# Amp vs OpenAI Agents API (slim)

> OpenAI Agents scores 73.3 (BB) to Amp's 55.5 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-agents-api.md (~6,500 tokens) · this version ~3,280 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-agents-api.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-agents-api
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-06
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OpenAI Agents API scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Amp's 55.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Amp: C 55.5, rank #780 of 1354 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amp.min.md
- OpenAI Agents API: BB 73.3, rank #99 of 1354 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-agents-api.min.md
- Amp, 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 Payments & pricing, 35 against 30.
- OpenAI Agents API, good for Teams that want OpenAI to run the agent loop, with sandboxes, MCP tools and subagents, and are fine with a beta API, US-only data residency and no Zero Data Retention. Ahead on Reliability, 60 against 23; Schema & documentation, 88 against 72; Agent ergonomics, 80 against 69; Security & auth, 87 against 57; Maintenance & community, 87 against 79; Transparency & trust, 85 against 77. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.

| Category | Amp | OpenAI Agents API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 23 | 60 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 88 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 69 | 80 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 57 | 87 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 35 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 79 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 77 | 85 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Amp | OpenAI Agents API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amp Frontier Corporation | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.openai.com/v1/agents/sessions` |
| Transports |  | https |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| 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 hosted API under OpenAI's Services Agreement. The SDKs are Apache 2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-10-22 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 41k npm/wk | none |

