefing, Commodore, advisors, routines, approvals. MCP and API on plans with developer access |
| Fundraising | Not listed | Fundraising CRM, investor readiness, deck analyzer, cap table on Voyage and Fleet |
| Finance | Not listed | Startup Health, financial planner, invoices, expenses |
| Sales | Not listed | Leads CRM, contacts, custom forms |
| People records | Not listed | Employee management, recruitment, Burnout Radar |
| Hosting | Its cloud, or self-host with Docker | Hosted only in the guides we read |
| Source code | Open, Apache 2.0, apart from an ee directory under its own Enterprise Edition license | Closed |
| Languages | English, Brazilian Portuguese, German, French, Spanish, Russian | The guides name English, Hindi and Hinglish for WhatsApp |
Operately's masterplan talks about a broader open source startup operating system over time. Today's product covers goals, projects, KPIs and docs. Its roadmap lists procedures as planned, so that last step of the Cascade doesn't appear to be a finished feature yet. The same roadmap still lists KPIs and translations as planned, though both shipped in v1.10, so its roadmap page may lag the releases.
Flat pricing on both sides, different ceilings
Both charge by plan, so neither gets more expensive with each hire. Here Operately is simply cheaper, because it covers more people per dollar. The table shows flat prices per plan on monthly billing, as of October 2026. Annual billing brings Operately's Pro, Business and Unlimited to $41, $125 and $199 a month, which it describes as two months free. Nautis also gives two months free on annual billing.
| Team size | Operately cloud | Operately self-hosted | Nautis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $0, up to 10 users | $0 plus your server | Launch, $49 |
| 10 | $0, up to 10 users | $0 plus your server | Voyage, $99 |
| 25 | Pro, $49, up to 30 users | $0 plus your server | Fleet, $129 |
| 60 | Business, $149, up to 100 users | $0 plus your server | Above the 25-member cap on Fleet |
| 150 | Unlimited, $249 | $0 plus your server | Above the 25-member cap on Fleet |
Its $0 tier includes all core features, 10 GB of storage and community support, with no card. Extra storage is $49 a month per terabyte. Nautis asks for payment after a 14-day trial with no card, and AI credits are capped by plan. The fair reading is that Nautis costs more and covers far more functions, while Operately covers one function at a price that is hard to beat. If goals and projects are all you need, paying for Nautis makes no sense.
Planning a quarter in each
Say you run a 15-person startup, past product-market fit, where three teams keep working on different priorities.
With Operately
Leadership sets company goals, and each group sets quarterly goals with measures. A marketing goal might be 100 qualified leads. Projects connect to those goals, with one champion and one reviewer each. Weekly check-ins come due and progress rolls upward. Anyone can see which goals have work behind them. You still have to hold the meetings, but the software gives them something true to look at. If your agent tools can run commands, they can post check-ins through the CLI.
With Nautis
You would state each goal in Outcome Workflows, review the proposed plan, and let it create a task board. KPI tasks hold the numbers. The briefing surfaces blocked and overdue work. What's missing is the discipline: nothing asks each project owner to write an update on Friday, and nothing rolls team goals up into company goals. You'd set up a routine or a habit yourself, and in return you get the rest of the company's data in view, such as whether the plan's hiring fits your runway.
For this particular problem, three teams with competing priorities, Operately is the more direct fix.
What open source changes for you
- You can leave. The code is yours to run, so the vendor going away or changing prices isn't fatal. With Nautis, leaving means exporting what you can, such as CSVs from Contacts and leads.
- You can check it. Its home page mentions a team that chose it for compliance reasons. A security team can read the code rather than rely on a questionnaire.
- You take on running it. Self-hosting uses Docker, and Operately says about five minutes to install. Backups, updates and uptime are then yours. Its self-hosted page offers a commercial conversation about licensing or support.
- It works with agents you already run. Operately's AI page lists OpenClaw, Codex and Claude Code as agents that can use its CLI and published skills. A technical team may find that more useful than a built-in assistant.
Nautis offers none of the first three. Its strengths lie elsewhere, in a hosted product where someone else handles uptime and approvals are already built. The trade is the one in our technical founders page: control against convenience.
Where Nautis is the better fit
Nautis suits an earlier or messier stage. Operately's own blueprint speaks to companies past product-market fit, and its product overview lists teams of 5 to 100 as its main audience. A pre-seed founder with three people probably doesn't need annual planning and monthly group reviews. They need to know their runway, chase their investors and invoice their first customers. Those are records, and they have to go somewhere.
Nautis also has an AI that acts on its own records, within approvals: reminders on overdue invoices, follow-ups and briefing items. Operately's Alfred is a beta coach that reviews your goals, and outside agents can reach its data, which is a different kind of help.
Its weaknesses are the ones you would expect: a public launch only in July 2026, not many outside reviews, and breadth at the cost of depth. Operately releases in the open, so you can see its pace yourself, whereas you must take our word for ours.
How to decide
- Ask whether your teams know what they are working towards, and whether that is written down. If not, try Operately's $0 tier or read its blueprint this week.
- Ask whether you can state your runway, top investors and overdue invoices from one place right now. If not, try Nautis.
- If both answers are no, deal with money and investors first when you are under about ten people, then bring in a goals method as you grow.
- If you need to self-host or read the source, Operately is the one that offers it, since the Nautis guides cover neither.
- If you do run both, keep goals and projects in Operately, keep records in Nautis, and don't track the same tasks twice.
FAQ
What is the main difference in Nautis vs Operately?
Operately connects goals, projects and check-ins under a defined method, with open source code you can self-host. Nautis holds a startup's fundraising, finance, sales and task records, with an AI Chief of Staff, and has no method built in. Pick by whether your main problem is alignment or scattered records.
How much does Operately cost?
As of October 2026, its cloud plans are $0 for up to 10 users, Pro at $49 a month for up to 30, Business at $149 for up to 100, and Unlimited at $249, flat per plan. Annual billing lowers those to $41, $125 and $199 a month. Self-hosting is free with unlimited users.
Is Operately open source?
Yes. Its site says the entire codebase is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and you can run it yourself with Docker. The repository's license file adds that files in an ee directory fall under a separate Enterprise Edition license. Nautis isn't open source.
Does Nautis have OKRs?
No. There is no OKR tracker or management framework in the product. Nautis has task boards with KPI tasks, Outcome Workflows and a Decision Loop, but it won't teach or enforce a method.
Does Operately have an AI assistant?
Its site describes Alfred, a built-in AI coach in beta that reviews goals and gives execution feedback. It also offers a CLI, API, MCP support and published skills, so outside agents can create goals and post check-ins.
Disclosure: We make Nautis, so we have a stake in this comparison. It's based on published information, not a scored hands-on test. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
- Operately: pricing (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: what is Operately (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: blueprint, Cascade and Cadence (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: features (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: releases, v1.10 (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: roadmap (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: AI and agents (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: self-hosted (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: homepage (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: OKR software (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Operately: masterplan (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- GitHub: operately/operately license file (checked Oct 31, 2026)