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Sinatra vs Devin

Cognition's cloud software engineer. Compared here on Devin Cloud sessions and the Linear integration, not the Devin CLI or Devin Desktop.

Both tools take a Linear ticket and hand back a pull request. The difference is what you pay and what you hold. Devin's self-serve seats come with an allowance whose size is not published, then on-demand credits at API pricing, and Enterprise is metered in ACUs, so a task's cost is knowable only after it runs. Its paid plans reach frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and SpaceXAI, open-source models, and Cognition's own SWE line, and you pay Cognition for all of them, apart from the GPT share a linked ChatGPT plan can cover. Sinatra charges a flat price for the whole workspace and runs on the key or subscription you already have. Devin is the better buy if you want one vendor to own the stack, or if Microsoft Teams and an editor are how your team actually starts work.

Feature
Sinatra
Devin
Native GitHub-issue trigger1
✓
~
Native Linear-ticket assignee2
✓
✓
Start a hosted run over API or MCP3
✓
✓
Replies in-thread on PR review4
✓
~
Bring your own model key5
✓
✕
Runs on your Claude or ChatGPT subscription6
✓
~
Doesn't bill for model usage7
✓
✕
Plan price and usage rate both published8
✓
~
Free tier with published limits9
✓
✕
Fully-managed tier (infra and model)10
✕
✓
IDE or editor surface11
~
✓
Start a run from Slack12
✓
✓
Self-hosted or open-source option13
✕
~
  1. Yes means the vendor's own app starts a run from the issue itself, with nothing to commit to the repo first. Sinatra's trigger is the Sinatra label that ships with the GitHub App install (`sinatraai` on the hosted app). Partial means either that a workflow file and an API-key secret have to be added per repository first, or that the mention only works on pull requests, or that starting from an issue needs a trigger or automation you configure yourself.
  2. Yes means assigning the ticket to the agent in Linear starts the run. Partial means the run starts some other way: an attachment link you click, or a trigger you configure yourself against Linear's webhooks. Assignment on its own does nothing.
  3. Yes means a documented HTTP API or MCP server starts a run on the vendor's hosted agent from a task the caller writes, so a script, a CI job, or an MCP client can hand off work and follow it to a pull request. Partial means only the vendor's CLI can start such a run, or the API only fires an automation saved ahead of time, or it is enabled for selected organizations only. Local agent sessions, and MCP servers that only read docs or tickets, don't count. Creating, labeling, or assigning an issue through a tracker's API, so that a tracker trigger or a saved automation picks it up, doesn't count either. Sinatra's MCP server takes an OAuth sign-in from Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai or ChatGPT, or a personal access token; the HTTP API and the `sinatra` CLI take the token; and every run happens on Sinatra's hosted agent.
  4. Yes means a changes-requested review is enough on its own: Sinatra reworks the branch and pushes the follow-up commit with no re-trigger and no mention. Partial means the agent acts only when it is @-mentioned in the thread, or only while its original session is still open.
  5. Yes means your own provider API key runs the agent everywhere the product runs it. Partial means keys work on some surfaces but not the one being compared here, either because the vendor documents them as local-CLI-and-desktop only, or because it never documents them covering its cloud agent at all.
  6. Yes means a Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT subscription you already pay for authenticates the run on the vendor's hosted cloud. Partial means it works only where that CLI's login already sits on the machine: your own laptop or a self-hosted backend, not a clean cloud sandbox, or that a linked subscription pays only for one provider's share of a hosted run while the vendor bills the rest.
  7. Yes means the vendor never charges you for model use itself: it runs on a key or subscription you pay a model provider for, or model use is included in a flat plan and capped by a rate limit or task quota rather than charged. When the vendor is itself the model provider, paying its own API rates on your own key counts as paying your provider. Partial means the vendor bills model use unless you bring your own key on the surface compared here. No means the vendor bills model use, as tokens, credits, or units, at cost or marked up, including usage past an included allowance. Sinatra runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription or API key and never bills for model usage.
  8. Both halves have to be published: the plan price, and the rate for work past the plan. A published seat price sitting on top of an undisclosed credit, compute unit, or quota size is partial.
  9. Yes means the free tier states its limits as numbers. Sinatra's Free plan is 1 task at a time, plus 1 queued with no daily limit and no card, on your own subscription or API key; each request runs for up to 60 minutes, and if it needs longer Sinatra stops, keeps the changes, and picks up when you reply. Partial means a free plan exists but its limits are not published, or are published in a unit whose size isn't. No means there is no free tier, or the free tier leaves out the agent compared here.
  10. Yes means the vendor supplies model access and bills for or includes that usage. Sinatra requires your own workspace API key or personal subscription on every tier, including existing and paid accounts, and does not bill model tokens.
  11. Yes means an editor plugin or a desktop app; partial means a terminal CLI and no plugin or app of the vendor's own inside an editor. Sinatra is partial: the `sinatra` CLI, and an MCP server that Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai, ChatGPT and other MCP clients can call, hand work to the hosted agent, which works in its own sandbox and comes back as a pull request. There is no editor extension, and the agent never runs on your machine. If you want an assistant working inside your editor, that is a real reason to pick one of these instead, and several teams run both.
  12. Yes means mentioning the agent in a Slack channel or thread starts a run on the vendor's hosted agent. Sinatra's Slack app is connected once per workspace by an owner or admin, on every plan: mention it in a channel and it works in that thread, posting its progress and answer there and opening a pull request when the request needs code. Follow-ups in the thread continue the task.
  13. Yes means you can run the agent on infrastructure you control, or the source is open. Partial means execution or inference can be pointed at your own account or your own machines while the product itself stays the vendor's and stays closed. Sinatra is hosted only; there is no self-managed build.

