“Should we buy this Tuple thing?”

A guide for those who decide

If you’re reading this, the developers at your company probably asked you to purchase Tuple for them.

This guide explains what makes Tuple worth purchasing, but also when buying it doesn’t make sense. We hope it helps you make a good decision.


Q: What is Tuple?

Tuple is a desktop app for Mac and Windows that lets developers pair program when they’re working remotely.

Q: What’s pair programming?

Pair programming is when two or more developers work on the same bit of code together:

“Hey Jess, since you wrote this code originally, can you help me make these changes so I don’t break anything?”

Q: And is pairing…good?

We think so! Here’s something we wrote making our best case for pair programming.

Q: How does Tuple work?

Short answer: it lets two programmers control one computer so they can write code together. Both parties can see and hear the other, and both can see and control the screen.

If you want to see more specifics, check out this demo video we made.

Q: Can’t we use Zoom/Google Meet/Microsoft Teams for this?

Great question!

Technically, yes: you can get by with a generic screen sharing tool. But our customers tell us they prefer Tuple for the following reasons:

  1. Tuple makes it feel like you’re working together in person: we deliver lower latency, higher resolution, and finer grain controls than generic alternatives. As a result, 96% of our users say adopting Tuple has improved their productivity.
  2. You can start a Tuple call in two clicks. With less friction, 71% of our users say adopting Tuple increased the amount they pair and 93% say Tuple makes them feel more connected to their coworkers.
  3. Tuple’s UI stays out of the way. It never covers the code folks are trying to read, making it easier to get and stay in flow.
  4. Tuple’s screen sharing is optimized for code, so devs can read even tiny font-sizes.

Q: We’re paying for Slack already, don’t they do this?

Slack Huddles let you share your desktop, but they don’t support remote control. Being able to take control of your pair’s computer is crucial to a good pairing session. Without it, devs resort to dictating code out loud, or directing by voice: “click there…no, above that…no…” which is frustrating and breaks flow.

Q: Will adopting Tuple encourage my team to pair more?

Quite likely! 71% of our customers say adopting Tuple increased the amount they pair.

This is great news for your code quality, defect rate, and making your remote devs feel connected and supported.

Q: Why is Tuple expensive?

It pays for itself in happier, more productive engineers :)

Q: Is Tuple secure? What is your privacy policy? How about terms of service?

Check out our…

Q: Who’s using Tuple?

Hundreds of savvy development teams! Here are two examples.

Big: Shopify. They started with a limited pilot, saw success, and rolled Tuple out to the entire organization.

Small: Basecamp. They’re incredibly picky about software, but are happily using the app.

Q: Who shouldn’t purchase Tuple?

  • Teams that pair only rarely (and don’t want to pair more).
  • Teams with a majority of Linux users (Tuple does not currently maintain a Linux client)
  • Teams where few devs work remotely.
  • Teams without much budget for dev tools.

I have a question that’s not on this page.

Great! Please email us and we’ll update this doc.