Compare software

Beads vs Task Master: catalog facts
Beads	Task Master
Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.	Free Free to use; the AI model APIs it calls are billed by their providers.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Command line
Gives coding agents memory that persists between sessions Ships with a Claude plugin and other integrations	Turns a PRD into an ordered task list for agents Works as an MCP server in Cursor, Windsurf, Roo and others
Only useful alongside an AI coding agent Little documentation outside the repository in the research	Needs API access to an AI model Adds planning overhead that small tasks may not need
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: MIT	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.