Competitor facts were read off each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages on October 16, 2026. Sinatra's terms reflect the current own-credential requirement.

How you start it

Sinatra
  • Add the Sinatra label to a GitHub issue. The label ships with the GitHub App install and is named after the app (sinatraai on the hosted one)
  • Assign a Linear ticket to Sinatra, or @-mention it in a comment
  • Mention @Sinatra in a Slack channel; it works in that thread, and follow-ups in the thread continue the task
  • Start a task from your terminal with the sinatra CLI, from Claude Code, Cursor, claude.ai or ChatGPT over MCP, or over the HTTP API. It runs on Sinatra's hosted agent, not on your machine
Devin
  • Assign a Linear ticket to Devin, add a playbook label, or @-mention it in a comment
  • /devin in a comment on an open GitHub pull request
  • An automation you set up on GitHub issue, Linear, Jira, Slack, schedule, or webhook events
  • Tag Devin in a Slack or Teams thread
  • The Devin web app
  • The Devin API's sessions endpoint, with an API key
  • The Devin MCP server, whose devin_session_create tool starts a session from a prompt
  • Devin CLI and Devin Desktop, including JetBrains, Zed, and Xcode over ACP
Sinatra

Free: 1 task at a time, plus 1 queued, no daily limit. Bring your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription, or an API key. On Free, each request runs for up to 60 minutes. If it needs longer, Sinatra stops, keeps the changes, and picks up when you reply. No card. Paid plans are one flat monthly price for the whole workspace, however many people are in it: Pro $20 (3 tasks at a time, plus 10 queued), Team $99 (10 tasks at a time, plus 25 queued), Scale $249 (25 tasks at a time, plus 100 queued). Enterprise is custom. Sinatra never bills for model usage.

Sinatra pricing →
Devin

Free (no Devin Cloud), Pro $20/mo, Max $200/mo, and Teams from $80/mo ($40 per full seat, flex seats free). Self-serve seats include an allowance of unpublished size, daily and weekly on Pro and full seats, weekly on Max, then on-demand credits at API pricing; Enterprise is metered in ACUs at an order-form rate. On Pro, Max, and Teams, a linked ChatGPT Go, Plus, or Pro plan can pay for the GPT share of a session.

Devin pricing page →

How you start a task

Devin's Linear path is good, and it is the one place these two products do the same thing the same way: assign the ticket and walk away.

GitHub is where they part. Devin's built-in GitHub trigger is a /devin comment on an open pull request, and its docs say comments on issues are ignored. To start from an issue you build an automation in Devin's app: pick the repository, choose an issue or issue-comment event, add a condition such as a label or a comment starting with /devin, and write the prompt. That works, and it is a project per repository rather than something that comes with the install. Sinatra uses a label there rather than an assignee because GitHub Apps cannot be issue assignees anywhere, and the label is there as soon as the App is.

After that both open a branch in a sandbox and finish at a pull request you review. Sinatra opens its pull request as a draft during the run, runs your test_command after implementation, and attempts self-review before marking it ready. Tests and self-review are not readiness gates: failures can leave a ready PR, so check the results and enforce your repository's merge requirements.

What it costs, in dollars

The plan prices above are clear enough. What is not published is how far they go: Devin's docs say Pro and Teams seats "have a daily and weekly allowance" without giving a number, and usage past it draws on on-demand credits, which the docs describe as the same dollar value as an ACU. Enterprise customers are billed in ACUs at a rate set in their order form. That is a fair way to bill for compute and an impossible one to forecast from a ticket. Two tickets that look identical to whoever wrote them can cost very different amounts, and you find out afterwards.

Sinatra's bill has two numbers and both are published: the plan, $20 a month for the whole workspace on Pro, and your provider's own rate for tokens on your provider's invoice. Or nothing at all for the second, if the credential you connect is a subscription you were already paying for. The plan sets how many tickets run at once, not how many you can assign, so a busy week queues work rather than adding to the bill.

Where Sinatra wins

You keep the model relationship. Your Anthropic key, your OpenRouter key, your Claude or ChatGPT plan, running the whole hosted task. Devin has no customer-supplied-key path documented anywhere, and its ChatGPT link covers only the GPT part of a session, while the other models in it still bill to your Devin quota.

GitHub Issues is a trigger here with nothing to configure, which for a backlog that lives in GitHub can be the difference between adopting the tool and not. And review feedback needs no re-trigger: request changes and Sinatra pushes the follow-up commit. Devin answers PR comments automatically too, but only while its session is unarchived. After that the thread goes quiet.

Where Devin wins

Devin is the bigger product, and some of what it does Sinatra has decided not to do at all.

Chat comes first. Tag Devin in a Slack or Teams thread where the bug is being discussed and it picks the work up there. Sinatra does the same in Slack, on every plan, but has no Teams app, so a team that works in Microsoft Teams should weigh that.

Devin is also in your editor, with a CLI, a desktop app, and JetBrains, Zed, and Xcode over ACP. Sinatra offers no editor extension and no desktop app. Its CLI and its MCP server, for MCP clients such as Claude Code, Cursor and claude.ai, start a task on the hosted agent, which works in a sandbox and returns a pull request; the agent never runs on your machine. Devin can run there if you want it to: Outposts, on Pro, Max, and Teams, sends a session's commands and file edits to machines you operate while the agent loop stays in Devin's cloud, and Sinatra has no self-hosted option of any kind. Devin also runs the harness, offers models from several providers, and does the billing, which is a real advantage if you would rather have one throat to choke than two invoices. And Ask Devin and DeepWiki answer questions about a repository, which is a different job from closing a ticket and one Sinatra does not attempt.

Looking for a Devin alternative?

Two things usually bring people here: a credit bill that grew faster than the work did, or a backlog in GitHub Issues that Devin only sees through an automation someone has to build.

For the bill, the change is that the model line stops being a Devin line item. You bring the key or the subscription, Sinatra charges one flat monthly price for the whole workspace ($20 on Pro) for the sandbox and the orchestration, and token spend lands on your provider's invoice at their rate. For the trigger, the change is a label on a GitHub issue.

If neither is your problem, and what you want is an agent in Teams and in your editor, Devin is a good product and you should keep it.

Switching, or running both

Nothing to migrate. Both open their own branch and their own pull request, and neither writes to main. Run them side by side on the same board for two weeks on Sinatra's free tier: 1 task at a time, plus 1 queued, no daily limit, no card. Devin's Free plan doesn't include Devin Cloud, so its side of the test starts on Pro. Give each the kind of ticket you would delegate to a person, then compare the diffs and the two invoices.

Questions people ask about Devin and Sinatra

Is Sinatra cheaper than Devin?

It depends on volume. Devin's Pro plan is $20 a month for one person with a quota that is not published as a number; Sinatra Pro is $20 a month for the whole workspace, however many people use it, plus what your provider charges you directly, which on a Claude Max or ChatGPT plan you already hold can be nothing.

Can Devin start from a GitHub issue?

Not out of the box. Devin's built-in `/devin` comment works on open pull requests and ignores issues. You can build an issue trigger with a Devin automation, for example on a label or a comment starting with /devin, which you set up per repository in Devin's app. Sinatra's GitHub entry point is the label that ships with its App install.

Can I use my own Anthropic or OpenAI key with Devin?

No. Devin lets you pick a model family, but calls are billed by Cognition against your plan, and no customer-supplied provider key appears in its documentation. The one exception is a subscription rather than a key: on Pro, Max, and Teams you can link a ChatGPT Go, Plus, or Pro plan, and the GPT share of a session is billed to it.

Can we run both?

Yes, and plenty of teams should. They overlap on Linear and almost nowhere else: Devin is strongest as an assistant you talk to, Sinatra as an unattended worker on tickets already written down.

Where these facts came from

Devin sources, read October 16, 2026: devin.ai/pricing, docs.devin.ai/admin/billing/self-serve, docs.devin.ai/admin/billing/usage, docs.devin.ai/admin/billing/chatgpt, docs.devin.ai/integrations/linear, docs.devin.ai/integrations/gh, docs.devin.ai/product-guides/automations, docs.devin.ai/cloud/outposts/overview, docs.devin.ai/cli/models, docs.devin.ai/work-with-devin/devin-mcp, docs.devin.ai/api-reference/overview

Every mark on this page comes from Devin's own documentation and pricing pages, not a third-party roundup: read on October 16, 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.

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