Guides · Comparison · Outbox vs Derive

Outbox vs Derive: keep your agents' work, or send it to people

Derive keeps and reviews your agents' work inside your team; Outbox sends it to specific people and tells you who opened it. Derive is the more complete workspace for technical teams, with self-hosting, more formats and SSO. Outbox is built for the moment work leaves the company: a link per recipient, an email when they open it, expiry, and one flat price for the team.

Key differences

What we compare	Outbox	Derive
Publish from agents	Remote and local MCP, CLI, skill and API	Remote and local MCP, CLI, skill and API
Publish without an account	No, the agent needs an Outbox account	Yes: one curl call creates a draft that lives 72 hours and can be claimed
Formats	HTML and Markdown	HTML, Markdown, LaTeX, decks and whole sites
One link per person	Yes: each link carries a recipient name and opens are recorded under it	Not documented: sharing is by invitation, workspace or one link for anyone
Alert when someone opens	Email to whoever created the link, plus a reminder if it's still unopened	Not found in the docs or public repo
Link expiry	1 to 365 days (7 by default), optional renew-on-open	Not documented for shared links
Password on links	Every plan, Free included	Team plan and up
Versions and review	Every publish is a version, diff and rollback; anchored comments and suggestions	Versions with diff and restore; anchored comments and review rounds
Self-hosting	No	Yes, a single container (Fair Source license)
Custom domain and SSO	No	Custom domain from Team; OIDC SSO and audit log on Business
Pricing	Free, Pro $5/mo, Pro+ $12/mo, Unlimited $24/mo; Team $49/mo per team (early access)	Free up to 3 editors; Team $15/editor/mo ($12 annual); Business $30/editor/mo

Derive details checked on 2026-10-11 against their public sources (listed below). If something changed, email us at hello@out-box.dev.

The short version

Both products give your agents a lasting URL for what they make, with versions and comments. They part ways on who the work is for. Derive is a home for everything your team's agents produce: it publishes more formats, lets reviewers run rounds against a specific version, edits pages in place, integrates with Slack and GitHub, and can run on your own infrastructure.

Outbox focuses on sending that work to named people outside the team and closing the loop: one link per recipient, an email when each one opens it, a reminder when someone hasn't, expiry and revocation. If that's the job, Outbox does it with less setup and costs less as the team grows.

What a team pays

Derive charges per editor (anyone who publishes); readers, commenters and agents are free. Outbox Team is $49 a month for the whole company (up to 10 publishers, early access), with unlimited readers. List prices as of 2026-10-11:

Team	Derive	Outbox
3 publishers, no password needed	$0 (Free)	$0 (Free) per person, or Team $49/mo per team (early access)
3 publishers, password-protected links	$45/mo (Team)	Free includes passwords; Team $49/mo per team (early access)
10 publishers	$150/mo (Team) or $300/mo (Business)	Team $49/mo per team (early access)

What Derive does better

First run without friction: an agent can publish with no account and hand you a claim link. Self-hosting in one container, with a Fair Source license that converts each release to Apache 2.0 after two years. Custom domains, OIDC SSO and an audit log for IT. A wider range of formats, from LaTeX to full sites. Deeper review tooling, including in-place editing. We'd rather say this plainly than lose your time.

Where Outbox is stronger

Knowing who opened it, by person. Derive's analytics show views, unique readers and signed-in viewers, but we found no per-person links and no open alerts. In Outbox every per-recipient link is a named read receipt, with an email when it's opened and a reminder after 48 hours if it isn't.

Control on every plan. Passphrase and expiry come with Outbox Free; in Derive, password links start on Team, and we found no expiry for shared links. And flat pricing: from four publishers with passwords, Outbox Team costs less than Derive Team, and the gap grows with each editor.

When Derive is the better fit

You need to self-host, or you need SSO and a custom domain.
Your agents produce LaTeX papers, decks or multi-file sites, not just pages.
You want a technical team workspace with review rounds, Slack and GitHub integrations, and agents that run on a schedule.
Three or fewer people publish and you don't need password-protected links: Derive's free plan covers that.

When Outbox is the better fit

You send agent-made proposals, reports and decks to people outside the company and need to know who opened them.
You want password and expiry on every link without moving to a per-seat plan.
Many people on your team publish and you want one predictable price.
The buyer isn't technical and needs a product that explains itself in one sentence.

Learn about Outbox or see the plans.

Related guides

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Frequently asked questions

Is Derive open source?

Derive uses the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-ALv2): you can self-host and modify it, but not offer it as a competing commercial service. Each release converts to Apache 2.0 two years after it ships.

Can I self-host Outbox?

No. Outbox is a hosted service. If self-hosting is a requirement, Derive is the better fit.

Does Derive tell me when a client opens a page?

As of 2026-10-11 we found no open notifications in Derive's docs or public repo; its notifications cover publishes, comments and reviews. Outbox emails you on each new open of a share link.

Can I use both?

Yes. Some teams keep internal review in one workspace and use Outbox only for what goes to clients, published from the same agent.

Sources