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Developer Tools · head to head

Ona (formerly Gitpod) vs Xara Designer Pro+

Ona (formerly Gitpod) logo

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Developer Tools

Cloud development environments repositioned as a control plane for software engineering agents

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit Ona (formerly Gitpod)Full review
Xara Designer Pro+ logo

Xara Designer Pro+

Design

Desktop publishing, web design, photo editing and graphic design in one workspace

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit Xara Designer Pro+Full review

The short version

  • Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at $20/mo; Xara Designer Pro+ prices on request.
  • Where Xara Designer Pro+ falls short: compatible with Windows only; the product page states no Mac version.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Xara Designer Pro+ actually diverge.

Attributes where Ona (formerly Gitpod) and Xara Designer Pro+ differ
AttributeOna (formerly Gitpod)Xara Designer Pro+
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month by compute unitOne-time
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWSWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDesign

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Ephemeral environments
  • Agent sessions
  • Bring your own cloud
  • Devcontainer standard
  • Compute unit budgeting
  • Enterprise identity

Only in Xara Designer Pro+

Nothing recorded that Ona (formerly Gitpod) does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setupnot Xara Designer Pro+
  • Running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptopnot Xara Designer Pro+
  • Keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled accountnot Xara Designer Pro+
  • Reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machinenot Xara Designer Pro+

Xara Designer Pro+

  • Desktop publishing and professional layout workflowsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Web design and e-commerce site creation without codenot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Photo editing and image retouching for visual projectsnot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Graphic design and illustration in single workspacenot Ona (formerly Gitpod)
  • Multi-discipline creative work with unlimited flexibilitynot Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

  • Acquisition risk has already materialised: the company closed a sale to OpenAI on 10 August 2026 and now sits inside the Codex team, so nothing public guarantees pricing, continuity or neutrality between model vendors beyond honouring existing commitments
  • Two disruptive changes of direction inside a year, from development environments to agent orchestration and then from independence to acquisition, mean the product a browser IDE buyer originally chose no longer exists in that form
  • The Gitpod Classic sunset on 15 October 2025 required manual conversion of configuration, hand-moved secrets, self-rescued workspace data and a brand new account, which is the clearest available precedent for how the vendor handles deprecation
  • Community self-hosting is finished: the AGPL-3.0 repository is deprecated by its own README, and self-hosted now means a vendor-operated install in your AWS or GCP account, with no Azure, no on-premises and no air-gapped path
  • Pricing is difficult to model because it runs on a compute unit currency where subscription credits expire at the end of the month, the mapping from units to actual compute is not published on the pricing page, and Enterprise is quotation only

Xara Designer Pro+

  • Compatible with Windows only; the product page states no Mac version

Pricing, plan by plan

Ona (formerly Gitpod)

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 parallel environments
    • Machines up to 4 vCPU, 16 GB memory and 80 GB disk
    • Ona Cloud multi-tenant only
  • Core$20/mo
    • From 20 US dollars a month, up to 100 team members
    • Includes 80 to 2,200 recurring compute units a month depending on tier
    • Additional units from 10 US dollars per 40 units
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Single-tenant deployment in your own AWS or GCP account
    • SAML and OIDC single sign-on
    • Dedicated account management and forward deployed engineers

Xara Designer Pro+

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Xara Designer Pro+ review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Ona (formerly Gitpod) if

  • You need ephemeral environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS.
  • You also want agent sessions.
Ona (formerly Gitpod) review

Choose Xara Designer Pro+ if

Nothing in the data separates Xara Designer Pro+ from Ona (formerly Gitpod) on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Xara Designer Pro+ review

Questions people ask

Is Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Xara Designer Pro+ better?
Neither clearly leads. Ona (formerly Gitpod) starts at Free and Xara Designer Pro+ at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Xara Designer Pro+?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ona (formerly Gitpod) and On request for Xara Designer Pro+.
Does Ona (formerly Gitpod) or Xara Designer Pro+ run on more platforms?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS. Xara Designer Pro+ runs on Web.
Can I use Ona (formerly Gitpod) for free?
Yes. Ona (formerly Gitpod) has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Xara Designer Pro+ starts at On request.
What is Ona (formerly Gitpod) best used for?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) is most often used for giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup, running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop, keeping source code off contractor and offshore laptops by moving the whole environment into a controlled account, reproducing a hard-to-configure toolchain for a short-lived project without polluting anyone machine. Of those, giving a large engineering team identical, disposable environments so onboarding is a link rather than a two day setup and running several coding agents in parallel against real databases and services instead of on a laptop are not what Xara Designer Pro+ is typically brought in for.
What can Ona (formerly Gitpod) do that Xara Designer Pro+ cannot?
Ona (formerly Gitpod) covers Ephemeral environments, Agent sessions, Bring your own cloud, Devcontainer standard.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ona (formerly Gitpod): Is Gitpod still called Gitpod?

No. It rebranded to Ona in September 2025, and gitpod.io now redirects to ona.com. The company was acquired by OpenAI in a deal that closed on 10 August 2026.

Xara Designer Pro+: Does Xara Designer Pro offer a free trial?

Yes, Xara Designer Pro offers a free trial download, allowing users to test the software before purchasing.

Source
Ona (formerly Gitpod): Can I still self-host it for free?

No. The AGPL-3.0 self-hosted project is deprecated by its own README. What is offered now is a vendor-operated single-tenant install in your AWS or GCP account on the Enterprise plan.

Ona (formerly Gitpod): What happened to Gitpod Classic?

Pay-as-you-go Classic was switched off on 15 October 2025. Migration required converting gitpod.yml to devcontainer.json, moving secrets by hand, downloading workspace data before the cutoff and creating a new account.

Ona (formerly Gitpod): What does it cost?

Core starts at 20 US dollars a month and includes a monthly allowance of Ona Compute Units, with more from 10 dollars per 40 units. Subscription credits expire monthly. Enterprise is quoted.

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