Home / Alternatives / Limrun
The closest match on this site — we add TV, tests that outlive the agent, Play submission and a public price.
Limrun is the closest thing to Sidekick anywhere: remote Xcode sandboxes with version pinning and S3-backed caches, cloud iOS simulators and Android emulators, per-instance tokens for sandboxed agents, batch actions with millisecond precision, 60fps recording, SDKs in three languages.
The differences are at the ends of the loop and in the open. Sidekick adds TV devices, tests that survive the agent (record-replay, visual regression, CI checks), Google Play submission, published pricing with a free tier — and every line of it is source-available under FSL.
$ sidekick agent-setup # skill + MCP, one command $ sidekick xcode build . --scheme MyApp # no Mac needed $ sidekick ios create # agent drives, you watch in the browser
| What you are deciding | Sidekick | Limrun |
|---|---|---|
| Build | ||
| Remote Xcode build (no Mac needed) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Android / Gradle cloud build | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Signing handled (certs, profiles, keystores) | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| Store submit from terminal (TestFlight + Play)Sidekick: TestFlight today; Play roadmap Q1 | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Devices | ||
| iOS simulators | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Android emulators + adb tunnel | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Apple TV / tvOS + Android TV | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Roku (real hardware)Sidekick: Beta hardware pool Q1 | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Foldables (posture + rotate verbs)Sidekick: iPhone Duo-style hinge API | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Real physical devices | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Agent control | ||
| CLI with device verbs (tap, type, screenshot) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Agent skill file (skill install) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| MCP server | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| UI / accessibility tree reads | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Batch actions (ms precision) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Session video recordingSidekick: Per-step screenshots today; video roadmap | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| App logs + network captureSidekick: App logs today; network capture roadmap | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Sharing | ||
| Live share links (no login needed) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Embeddable player (iframe / SDK) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Live collaboration + human takeover | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| Testing | ||
| Record once, replay everywhereSidekick: Recorder beta Q1 | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Visual regression per stepSidekick: Ships with recorder | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ❌ No |
| AI / plain-English testingSidekick: Agent-fix on moved elements | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ❌ No |
| CI runner + GitHub checksSidekick: Actions + checks Q1 | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Platform | ||
| Self-hostable (BYO Mac minis) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Source-available (FSL → Apache-2.0) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Public pricing + free tier, no card | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Per-instance sandbox tokens + region pinSidekick: Tokens today; regions roadmap | 🛣️ In Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
✅ Yes · 🛣️ In Roadmap = public, dated, lands in the open (self-host nightlies available) · ➖ Partial · ❌ No. Limrun claims checked 27 Sep 2026 at https://lim.run. Limrun pricing: Unpublished — 'split between idle and build time'.
Xcode version pinning, per-instance credentials, jurisdiction pinning (us/eu/as), per-instance timeouts. Running 100 sandboxed agents is a problem Limrun has thought about harder than we have.
Limrun records sessions; we take per-step screenshots inside tests. For demo videos today, they win the row.
You ship a TV app: Sidekick runs tvOS/Android TV with d-pad verbs. Limrun's own guide says tvOS schemes don't support simulator attachment yet.
You want tests that outlive the agent: Sidekick record-replay + visual regression + CI checks (roadmap, dated). Limrun points at 'your favorite framework' — legitimate, and a different product.
You submit to Google Play from the terminal: Sidekick submits to TestFlight and Play. Limrun documents App Store upload only.
You run a fleet of sandboxed agents across regions: Limrun. Per-instance tokens and jurisdiction pinning are documented; our region pinning is roadmap.
You need the price before you start: Every Sidekick plan is public with a no-card free tier. Limrun publishes its model, not its numbers.
It started as a source-available answer to Limrun's closed platform — same high-level interface (remote builds, cloud sims, agent skill) so migrations are trivial. It diverges in TV coverage, post-agent testing, Play submission, self-hosting and license.
Its CLI guide says tvOS/visionOS schemes build but 'do not support simulator attachment, installation, or XCTest yet'. Sidekick attaches TV devices with d-pad and focus-walk verbs.
Its homepage says pricing is split between idle and build time; no plan or per-minute price is published. Sidekick lists every plan (Free/Dev/Team/Scale) plus $0 self-hosting.
Published Sep 2026 · Limrun homepage and docs verified 27 Sep 2026 ·t Scores count roadmap as delivered because every roadmap item is public, dated and source-available.