Agent Zero vs OpenAI Agents API

Agent Zero 54

Harness reading of the framework checklist, the one the Goose calibration dossier uses. 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. No usage telemetry was found in the source. An update check, on by default, posts the version and a 20-character SHA-256 hash of a random per-install id to api.agent-zero.ai. The Update Checker settings page says only that ID and the version are sent and has an off switch. Something still leaves the machine by default, so the partial is kept (22). The agent works inside a Docker container built on Kali Linux and runs as root there. Tool Access can block tools by project or profile and defaults to allow, host access through the A0 CLI is scoped by read, write and execute permissions, and no approval step was found before a shell command, a file deletion or an outgoing message. The web interface has no login until a username is set (10). Infection Check audits the agent's reasoning with a second model before each tool call and ships disabled. Scanners check plugins, skills and MCP servers before install. The channel allow-lists accept every sender when empty, and the email filter matches the claimed From address only, which the plugin README states (7). Chat logs, visible tool steps and Time Travel snapshots, with no per-call audit log. Per-process log files were removed in v2.5 (9). No SECURITY.md on 4 November, security.txt answered 404 on 12 October, and none of the eight CVEs published from 17 March to 22 October 2026 came from the vendor (VulDB, VulnCheck, MITRE and CISA assigned them). A security-review ledger in the repository records two findings, and the v2.12 notes name both fixes (6, a partial kept).

OpenAI Agents API 87

Project keys with restricted per-endpoint permissions, service accounts and workload identity, per the openai-api listing; we didn't confirm a key can be limited to /v1/agents (27 of 30). Automatic review for approvals, a sandbox network restricted to a host allowlist, vaults for secrets and a sandbox security guide (17 of 20). The agent reads web pages, MCP results and browser content; the sandbox security guide and approval flow are the mitigations, with no prompt-injection guide of its own found (8 of 15). Tracing, observability and usage per session and admin audit logs (15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 family, Bugcrowd bounty and a disclosure policy, per the openai-api listing (20). Not ZDR-eligible and US residency only, recorded under transparency. 27 + 17 + 8 + 15 + 20 = 87.

Agent Zero 60

Read with the self-hosted rule. No payment protocol in the source (0). Free under MIT with nothing to buy for the software, so 20, 20 and 20 on the last three lines. It starts with one Docker command and no account. Model usage is billed by whichever provider the owner configures, or costs nothing with a local model. The vendor's site also describes a beta LLM API whose daily quota depends on staking its A0T token. That is separate from the software and not scored.

OpenAI Agents API 30

No machine payment protocol (0). Model, tool and container prices published without a login, and no fee for the API itself (20). The Free tier reading of the openai-api listing, half (10). Sign-up in a browser (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.

Agent Zero 64

Harness reading of the lines, as the Goose calibration dossier does. No OpenAPI file. The connectivity page lists five external endpoints and the X-API-KEY header, then sends readers to the source or DeepWiki for request and response details. Each API handler and tool has a .dox.md contract file in the repository, and the MCP client JSON shape is documented (10 of 25). llms.txt at www.agent-zero.ai, and AGENTS.md contract files across the repository (10). Guides say which path to use for a need, with tables that separate the browser, the host connector, MCP and A2A (14 of 20). The v2.12 notes say 15 bundled tools gained argument descriptions in non-strict schemas, and plugin settings are typed YAML with commented examples (8 of 15). Guides carry worked examples and a troubleshooting page, with no documented error responses for the external API (9 of 15). Dated notes on every GitHub release and a release article for each version on the site, with no version prefix on API routes (13 of 15).

OpenAI Agents API 88

The reference is linked from the overview and the SDKs carry beta.agents types; we didn't confirm /agents/sessions in OpenAI's public OpenAPI file, so 15 of 25. llms.txt with every Agents API page and Markdown twins (10). The overview, architecture page and the agents guide that compares the Agents API, Agents SDK and Responses API say when to use it (20). Typed configuration with enumerated container sizes, network modes and environment types (13 of 15). Examples in six languages and an errors page with codes per HTTP status, turn and session (15). Dated changelog entries and a versioned beta header (15). 15 + 10 + 20 + 13 + 15 + 15 = 88.

