Novastart

Features

• Infinite canvas desktop. All open apps sit side by side as windows on one canvas that you zoom and pan, instead of stacking on top of each other or hiding behind tabs. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗
• Saved canvases and folders. Each canvas keeps every app, window position and tab between sessions. Separate canvases can be made for different areas such as work, school or travel, and folders group canvases. Undo goes back 100 steps per canvas, including closing an app. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗ · Official source 3 ↗
• Real apps and bundled Chrome. Web apps such as Gmail, Excel, WhatsApp and Notion open as real signed-in windows, any site opens in a bundled Chrome browser, and ONLYOFFICE and Linux apps are included. Every plan gets the same apps. Official source 1 ↗
• AI agents with their own cursors. You type a job, one lead agent writes an editable plan, and it recruits up to 10 helpers, one per window. Each agent has its own visible cursor and keyboard input, so you keep using your own mouse while they click and type in your apps through the normal interface. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗
• Pause, steer or take back agent work. A running agent can be paused mid-click, redirected with a typed note without restarting, or stopped by clicking into its window. Before a run counts as done, a separate check compares a fresh screenshot with the goal, and every run is logged on your machine with steps, clicks and screenshots. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗
• Four agent modes. Agent mode clicks and types until the job is done; Plan drafts steps for you to edit first; Ask answers from a screenshot without clicking; Observe watches a window and suggests work you can delegate. Official source 1 ↗
• Shared team canvas. On the Team plan you share one canvas or a folder by email invite. Each teammate gets their own cursor and can click and type in windows running on another person's machine, streamed live peer to peer. Invitees see only what was shared, and roles are Owner and Editor. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗
• Simultaneous edits and offline merge. Several people can move and edit windows at the same time; a CRDT keeps both changes. If the connection drops, your moves wait and merge when you reconnect. Windows can be hidden from the team or locked in place, docs and images up to 100 MB are mirrored to teammates, and a whole workspace can be saved as one .novastart file. Official source 1 ↗
• Local-first storage. Canvases, folders, apps and window positions are stored on your own machine. There is no copy of your canvases on a Novastart server, and canvas contents leave the machine only when you share a canvas. Official source 1 ↗
• Agent SDK for developers. Developers can build their own agents with the Open Virtual Input SDK in Python, JavaScript or Rust. Official source 1 ↗

Pricing & free limits

Billing details

Pro and Team are charged monthly. AI agent use is billed separately from every plan at $0.02 per use, drawn from prepaid credits bought in amounts of $25 or more. The pricing page does not say whether Team is priced per user. Official source 1 ↗

Card numbers are handled by a payment provider and are not stored by Novastart. Official source 1 ↗

Free access & limits

The Free plan allows one folder, two canvases in it and four windows on each canvas. Team collaboration is not included. Agents still cost $0.02 per use from purchased credits. Official source 1 ↗

Best for & limitations

Keeping separate, persistent canvases for different parts of life or work, such as a household budget, wedding planning, a vacation or an apartment search, and zooming between them. Official source 1 ↗

Handing a multi-part job like planning a ski trip to an agent that splits it across helper windows and totals the results in a sheet, while you keep working beside it. Official source 1 ↗

Checking availability across several open hotel pages and booking the one with a room after you confirm. Official source 1 ↗

Researching creators on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube into a sheet and drafting outreach emails in Gmail, sending only the ones you approve. Official source 1 ↗

Two remote teammates working on the same budget sheet at once from their own machines, instead of taking turns on a screen share. Official source 1 ↗

• No Apple Silicon Mac support listed. The app is listed for Windows 10 or 11 and Macs with an Intel chip only; Novastart OS needs an Intel or other x86 PC. Official source 1 ↗
• Installing the OS replaces the PC's existing system. Novastart OS takes over the whole machine and replaces what is on it, so it needs a PC you can dedicate to it. The app and the Ubuntu package avoid this. Official source 1 ↗
• The app version runs with some lag and heavy requirements. The app runs a whole computer inside your computer, so windows respond a beat later than on the OS. It needs 8 GB of RAM, about 32 GB of disk and hardware virtualization. Official source 1 ↗
• Agent screenshots and instructions go to OpenAI. Agents run on OpenAI's computer-use models. The screenshots and instructions each agent job needs are sent to OpenAI; other canvas content is not. Official source 1 ↗
• Unclear whether agents need your own OpenAI API key. The agents page says agents use your own OpenAI API key, while the pricing page charges $0.02 per agent use from Novastart credits. The site does not explain how the two relate. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗
• No security certification or audit. Novastart says it does not claim any security certification or completed audit, and it does not run a paid bug bounty. Official source 1 ↗
• Website privacy policy allows advertising tracking. The privacy policy allows analytics and advertising cookies, including retargeting by ad partners, and email open tracking. The security page says the site sets no tracking cookies today. Official source 1 ↗ · Official source 2 ↗