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devglow vs the alternatives
There are many ways to manage dev processes on macOS. Here's how devglow compares to the most common approaches.
| Feature | devglow | Port killers | Terminal | pm2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start / stop processes | ||||
| Kill port conflicts | manual | |||
| Built-in log viewer | CLI | |||
| Log search (⌘F) | grep | |||
| Multiple processes | tabs | |||
| MCP server (AI agents) | ||||
| Per-project commands | ||||
| GUI interface | ||||
| macOS native | varies | |||
| Any shell command | Node.js | |||
| No config files |
devglow vs Port Killers
Port killer apps (Kill Port, KillPorts, Port Manager, etc.) solve one specific problem: finding and killing processes that occupy ports. They're great at that.
devglow starts where port killers end. Yes, it detects and kills port conflicts — but it also starts your processes, streams their logs, and lets AI agents control everything via MCP.
Think of it this way: Port killers are a screwdriver. devglow is a workbench.
devglow vs Terminal Tabs
The classic approach: open a terminal tab for each process.npm run dev in one tab,npm run api in another, maybe a third for docker compose up.
It works. But you end up with 5+ tabs, you lose track of which is which, and you have to re-type or find each command after a reboot.
devglow saves your commands permanently. One click (or keystroke) to start everything. Logs are searchable. No tab soup.
devglow vs pm2
pm2 is a powerful process manager built for Node.js, primarily designed for production deployments. It excels at clustering, zero-downtime reloads, and process daemonization.
devglow is built for local development. It runs any shell command (not just Node.js), has a visual GUI in your menu bar, and ships with an MCP server so AI tools can control your processes.
Use pm2 for production.Use devglow for local dev.
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