# Aider vs Muse Code

> Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) to Aider's 46.9 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code.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

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Aider's 46.9 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on reliability, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- Aider: grade D, 46.9/100, rank #862 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aider.json
- Muse Code: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #487 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/muse-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/muse-code.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 226 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Aider (D)

Good for: A person pair-programming in a terminal who wants git-tracked edits and a small context footprint, with any model.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 54 against 45
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 57

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026

### Muse Code (C)

Good for: Developers who want Meta's Muse models, Muse Wonder Full included, in a terminal or CI agent with the sandbox and approvals on from the first run.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 56
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 65
- Security & auth, 67 against 59
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 13

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Aider loses 8 points for them

Watch for: Closed source, with no public CI or issue tracker for the CLI found and release notes that carry no dates


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Aider | Muse Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 45 | Aider +9 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 84 | Muse Code +28 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 79 | Muse Code +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 67 | Muse Code +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 20 | Aider +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 75 | Muse Code +62 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 57 | Aider +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **46.9 · D** | **61.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Aider | Muse Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Aider AI LLC | Meta |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary binary, used under the Meta Model API Terms of Service, which cover Meta's coding harness. Subscriptions are also under the Meta Subscription Terms of Service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs in the linked repository are MIT. |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-02-12 | 2026-10-11 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 49k stars | 63k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Aider.** Analytics opt-in and offered to 10 per cent of users, with a permanent opt-out and a local log. No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026.

**Muse Code.** Muse Code runs with approvals and an OS sandbox on by default, per-host network approval, an append-only event log and a headless mode with documented exit codes. It is the only route to Muse Wonder Full. It is closed source with undated release notes and no free route, and subscriptions allow training on code unless Contributor mode is turned off.

## Before you call either

### Aider

1. Read `.aider.conf.yml` in any cloned repository before starting aider. Its `test-cmd` and `lint-cmd` run without asking
2. Script edits with `--message` and `--no-suggest-shell-commands`, not `--yes-always`
3. Use Python 3.12 or earlier for the PyPI release
4. Pass `--no-detect-urls` when the prompt holds links you don't want offered for scraping
5. Check `git log` after a run. Each edit is its own commit

### Muse Code

1. Set `META_API_KEY` for headless runs. Browser sign-in isn't available in CI or for Meta Managed Accounts
2. Gate on your own test command, not the exit code. `muse exec` returns 0 when the turn completes even if tests still fail
3. Pass `--max-model-steps` on unattended runs so a stuck task can't loop
4. Prefer `--disable-approval` to `--yolo` in CI so the sandbox stays on. On Linux the runner needs a working bubblewrap and a non-musl build
5. Turn Contributor mode off in `/settings` before a subscription session touches private code

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Aider or Muse Code?

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Aider's 46.9 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on reliability, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Are Aider and Muse Code open source?

Aider is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Muse Code.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Aider or Muse Code

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