Lindy is the polished no-code AI agent builder for SMBs - 3,000+ integrations, natural-language builder, strong polish on inbox/calendar flows. The pricing in 2026 is the wrinkle: $49.99–$199.99/month with no permanent free tier (7-day trial only). If you're piloting AI agents, that's a real commitment before you've proven the workflow. This page covers [cto AI Business](/content/agent-teams/index.html) - the multi-agent platform with a Team Lead pattern, 10 pre-configured MCP integrations, and a free-forever pilot tier - plus the broader alternatives.

**TL;DR.** cto AI Business is built around the **Team Lead + Team Members** pattern (you chat with a Lead; the Lead delegates to specialists). Headquarters as command center. Tasks kanban. Pause/resume on token usage. **Auto model** picks per task across 10+ frontier LLMs. Free forever (ad-supported, rolling 24h+7d limits). MCP-extensible with 10 pre-configured integrations.

## What cto AI Business actually is

The product is a workspace where you build and run an **AI business**. Concrete concepts:

- **Headquarters** - your command center. Team overview, approvals, billing, pause/resume token usage.
- **Plan** - your business objective in 1–3 sentences. Drives Team Lead decisions.
- **Team Lead** - primary chat interface. Hires/fires Team Members, assigns + evaluates work, interacts with MCPs.
- **Team Members** - specialist agents you hire via "Hire employee." Each has a role, an assigned model, an activity log.
- **Tasks** - kanban view of work in progress, with outputs (files, links) attached per task.
- **Approvals** - actions you want to gate behind human sign-off, surfaced in chat + page header.

You don't write code. You don't manage API keys. You configure via Headquarters and chat with the Team Lead.

## The Lindy comparison, honestly

|  | cto AI Business | Lindy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | **Free forever**, ad-supported, rolling 24h+7d limits | 7-day trial only |
| Starting paid | Premium tier (raised limits + premium models) | Plus $49.99/mo |
| Heavier plans | Per-seat premium | Pro $99.99/mo, Max $199.99/mo |
| Multi-agent | Native (Team Lead + Team Members) | Chains of single agents |
| Models | Auto model + 10+ frontier LLMs | Standard frontier set |
| MCP | Native, 10 pre-configured + custom | No public MCP support |
| Integrations native | Via 10 pre-configured MCP servers + any custom MCP | 3,000+ native (largest catalog) |
| Approval system | Built-in | Configurable per-action |

Where Lindy still wins: integration catalog breadth. 3,000+ apps is the largest in the category - useful if your workflow lives in niche tools that haven't shipped MCP servers yet.

Where cto AI Business wins: actual multi-agent (not chains of single agents), free pilot tier, predictable pricing (no 7-day trial → mandatory plan), MCP-native.

## How a cto AI Business team works

Agent team topology: lead agent coordinating four specialists
Lead agent | Researcher | read-only  
Drafter | writes | Reviewer | critic  
Specialist | write-scoped | Publisher | output  
Lead delegates subtasks → specialists return results → lead synthesizes A small agent team: one lead coordinating four to six role-specialized agents, each with scoped tool access.

Set up:

1. **Create the business.** Sign in at cto.new, write a Plan.
2. **Talk to the Team Lead.** The Lead is the primary interface; describe what you want the team to handle.
3. **Hire Team Members.** Click "Hire employee" → name, role, model. Or let the Lead hire on your behalf within your approval rules.
4. **Wire MCP integrations.** At cto.new → Integrations → MCP: Sentry, Vercel, Supabase, Cloudflare Observability, Notion, Neon, Linear, Prisma, Render, Webflow are pre-configured. Custom MCP via the same UI.
5. **Set approvals.** Decide which actions need human sign-off.
6. **Run it.** Tasks flow into kanban; intervene from Headquarters.

The free tier covers a small team on low volume - enough to validate the workflow. Premium raises the limits when you go to production.

## Models - Auto + frontier menu

cto's gateway covers: **Claude Opus 4.8, Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.5, GPT-5.3 Codex, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro, GLM 5.1, Grok 4.20, Kimi K2.6, MiniMax M2.7**.

Each Team Member gets an assigned model - Auto by default, or pin a specific one. Common pattern: triage members on Auto for cost; review members pinned to Opus 4.8 for quality; code members pinned to GPT-5.3 Codex.

## Other AI agent platforms in the space

| Platform | Best for |
| --- | --- |
| **cto AI Business** | Free-forever pilot, Team Lead + multi-agent, MCP-native |
| [Lindy](https://lindy.ai/) | Largest native-integration catalog (3,000+), polished SMB UX |
| [Relevance AI](https://relevanceai.com/) | Enterprise AI Workforce, contact sales |
| [CrewAI](https://crewai.com/) | Code-first multi-agent framework |
| [Manus AI](https://manus.im/) | General-purpose research agent (invite-only) |
| [Sintra AI](https://sintra.ai/) | Pre-packaged role agents (sales, SEO, support) |
| [AutoGen](https://github.com/microsoft/autogen) | Python multi-agent prototyping (MIT) |
| [LangGraph](https://www.langchain.com/langgraph) | Graph-based stateful orchestration |

## When Lindy is still right

Honest cases:

- **Your workflow lives in niche tools** (specific CRM, vertical SaaS) that have native Lindy integrations but no MCP server yet.
- **You're past pilot and ready to commit** $50–$200/month for the polish.
- **You want chains-of-single-agents UX** rather than coordinated multi-agent.

Otherwise, cto AI Business is the free-pilot alternative with a real multi-agent structure.

## FAQ

### Is Lindy free?

7-day trial, no credit card required. After that, Plus $49.99/mo, Pro $99.99/mo, Max $199.99/mo. No permanent free tier.

### Is cto AI Business free?

Yes - ad-supported with rolling 24h+7d limits. Generous enough to pilot end-to-end. Premium raises the limits and unlocks premium agent features.

### What's the difference between "agent teams" and a single AI agent?

Single agent does everything in one context window. Agent team has a Team Lead delegating to Team Members - each with its own model, tools, and context. Better for complex workflows with mixed permissions.

### Can the Team Lead really hire on its own?

Within your approval rules. Default is that hiring requires approval; you can loosen this via chat with the Lead.

### How do I migrate from Lindy?

There's no automated import. The workflow design carries over: Lindy's chain of single agents maps to cto's Team Lead + Team Members. Integrations re-wire via MCP - most of your Lindy integrations have MCP equivalents (Linear, Notion, Slack, Sentry, etc.).

### Does cto AI Business have 3,000 integrations like Lindy?

Not natively. cto has 10 pre-configured MCP integrations (Sentry, Vercel, Supabase, Cloudflare Observability, Notion, Neon, Linear, Prisma, Render, Webflow) plus any custom MCP server. The MCP server ecosystem is 9,400+ public servers as of 2026 - the integration set is broader than the native catalog, you just connect via the protocol.

### What's the easiest cto AI Business workflow to pilot?

Inbox triage. Wire Notion or Linear MCP, hire a Triage Member and a Drafter, set approvals on outbound messages. Run it for a week, see what the Team Lead delegates and what it asks for help on.