# Aider vs OpenMausBot

> OpenMausBot scores 65.4 (B) to Aider's 47.1 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openmausbot
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openmausbot.md (~3,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openmausbot.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openmausbot.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

OpenMausBot scores 65.4 (B) on agent readiness against Aider's 47.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- Aider: grade D, 47.1/100, rank #1014 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aider.json
- OpenMausBot: grade B, 65.4/100, rank #368 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openmausbot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openmausbot.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 875 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:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50
- Transparency & trust, 65 against 59

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

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

### OpenMausBot (B)

Good for: A person or an outside agent who wants several CLI agents (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, ACP CLIs) organised as named bots with their own computers, routines and approvals, driven by MCP or a CLI.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 54
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 56
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 65
- Maintenance & community, 74 against 13

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: New bots start at Full access, which approves provider permission requests without a card


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Aider | OpenMausBot | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 60 | OpenMausBot +6 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 90 | OpenMausBot +34 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 77 | OpenMausBot +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 59 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 50 | Aider +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 74 | OpenMausBot +61 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 59 | Aider +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **47.1 · D** | **65.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Aider | OpenMausBot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Aider AI LLC | Supamaus Software Private Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 20 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-02-12 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-10 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-18 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 49k stars | 8.2k stars, 3.5k 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.

**OpenMausBot.** A bounded 20-tool MCP server with typed schemas, annotations and idempotent sends, and a headless CLI with JSON output and exit codes, let another agent hand work to a bot team and wait on it. New bots start at Full access, so provider permission requests pass without a card, and usage analytics stay on until switched 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

### OpenMausBot

1. Ask the owner for a pairing code from Settings > Phone, exchange it at `POST /api/auth/pair`, and set `OPENMAUSBOT_TOKEN` with an explicit `OMB_PORT`
2. Pass a `send_id` with every `send_bot_message` and `send_channel_message`, so a retry returns the first receipt
3. Use `wait_for_conversation` instead of polling, and on `needs-user` stop and tell the owner a card is waiting
4. Check a bot's access level with the owner before sending work. New bots run at Full access unless defaults were changed
5. Ask the owner to switch off Settings > General > Usage analytics if nothing beyond model calls should leave the machine

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Aider or OpenMausBot?

OpenMausBot scores 65.4 (B) on agent readiness against Aider's 47.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Are Aider and OpenMausBot open source?

Yes. Aider is open source (Apache-2.0). OpenMausBot is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Aider or OpenMausBot

- [Agent Zero vs Aider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-aider.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Aider vs Amp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-amp.md)
- [Aider vs Antigravity CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-antigravity-cli.md)
- [Aider vs Auggie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-auggie.md)
- [Aider vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code.md)
- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)
- [Aider vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-crush.md)
- [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Aider vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Aider vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-devin.md)
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- [Aider vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Aider vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Aider vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
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- [Aider vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harnessrouter.md)
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- [Amp vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openmausbot.md)
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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp