# Amp vs Junie CLI

> Amp scores 57.1 (C) to Junie CLI's 53.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Amp scores 57.1 (C) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Amp: grade C, 57.1/100, rank #691 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json
- Junie CLI: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #804 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/junie.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/junie.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## 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:
- Schema & documentation, 72 against 62
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 55
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 72

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Junie CLI loses 3 points for them

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

### Junie CLI (D)

Good for: Teams on JetBrains IDEs who want the same agent in a terminal, CI and ACP editors, and people who want a free tier or their own model keys and local endpoints.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 31
- Payments & pricing, 42 against 35

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: One-shot, piped, ACP and Gateway runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers, hooks, agents and skills without a prompt


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amp | Junie CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 31 | 45 | Junie CLI +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 62 | Amp +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 55 | Amp +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 56 | Amp +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 42 | Junie CLI +7 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 72 | Amp +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 78 | Junie CLI +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **57.1 · C** | **53.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amp | Junie CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amp Frontier Corporation | JetBrains |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| 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 | Proprietary, JetBrains s.r.o., all rights reserved, under the JetBrains AI Terms of Service. The GitHub repository holds the README, release binaries and the issue tracker, not source |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | no date given |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | 2026-06-12 |
| 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 | 487 stars, 3.2k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.8/5 (4) |

## 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.

**Junie CLI.** Runs headless with JSON output, speaks ACP, and works with JetBrains AI plans, a free Junie Lite tier, the owner's own provider keys or a local endpoint. Non-interactive runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers and hooks without asking, the sandbox is EAP-only with network open, and no exit codes are documented.

## 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

### Junie CLI

1. Run headless only in repositories you trust. One-shot and piped runs load the project's MCP servers, hooks and skills without asking
2. Set `JUNIE_API_KEY` (from junie.jetbrains.com/cli) or a provider key such as `JUNIE_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` in CI. The default sign-in opens a browser
3. Add `--output-format json` or `--json-output-file` to parse results. Check the output, since exit codes aren't documented
4. Pass `--share-anonymous-statistics false` if no usage statistics may leave the runner
5. Pin a build with `--use-version` and `--skip-update-check`. The CLI updates itself on start by default

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Junie CLI?

Amp scores 57.1 (C) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on reliability and payments & pricing.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Amp or Junie CLI

- [Agent Zero vs Amp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-amp.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-junie.md)
- [Aider vs Amp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-amp.md)
- [Aider vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-junie.md)
- [Amp vs Antigravity CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-antigravity-cli.md)
- [Amp vs Auggie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-auggie.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 Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-crush.md)
- [Amp vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Amp vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Amp vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-devin.md)
- [Amp vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Amp vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi.md)
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- [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 Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness2.md)
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- [Amp vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-jules.md)
- [Amp vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
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- [Amp vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.md)
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- [Amp vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-muse-code.md)
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- [Amp vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-opencode.md)
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- [Cursor CLI vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-junie.md)
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