# Agent Zero vs Paseo

> Paseo scores 62.1 (B) to Agent Zero's 46 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-paseo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-paseo.md (~4,500 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Agent Zero's 46 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Agent Zero leads on reliability. Both do agent harnesses.

- Agent Zero: grade D, 46/100, rank #1168 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agent-zero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agent-zero.json
- Paseo: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #575 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paseo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paseo.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Agent Zero (D)

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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 57 against 50

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

### Paseo (B)

Good for: Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 62

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Agent Zero loses 15 points for them

Watch for: Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3


## Why the edge

### Agent ergonomics: Paseo +8

- 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).
- Paseo (70): Harness reading. A self-hosted daemon that agents can use to create worktrees, launch other agents and talk to them, scriptable from the CLI (70).

### Reliability: Agent Zero +7

- Agent Zero (57): Read with the local-software lines, as software the owner runs. Installs from the `agent0ai/agent-zero` Docker image, an install script, or a desktop Launcher with builds for macOS, Linux and Windows on x86 and ARM64. The README says it runs wherever Docker runs. The image registry page was not read (17 of 20). The repository holds 245 files under tests/ on 4 November, and its only two workflows still publish Docker images and close inactive issues. The publish workflow runs no tests, so no public CI run shows them passing (5 of 25, a partial kept). 139 open issues and pull requests on 12 October 2026, per that check (GitHub's pages and API weren't read on 4 November). Open reports from September include a crash of `run_ui` after a failed memory consolidation (#1909), a browser worker that hangs the agent turn (#1923) and truncated backups (#1904), each with no reply or one, and a workflow closes anything inactive for 90 days (11 of 25). Release notes for v2.11, v2.12 and v2.13 carry a Breaking Changes section, but breaking changes ship in minor versions, so the numbering is not semver (9 of 15). v2.15, past 1.0 (15).
- Paseo (50): Local software. Desktop builds, an Android APK, a Docker image and a Nix package (20). ci.yml on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). CHANGELOG.md (15). Version 0.15.3 (0). 20 + 15 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 50.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Agent Zero | Paseo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 50 | Agent Zero +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 65 | Paseo +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 70 | Paseo +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 58 | Paseo +4 |
| 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 | 75 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 68 | Paseo +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -15 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **46 · D** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Agent Zero | Paseo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Agent Zero, s.r.o. | Mohamed Boudra |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Popularity | 19k stars | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Agent Zero

- -8.6 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): correction
- +0.3 on 28 October 2026: new evidence
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### Paseo

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Agent Zero.** Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with seven releases from 12 August to 1 November 2026 and breaking changes listed in minor-release notes. The agent runs shell commands in its container with no approval step, the web interface has no login by default, and eight CVEs from the past year were published by third parties with no vendor advisory.

**Paseo.** A self-hosted, open-source workspace for running many coding agents on your own machines, scriptable from the CLI and reachable from phone, web or desktop, with no telemetry or forced log-in. It's pre-1.0 and run largely by one maintainer.

## 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

### Paseo

1. Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
2. Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs

## Questions

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

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Agent Zero's 46 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Agent Zero leads on reliability.

### Are Agent Zero and Paseo open source?

Yes. Agent Zero is open source (MIT). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Agent Zero or Paseo

- [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 Auggie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-auggie.md)
- [Agent Zero vs AXLR](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-axlr.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 Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-conductor.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-crush.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Agent Zero vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-deepseek-superagent.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 Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-emdash.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 Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harness2.md)
- [Agent Zero vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-jules.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-junie.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Letta](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-letta.md)
- [Agent Zero vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Agent Zero vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenAI Agents API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openai-agents-api.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 OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-orca.md)
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- [Agent Zero vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Agent Zero vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-traycer.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-verdent.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-warp.md)
- [Aider vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-paseo.md)
- [Amp vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paseo.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-paseo.md)
- [AXLR vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-paseo.md)
- [Claude Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [Cline vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paseo.md)
- [Conductor vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-paseo.md)
- [Crush vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-paseo.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-paseo.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-paseo.md)
- [Devin vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-paseo.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Pi vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-paseo.md)
- [Emdash vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paseo.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [goose vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paseo.md)
- [Harness² vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-paseo.md)
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- [Junie CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Letta vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/letta-vs-paseo.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-paseo.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Muse Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenAI Agents API vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenCode vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenHands vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paseo.md)
- [Orca vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-paseo.md)
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- [Paseo vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Paseo vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Paseo vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Paseo vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Paseo vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Paseo vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Paseo vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-traycer.md)
- [Paseo vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Paseo vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-verdent.md)
- [Paseo vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Paseo vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-warp.md)
- [Clawboo vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-paseo.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-paseo.md)
- [Harness vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-paseo.md)
- [Paperclip vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-paseo.md)
- [Parallax vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-paseo.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp