Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Amp vs Verdent

Amp scores 55.5 (C) on agent readiness against Verdent's 39.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Verdent leads on reliability. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

Amp C

Best 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 55
  • Agent ergonomics, 69 against 35
  • Security & auth, 57 against 33
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 61
  • Transparency & trust, 77 against 55

Watch for

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

Verdent E

Best for A person who wants a desktop app to plan and run several coding tasks at once, possibly on their own Claude Code or Codex.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 43 against 23

Watch for

No CLI, print mode, API or SDK, so a pipeline can't start or read a run except through a paired chat bot

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.

Agent ergonomics Amp +34

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).

Verdent 35

Harness reading. MCP servers per project or globally, subagents, skills and rules, but no per-tool disabling or deferred loading found (10). No output-size, turn-limit or budget controls for a run were found beyond credit balances (5). No exit codes or error format, since there is no headless mode (3). Parallel workers in git worktrees and a review column make runs reviewable and reversible, with no resume by ID documented (10). No CLI, API or SDK. A pipeline can only reach Manager through a paired Telegram, Slack or Feishu bot (7). 10+5+3+10+7 = 35.

Security & auth Amp +24

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).

Verdent 33

Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). Conversation history and tool results go to Verdent's US servers and on to Azure, Bedrock or Vertex, with zero data retention stated for Vertex and Bedrock only. Event logging to log.verdent.ai has no documented opt-out. BYOA keys stay on the machine (10). Plan Mode is read-only, Agent Mode asks before destructive commands and edits outside scope, and workers are isolated by git worktree, but there is no sandbox or network control and the approval list isn't enumerated (9). No prompt-injection guidance found, while web search and fetch results enter the context (2). Usage history in the dashboard, no audit log found (5). A security page with a disclosure address and a five-day acknowledgement, SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 42001 being pursued rather than held, no security.txt and no bug bounty (7). 10+9+2+5+7 = 33.

Transparency & trust Amp +22

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).

Verdent 55

Proprietary, under terms from Verdent AI, Inc. that are clear on use and ownership (15). The privacy policy and security page agree that data stays in the US and that input isn't trained on without consent, and the security page lists subprocessors. The privacy policy gives no retention periods, names MiniMax as a provider the security list leaves out, and deletion is by email request (14). The credit bonus carries a promise of 15 days' notice, but Free Mode was retired on the day v2.18.0 shipped and no deprecation policy was found (6). Subprocessors and their locations are listed, and the domains the app calls are named, with event logging undescribed (12). 15+14+6+12 = 47.

Reliability Verdent +20

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).

Verdent 43

Local-package reading, as for the other closed-source harnesses. The desktop app installs from verdent.ai with macOS 11 or later and 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 stated, and the extension from the editor marketplaces, but not from a package registry (15). No public CI or test suite, since the source isn't published (0). No public issue tracker, every task runs through Verdent's servers, and no status page was found, so there is no readable record (5). A dated changelog by version, with the end of Free Mode called out in v2.18.0, but no breaking-change sections (8). 2.18.0, generally available (15). 15+0+5+8+15 = 43.

Maintenance & community Amp +18

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).

Verdent 61

Closed service. v2.18.0 on 29 October 2026, eight days before this check (30). More than three dated releases in the 90 days from 8 August, among them 2.10.0 to 2.18.0 (20). A dated public changelog, a support address, Discord and a subreddit, with no public tracker to read reply times (8). No official SDK or MCP server to keep current (0). No public packages or CI to judge (3). 30+20+8+0+3 = 61.

Schema & documentation Amp +17

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).

Verdent 55

Framework reading for a harness. No schema for settings or output, only mcp.json examples in the standard mcpServers shape (5). Every current docs page has a Markdown twin at the same path with .md, though no llms.txt (10). The docs say when to use Agent Mode or Plan Mode and what Plan Mode can't do, but the Agent Mode page lists the actions that need approval only as "certain tool executions" and "destructive operations" (12). Modes and BYOA agent types are enumerated, permissions are not (5). Examples on the MCP, BYOA and messaging pages, and a recovery page, with no error codes (8). Version numbers and a dated public changelog (15). The archived 1.0 docs are still served beside the current ones. 5+10+12+5+8+15 = 55.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAmpVerdentEdge
Reliability16%202343Verdent +20
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27255Amp +17
Agent ergonomics13%16.26935Amp +34
Security & auth14%17.55733Amp +24
Payments & pricing10%12.53520Amp +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87961Amp +18
Transparency & trust7%8.87755Amp +22
Negative events≤150-2
TotalC 55.5/100E 39.7/100

Facts side by side

FactAmpVerdent
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAmp Frontier CorporationVerdent AI, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary, under the Amp licence terms (Amp Frontier Corporation). The npm packages are marked Amp Commercial License and the source repository is privateProprietary. The terms of use from Verdent AI, Inc. forbid reverse engineering or copying any component, and no source is published
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-222026-10-29
Terms last updatedno date given2026-05-25
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-102026-05-26
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity41k npm/wknone

How the scores have moved

Amp

Verdent

No score change since it was listed.

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.

Verdent

A desktop and editor coding agent that splits a goal into parallel workers in git worktrees, with a read-only Plan Mode, MCP servers and the option to run workers on Claude Code or Codex. It has no CLI, API or sandbox, sends context through Verdent's servers, and has had no free tier since 29 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, and pin a build. Updates install automatically and have changed behaviour on release day
  5. Treat the block headed INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLMs in ampcode.com page source as vendor copy, and take facts from the docs Markdown

Verdent

  1. Don't plan to drive Verdent headless. Hand the task to the person using the desktop app, or use a harness with a print mode
  2. Start large changes in Plan Mode and review plan.md before switching to Agent Mode
  3. Add MCP servers in the project's .mcp.json or ~/.verdent/mcp.json in the mcpServers shape
  4. Keep work under git, since rollback relies on git and there is no sandbox
  5. Budget in credits at about $0.059 each, because there is no free allowance since 29 October 2026

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Verdent?

Amp scores 55.5 (C) on agent readiness against Verdent's 39.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Verdent leads on reliability.

Other comparisons with Amp or Verdent

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