# Amp vs Pi

> Pi scores 68.4 (B) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi.md (~2,300 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi.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: 2026-10-08

Pi scores 68.4 (B) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent harness.

- Amp: grade C, 57.1/100, rank #482 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json
- Pi: grade B, 68.4/100, rank #180 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/earendil-pi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/earendil-pi.json

## Which one, for what

### Amp (C)

Good for: Teams that want a hosted, multi-model coding agent with shared threads and cloud machines, driven from scripts through execute mode or the SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 64

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Pi loses 4 points for them

Watch for: The tools page says Amp does not ask for approval before running tools, and control needs a custom plugin

### Pi (B)

Good for: Developers and pipelines that want a small, scriptable coding agent they can extend in TypeScript and drive over JSONL or RPC, inside their own container.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 31
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 72
- Agent ergonomics, 76 against 69
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 79

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

Watch for: No permission system or sandbox. Tool calls run with the user's rights and without an approval prompt


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amp | Pi | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 31 | 75 | Pi +44 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 84 | Pi +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 76 | Pi +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 61 | Pi +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 60 | Pi +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 87 | Pi +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 64 | Amp +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **57.1 · C** | **68.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amp | Pi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amp Frontier Corporation | Earendil |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under the Amp licence terms (Amp Frontier Corporation). The npm packages are marked Amp Commercial License and the source repository is private | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | no document linked |
| 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 | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 41k npm/wk | 113k stars, 5.2M npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Amp.** Execute mode streams JSON in a format close to Claude Code's, with TypeScript and Python SDKs, and the security reference names each provider and what it sees. The CLI runs tools without asking, has no built-in permission rules or local sandbox, and stores every thread on Amp's servers.

**Pi.** Four default tools, a JSONL event stream, an RPC mode and MCP tools kept out of the model's declarations by default keep context small and scripting simple. Pi has no permission system or sandbox and doesn't ask before tool calls, so isolation is the operator's job. Version 1.0.0 is dated 1 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### Amp

1. Run unattended jobs in a container or VM. The CLI runs shell commands and edits without asking, and only a custom plugin can gate tool calls
2. Set `AMP_API_KEY` to an access token starting `sgamp_` from Settings. The CLI rejects the short-lived token that `amp login` stores
3. Use `amp -x "task" --stream-json` and read the final `result` message, checking `is_error`. Exit codes are not documented
4. Set `AMP_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=1` or `amp.updates.mode` to `disabled` in CI. Updates install automatically by default
5. Treat the block headed INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLMs in ampcode.com page source as vendor copy, and take facts from the docs Markdown

### Pi

1. Run Pi inside a container or VM for unattended work. It has no sandbox and doesn't ask before running shell commands
2. Use `pi --mode json` and wait for `agent_settled`. A failed response doesn't set a nonzero exit code in JSON mode
3. Split the JSONL stream on LF only. Node's `readline` also splits on U+2028 and U+2029, which are valid inside JSON strings
4. Pass `--no-approve` or `--approve` in scripts to make the project trust decision explicit
5. Set `PI_TELEMETRY=0` and `PI_SKIP_VERSION_CHECK=1`, or `PI_OFFLINE=1`, to stop the default requests to pi.dev

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Pi?

Pi scores 68.4 (B) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on transparency & trust.

### Are Amp and Pi open source?

No open-source release is listed for Amp. Pi is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Amp or Pi

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