Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run
Aider vs Paseo
Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Aider's 49.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.
Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons
Which one, for what
Aider D
Best for A person pair-programming in a terminal who wants git-tracked edits and a small context footprint, with any model.
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
No release since 0.86.2 in February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026
Paseo B
Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 50 against 44
- Schema & documentation, 65 against 56
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 65
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 13
Also in its favour
- No incidents deducted, where Aider loses 4 points for them
Watch for
Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Maintenance & community Paseo +62
Aider 13
0.86.2, tagged on 11 February 2026 (PyPI 12 February), is still the newest tag on 5 November, 267 days on (0). No release in the 90 days from 7 August (0). No commit on main since 2026-05-22 (5dc9490). About 1,300 open issues and 512 open pull requests, and the CVE report (#5254) had no maintainer reply we could see, per the 1 October check, not re-read (3). The PyPI package lags main, which declares Python 3.13 and 3.14 support that the release doesn't allow (5). CI ran on the last commits and dependencies are pinned, as of May (5). 0 + 0 + 3 + 5 + 5 = 13.
Paseo 75
v0.15.3 and commits on 7 November 2026 (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). CI on push (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.
Schema & documentation Paseo +9
Aider 56
No machine-readable contract. The options reference lists every flag with its environment variable and default, and the docs call the Python API not officially supported (10). No llms.txt or Markdown versions of pages found in the site source (0). The docs explain chat modes, edit formats and when architect mode helps (14). Typed config through .aider.conf.yml and flags with defaults (10). Many usage examples and troubleshooting pages (12). A release history per version without dates (10).
Paseo 65
Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).
Reliability Paseo +6
Aider 44
Read as a local package. aider-chat on PyPI, but the latest release (0.86.2, tagged 11 February 2026) requires Python below 3.13, while main declares 3.10 to 3.14 (18). The Ubuntu test workflow runs pytest on Python 3.10 to 3.14 on every push to main, and a Windows workflow sits beside it. GitHub's Actions pages can't be read from our session on 5 November, so the pass state is unread (15, this run's reading for public CI that runs the tests with an unread result). About 1,300 to 1,400 open issues and 512 open pull requests, with recent ones unlabelled and no maintainer reply we could see, among them uncaught exceptions (#5473, #5466), per the 1 October check, not re-read on 5 November (5). HISTORY.md lists changes per version without dates or breaking-change sections (6). 0.86, pre-1.0, and classed 4 - Beta (0). 18 + 15 + 5 + 6 + 0 = 44.
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.
Agent ergonomics Paseo +5
Aider 65
Harness reading of the framework line, scored on what an agent or pipeline driving it has to supply. Aider doesn't use tool calls or MCP. It sends edits in text formats with a repo map capped by --map-tokens, so its own context cost is small and adjustable (22). --map-tokens, --max-chat-history-tokens and single-shot --message runs (14). Plain-text output, with no JSON mode or documented exit codes (8). Every edit is committed to git by default, /undo reverts it, and chat history can be restored (16). Python only, with an unofficial Python API and no MCP for adding tools (5).
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).
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Aider | Paseo | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 44 | 50 | Paseo +6 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 56 | 65 | Paseo +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 65 | 70 | Paseo +5 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 59 | 58 | Aider +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 13 | 75 | Paseo +62 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 65 | 68 | Paseo +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| Total | D 49.1/100 | B 62.1/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Aider | Paseo |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Aider AI LLC | Mohamed Boudra |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-02-12 | 2026-11-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Popularity | 49k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |
How the scores have moved
Verdicts
Aider
Analytics are 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 in February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026, and two unfixed CVEs let a cloned repository's .aider.conf.yml run shell commands without a prompt.
