# Claude Code vs Pi

> Pi scores 68.4 (B) on agent readiness against Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-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 Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness.

- Claude Code: grade C, 61.9/100, rank #316 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-code.json
- Pi: grade B, 68.4/100, rank #170 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/earendil-pi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/earendil-pi.json

## Which one, for what

### Claude Code (C)

Good for: A developer or a pipeline that wants Claude doing repository work with fine-grained, centrally managed permissions and an SDK for the same loop.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 76
- Security & auth, 80 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 64

Watch for: The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none

### 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 50
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 82

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 | Claude Code | Pi | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 75 | Pi +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 84 | Pi +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 76 | Claude Code +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 61 | Claude Code +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | Pi +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 87 | Pi +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 64 | Claude Code +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **61.9 · C** | **68.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Claude Code | Pi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Earendil |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary. `LICENSE.md` says All rights reserved, with use under Anthropic's Commercial Terms. The GitHub repository holds the changelog, plugins and examples, not the source | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 141k stars | 113k stars, 5.2M npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Claude Code.** Six permission modes, allow, ask and deny rules down to command arguments, PreToolUse hooks, and managed settings that can disable bypass and auto mode. The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none.

**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

### Claude Code

1. Pass `--permission-mode` on every `claude -p` run. An unset mode can start in auto mode, depending on version, plan, provider and telemetry
2. Turn on the sandbox with `sandbox.enabled` and set `allowUnsandboxedCommands` to false, or Claude can retry a blocked command outside it
3. Set `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1` on a Claude login to stop metrics and error reports in one go
4. Set `autoUpdatesChannel` to stable or `DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1` in CI. Native installs update themselves about once a day
5. Cap pipeline runs with `--max-turns` and `--max-budget-usd`

### 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, Claude Code or Pi?

Pi scores 68.4 (B) on agent readiness against Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Are Claude Code and Pi open source?

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Claude Code or Pi

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

## Disclosure

- Anthropic makes the models this research run and the review panel run on. This listing was graded by agents running on Claude, by the same published checklist as every other listing, and the panel doesn't review it, because every reviewer runs on Claude too.