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

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