# Agent Zero vs OpenHands

> OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) to Agent Zero's 54.2 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-12

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Agent Zero's 54.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Agent Zero: grade C, 54.2/100, rank #709 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-zero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-zero.json
- OpenHands: grade BB, 70.8/100, rank #143 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openhands.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openhands.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 205 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Agent Zero (C)

Good for: A technical owner who wants an agent with its own Linux machine, reachable from Telegram, WhatsApp or email, with scheduled tasks and editable memory.

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No approval step before shell commands, file changes or outgoing messages. Tool Access defaults to allow

### OpenHands (BB)

Good for: Teams that want to self-host a coding agent with a web UI, per-conversation Docker sandboxes and scheduled or webhook automations, or embed the agent through a Python SDK and REST API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 57
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 64
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 62
- Security & auth, 66 against 54
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 55

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Agent Zero | OpenHands | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 83 | OpenHands +26 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 87 | OpenHands +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 78 | OpenHands +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 66 | OpenHands +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 85 | OpenHands +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 67 | OpenHands +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **54.2 · C** | **70.8 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Agent Zero | OpenHands |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Agent Zero, s.r.o. | All Hands AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-09-03 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 19k stars | 90k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Agent Zero.** Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with nine releases in the 90 days to 12 October 2026 and breaking changes listed in the release notes. The agent runs shell commands in its container with no approval step, the web interface has no login by default, and five CVEs from the past year have no published GitHub advisory.

**OpenHands.** A Docker container per conversation with `OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker`, each with its own Agent Server. Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem.

## Before you call either

### Agent Zero

1. Set a UI login and password in Settings before publishing the port or opening a tunnel. The default has none
2. Fill `allowed_users`, `allowed_numbers` or `sender_whitelist` before enabling a channel. An empty list accepts every sender
3. Enable the Infection Check plugin when the agent reads mail, web pages or MCP results. It ships disabled
4. Run v2.12 or later. It fixes a Telegram webhook authentication bypass and a WhatsApp media path traversal
5. Call `POST /api_message` with the `X-API-KEY` header. The token changes when the UI login or password changes

### OpenHands

1. Set `AGENT_CANVAS_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1` and `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first start
2. Start Canvas with `OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker` or use the Docker image. The npm install runs the agent on the host
3. Turn on confirmation mode with a risk threshold. Canvas starts with it off
4. Use the SDK or the Agent Server API for headless runs. The `openhands --headless` CLI is no longer maintained
5. Set `filter_tools_regex` on the agent to keep unneeded MCP tool definitions out of the context

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Agent Zero or OpenHands?

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Agent Zero's 54.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Agent Zero and OpenHands open source?

Yes. Agent Zero is open source (MIT). OpenHands is open source (MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "agent-zero", "b": "openhands"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare agent-zero openhands`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-zero.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openhands.json

## Other comparisons with Agent Zero or OpenHands

- [Agent Zero vs Aider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-aider.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Amp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-amp.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Antigravity CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-antigravity-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-claude-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-devin.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-opencode.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Aider vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openhands.md)
- [Amp vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openhands.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Claude Code vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cline vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Devin vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-openhands.md)
- [Droid CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Pi vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openhands.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [goose vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openhands.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-openhands.md)
- [OpenCode vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-openhands.md)
- [OpenHands vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [OpenHands vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [OpenHands vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paperclip.md)