Agent Zero 64

MIT, copyright Agent Zero, s.r.o. (30). No privacy policy for the software was found. The site's cookie notice covers the website, and its terms (14 May 2026) cover the community platform. The docs say where data lives (chats, memory, secrets and settings under /a0/usr) and warn that model providers see what is sent to them only in general terms, with no retention statement (8 of 30). Release notes list breaking changes and removals with the release date, and one deprecated alias is named. No deprecation policy or notice period was found (8 of 20, a partial kept). No usage telemetry was found in the source. The update check is described on its settings page, which says it sends only a randomised, hashed install ID and the version number, and the same page turns it off. The ID is a hash of a random per-install token, a pseudonym under this run's reading, so the statement holds (20). 30 + 8 + 8 + 20 = 66.

OpenAI Agents API 85

Closed service with clear terms, Apache-2.0 SDKs (15). Session state retained until deleted, deletable sessions and artifacts, not ZDR-eligible, US residency only, and the data-controls guide agrees; no retention period for artifacts after a sandbox expires (25 of 30). Dated deprecation notices with minimum periods for GA models; a beta API can change faster (15 of 20). Subprocessors and processing countries listed, per the openai-api listing (20). 15 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 75.

Agent Zero 62

Harness reading, scored on what a person or program driving it must supply. Skills load on demand, blocked tools are removed from the prompt, chats can be compacted, and the v2.12 notes report Codex input falling from about 16.4K to 11.3K tokens, a vendor figure (18 of 25). An MCP tool timeout of 120 seconds, a limit of five consecutive unusable responses and context-window handling are set by default. No turn or spend limit was found in the reviewed docs (11 of 20). Other programs reach it through POST /api_message, an optional MCP server, A2A and an ACP bridge, with request and response shapes left to the source (11 of 20). An error-retry plugin, saved chats, a message queue, backups and Time Travel snapshots with diff and revert (14 of 20). One Docker command starts it and a wizard sets the model, but there is no SDK and the default has no login (8 of 15).

OpenAI Agents API 80

Read as an API an agent drives. Context is compacted automatically, and session budgets and streamed events keep output sized (20 of 25). Sessions can be listed, continued and steered, events streamed or sent by webhook, artifacts fetched (15 of 20). Actionable error codes with recovery steps (20). No idempotency key; a documented check-then-retry procedure (10 of 20). One session call with defaults (medium sandbox, network enabled), SDKs in five languages (15). 20 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 15 = 80.

Agent Zero 75

v2.15 was tagged on 1 November 2026, 3 days before this check (30). Seven releases from 6 August, v2.9 on 12 August to v2.15, read from the clone's tags (20). Of the 40 newest open items read on 12 October, 16 are issues and 14 of those have no comment. Three security reports filed as issues were closed as completed, one in five days and two after three months. GitHub's issue pages weren't read on 4 November, so this is per the 12 October check (10 of 25). The Docker image, the desktop Launcher, the install scripts and the A0 CLI connector come from the same organisation, and the v2.14 notes point the README's Launcher links to v1.9 (10 of 15). A Docker publish workflow builds images from tags, and the v2.14 notes raise dependency security floors for aiohttp, anyio, urllib3, filelock, fsspec and multidict. No public test CI (5 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 75.

OpenAI Agents API 87

Closed API. Last dated change 16 October 2026, Ultrafast mode and document skills (30). Four dated changelog entries in the 57 days since release, 10 September, 29 September, 9 October and 16 October (20). Changelog and help centre, as the openai-api listing reads them (12 of 15). Official SDKs carry beta.agents (15). SDK CI, per the openai-api listing (10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 10 = 87.