Why the edge:
- Reliability, OpenAI Agents API +37: Amp 23 (Local-package reading, as for the other closed-source harnesses. An install script that verifies a SHA-256 checksum, and an `@ampcode/cli` npm package of prebuilt binaries, for macOS, Linux and Windows through WSL, per the 8 October check (20). The source repository is private, so there is no public CI or test suite (0). There is no public issue tracker, and bug reports go to the vendor from inside the product. The 8 October reading of the status page's incident feed is struck, because ampcodestatus.com's robots.txt now disallows ClaudeBot, Claude-Web and anthropic-ai, so nothing is left to count crash or regression reports against (0). Versions are build stamps such as 0.0.1792627309-g98c009 with no per-version notes, and the introduction says "No backward compatibility", though removals are announced with dates in the Chronicle (3). The version line is 0.0 and we found no statement that the CLI is stable (0).); OpenAI Agents API 60 (Read as a hosted API. status.openai.com has an Agents component under APIs (20). Since release on 10 September (57 days, not 90), the feed names the Agents API in a degraded-performance incident on 14 September, the elevated errors across ChatGPT, Codex and the API on 29 September (the openai-api listing reads that one as a major, 17:52 to 23:14 UTC), computer use issues and degraded workspace agents on 6 and 7 October, degraded performance across the APIs for 22 minutes on 21 October, and overbilling for hosted containers on 19 September. One major, the rest minor (10). Rate limits come from the shared guide, published per tier and model with headers, and the errors page adds a Files API allowance on session creation (15). 429 and 503 guidance with Retry-After, capped backoff and a check-then-retry procedure for turns (15). The Scale Tier SLA in the openai-api listing isn't shown to cover a beta API (0). Public beta behind the agents=v1 header (0). 20 + 10 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 0 = 60.)
- Security & auth, OpenAI Agents API +30: Amp 57 (Harness reading of the framework checklist, as for the other harnesses. 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. Every thread, with messages, code used as context and tool results, is stored on Amp's servers, and there is no local-only or self-hosted mode. Training on user data is off unless a user opts in, provider retention is limited under Minimal Data Retention, and secrets are redacted before they leave the client on a best-effort basis. The terms allow collection of usage data and we found no opt-out for the CLI (14). The tools page says Amp does not ask for approval before running tools, and points to a custom plugin for control. MCP servers defined in a project's settings need approval, `amp.mcpPermissions` allows or rejects servers and `amp.tools.disable` removes tools. The CLI has no sandbox. Orbs are separate cloud machines (6). The security reference has a prompt-injection section that describes layered measures, and the tools page warns about untrusted repositories and MCP servers (9). Threads keep prompts, tool calls and results as a record, a data API covers workspace analytics and threads, and authentication audit logs are for Enterprise workspaces (12). A security.txt that expires on 20 November 2026 (still valid on 4 November), a bug bounty with safe harbour, SOC 2 Type II and annual penetration tests per the vendor. On 22 October 2026 the security page posted an update that removes trust in compromised certificate authorities and names the CLI build to install. No CVEs found (16).); OpenAI Agents API 87 (Project keys with restricted per-endpoint permissions, service accounts and workload identity, per the openai-api listing; we didn't confirm a key can be limited to /v1/agents (27 of 30). Automatic review for approvals, a sandbox network restricted to a host allowlist, vaults for secrets and a sandbox security guide (17 of 20). The agent reads web pages, MCP results and browser content; the sandbox security guide and approval flow are the mitigations, with no prompt-injection guide of its own found (8 of 15). Tracing, observability and usage per session and admin audit logs (15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 family, Bugcrowd bounty and a disclosure policy, per the openai-api listing (20). Not ZDR-eligible and US residency only, recorded under transparency. 27 + 17 + 8 + 15 + 20 = 87.)
- Schema & documentation, OpenAI Agents API +16: Amp 72 (Framework reading. A JSON Schema for the settings file at ampcode.com/cli-settings.schema.json (22 properties), TypeScript types for every stream message, and a generated reference for the plugin API, but no OpenAPI for the server (18). ampcode.com/llms.txt indexes a raw Markdown rendition of each of 55 docs pages (10). The docs say when to use execute mode, orbs, runners, the oracle and the Librarian, and what each mode is for (15). Settings carry types and defaults, and the stream schema enumerates stop reasons, result subtypes and MCP server states (12). Examples on nearly every page and two result error subtypes (`error_during_execution`, `error_max_turns`), with no exit codes or error catalogue (9). Dated Chronicle posts with an RSS feed and a lastModified date on each docs page, but no changelog by CLI version (8).); OpenAI Agents API 88 (The reference is linked from the overview and the SDKs carry beta.agents types; we didn't confirm /agents/sessions in OpenAI's public OpenAPI file, so 15 of 25. llms.txt with every Agents API page and Markdown twins (10). The overview, architecture page and the agents guide that compares the Agents API, Agents SDK and Responses API say when to use it (20). Typed configuration with enumerated container sizes, network modes and environment types (13 of 15). Examples in six languages and an errors page with codes per HTTP status, turn and session (15). Dated changelog entries and a versioned beta header (15). 15 + 10 + 20 + 13 + 15 + 15 = 88.)
- Agent ergonomics, OpenAI Agents API +11: Amp 69 (Harness reading of the framework line. `amp.tools.disable` removes built-in or MCP tools by name or glob, and MCP servers can be allowed or rejected by pattern or attached per run with `--mcp-config` (17). The stream schema has an `error_max_turns` result, but we found no documented flag for a turn or spend limit. Workspace entitlements set per-user quotas (9). `--stream-json` output follows Claude Code's format where it can, `--stream-json-input` takes several user messages on stdin, and the final message carries `is_error`, turns, duration and token usage (15). Threads continue by ID with `amp threads continue`, hand off to a new thread, and can move between the CLI, a runner and an orb (16). TypeScript and Python SDKs wrap the CLI, and a run needs an Amp account and an access token (12).); OpenAI Agents API 80 (Read as an API an agent drives. Context is compacted automatically, and session budgets and streamed events keep output sized (20 of 25). Sessions can be listed, continued and steered, events streamed or sent by webhook, artifacts fetched (15 of 20). Actionable error codes with recovery steps (20). No idempotency key; a documented check-then-retry procedure (10 of 20). One session call with defaults (medium sandbox, network enabled), SDKs in five languages (15). 20 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 15 = 80.)
- Maintenance & community, OpenAI Agents API +8: Amp 79 (The security page names CLI build 0.0.1792627309-g98c009 in its 22 October 2026 update, and the Chronicle's newest post is Service Accounts on 3 November 2026 (30). The Chronicle has 44 dated posts from 6 August to 3 November, and npm listed 678 CLI versions between 10 July and 8 October per the 8 October check (20). No public tracker. Support is in-product bug reports, a Discord server, email and X. Reply times aren't visible (10). `@ampcode/sdk` on npm released on 18 September 2026, per the 8 October check, and the SDK docs cover TypeScript and Python (15). No public CI, builds carry no notes, and the installer checks a checksum (4).); OpenAI Agents API 87 (Closed API. Last dated change 16 October 2026, Ultrafast mode and document skills (30). Four dated changelog entries in the 57 days since release, 10 September, 29 September, 9 October and 16 October (20). Changelog and help centre, as the openai-api listing reads them (12 of 15). Official SDKs carry beta.agents (15). SDK CI, per the openai-api listing (10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 10 = 87.)
- Transparency & trust, OpenAI Agents API +8: Amp 77 (Closed source under the Amp licence terms from Amp Frontier Corporation, with the npm packages marked Amp Commercial License. The terms page shows no date (15). The security reference lists 19 providers and what each sees, says deleted threads are removed within 30 days, diagnostic data after 7 days and audit logs kept at least 30 days, and the privacy policy (modified 10 September 2026) agrees, with account data kept while the account is active (24). No deprecation policy. The terms allow any part of the Services to be discontinued without notice, while removals so far were announced with dates, such as the old npm package names on 14 May 2026 for removal on 15 June (8). Amp is local software tied to a hosted service. Providers and US hosting are disclosed in detail, but the usage data the client sends is not itemised and has no documented opt-out (12).); OpenAI Agents API 85 (Closed service with clear terms, Apache-2.0 SDKs (15). Session state retained until deleted, deletable sessions and artifacts, not ZDR-eligible, US residency only, and the data-controls guide agrees; no retention period for artifacts after a sandbox expires (25 of 30). Dated deprecation notices with minimum periods for GA models; a beta API can change faster (15 of 20). Subprocessors and processing countries listed, per the openai-api listing (20). 15 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 75.)