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
Aider
- Read
.aider.conf.ymlin any cloned repository before starting aider. Itstest-cmd,lint-cmd,notifications-commandandeditorrun without asking - Script edits with
--messageand--no-suggest-shell-commands, not--yes-always - Use Python 3.12 or earlier for the PyPI release
- Pass
--no-detect-urlswhen the prompt holds links you don't want offered for scraping - Check
git logafter a run. Each edit is its own commit
Paseo
- Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
- Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Aider or Paseo?
Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Aider's 49.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.
Are Aider and Paseo open source?
Yes. Aider is open source (Apache-2.0). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).
Other comparisons with Aider or Paseo
- Agent Zero vs Aider
- Agent Zero vs Paseo
- Aider vs Amp
- Aider vs Antigravity CLI
- Aider vs Auggie CLI
- Aider vs AXLR
- Aider vs Claude Code
- Aider vs Cline
- Aider vs Conductor
- Aider vs Crush
- Aider vs Cursor CLI
- Aider vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)
- Aider vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)
- Aider vs Devin
- Aider vs Droid CLI
- Aider vs Pi
- Aider vs Emdash
- Aider vs Gemini CLI
- Aider vs GitHub Copilot CLI
- Aider vs goose
- Aider vs Harness²
- Aider vs HarnessRouter
- Aider vs Jules
- Aider vs Junie CLI
- Aider vs Kilo Code CLI
- Aider vs Kimi Code CLI
- Aider vs Kiro CLI
- Aider vs Letta
- Aider vs mini-swe-agent
- Aider vs MiniMax Code
- Aider vs Mistral Vibe CLI
- Aider vs Muse Code
- Aider vs OpenAI Agents API
- Aider vs OpenAI Codex
- Aider vs OpenCode
- Aider vs OpenHands
- Aider vs OpenMausBot
- Aider vs Orca
- Aider vs Prime Agent
- Aider vs Qoder CLI
- Aider vs Qwen Code
- Aider vs Mirror CLI
- Aider vs Rovo Dev CLI
- Aider vs Sculptor
- Aider vs T3 Code
- Aider vs Traycer
- Aider vs Unstoppable
- Aider vs Verdent
- Aider vs Vibe-Trading
- Aider vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Amp vs Paseo
- Antigravity CLI vs Paseo
- Auggie CLI vs Paseo
- AXLR vs Paseo
- Claude Code vs Paseo
- Cline vs Paseo
- Conductor vs Paseo
- Crush vs Paseo
- Cursor CLI vs Paseo
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Paseo
- dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Paseo
- Devin vs Paseo
- Droid CLI vs Paseo
- Pi vs Paseo
- Emdash vs Paseo
- Gemini CLI vs Paseo
- GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paseo
- goose vs Paseo
- Harness² vs Paseo
- HarnessRouter vs Paseo
- Jules vs Paseo
- Junie CLI vs Paseo
- Kilo Code CLI vs Paseo
- Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo
- Kiro CLI vs Paseo
- Letta vs Paseo
- mini-swe-agent vs Paseo
- MiniMax Code vs Paseo
- Mistral Vibe CLI vs Paseo
- Muse Code vs Paseo
- OpenAI Agents API vs Paseo
- OpenAI Codex vs Paseo
- OpenCode vs Paseo
- OpenHands vs Paseo
- Orca vs Paseo
- Paseo vs Prime Agent
- Paseo vs Qoder CLI
- Paseo vs Qwen Code
- Paseo vs Mirror CLI
- Paseo vs Rovo Dev CLI
- Paseo vs Sculptor
- Paseo vs T3 Code
- Paseo vs Traycer
- Paseo vs Unstoppable
- Paseo vs Verdent
- Paseo vs Vibe-Trading
- Paseo vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Clawboo vs Paseo
- CLI Manager vs Paseo
- Harness vs Paseo
- OpenMausBot vs Paseo
- Paperclip vs Paseo
- Parallax vs Paseo
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/aider-vs-paseo.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/aider.json·/api/v1/tools/paseo.json - From a terminal
anchor compare aider paseo(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "aider", "b": "paseo"}at/mcp, no key