Tempo Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

Tempo is a Toronto based coding company founded by Kevin Michael and Peter Gokhshteyn, who previously worked at Microsoft, Google and Perpetua. Y Combinator lists Tempo in its Summer 2023 batch and describes its original product as a visual React editor powered by AI, optimized for Vite and Tailwind. A company press release reported a $5 million seed round on October 22, 2025, from Y Combinator, Golden Ventures, Box Group, Webflow Ventures, iNovia, General Catalyst and angels. Tempo has since shifted from its browser builder to a desktop IDE and software factory. The current product targets teams working on real codebases, combining specifications, designs, visual canvases, Git, pull requests and AI agents in one workspace.

Tempo’s current workflow starts with a local project and an existing codebase rather than a browser-only prompt. Teams can work from specifications and designs, edit visual canvases as code, inspect Git and CI status, and assign agents to separate Git worktrees for parallel changes. Supported agent paths include Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Tempo Inference, with local execution and direct provider tokens available through migration documentation. Git and Node are required for normal setup, along with desktop installation and operating system permissions. Tempo retains its React and design roots through visual editing, design panels and component libraries, but places those capabilities inside a broader desktop workflow for product and engineering teams managing ongoing software work.

Tempo combines local execution with user-selected coding agents and an optional hosted inference service. Its March 2025 V2 release added a Figma plugin, a fine-grained design panel, enhanced reasoning, Gemini Search, SaaS templates and Expo or React Native support. The October 25, 2026 desktop changelog records fixes for Canvas Share, canvas responsiveness, Astro saves, import recovery, multiline drafts and GitHub access errors. It also describes a bounded metadata cache intended to reduce memory use. Agents can run in separate Git worktrees, creating local boundaries for parallel tasks. Tempo does not publish a stable standalone API specification or an open source license, so teams should treat those capabilities as unavailable unless the company provides separate access.

Tempo’s current desktop pricing uses four tiers. Free costs $0 per month and includes 250 issues, 100 documents, 500 local tests monthly and seven-day history. Pro costs $50 monthly, with unlimited issues and documents, 5,000 tests, 90-day history and $4.50 per 1,000 additional tests. Team costs $200 monthly and includes five users, 35,000 tests and 365-day history. Enterprise is custom priced with custom users and test volume, bring-your-own infrastructure, unlimited history and audit. The pricing page also displays a $40 monthly line item alongside Pro and Team, so buyers should inspect the checkout presentation. Legacy browser subscriptions and unused prompt credits follow separate migration billing rules and should not be confused with desktop tiers.

Tempo's move from a browser editor to a desktop application changes the buying decision. Setup requires Git, Node and operating system permissions, while the migration documentation emphasizes local code execution and user-selected agent backends. Cursor and Windsurf are closer rivals for AI-native desktop editing and agent workflows. Replit offers the browser collaboration and deployment approach that former web-builder customers may prefer. Tempo combines local projects, visual code work, Git worktrees and several agent backends in one desktop product. Local execution does not remove the separate data policies of connected hosted models. Teams that want visual coordination around an existing local codebase and parallel coding agents should pick Tempo.