# Claude Code vs Pi (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.md (~2,450 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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: C 61.9, rank #316 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.min.md
- Pi: B 68.4, rank #170 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/earendil-pi.min.md
- Claude Code, 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.
- Pi, 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 No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card; Open source.

| Category | Claude Code | Pi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 50 | 75 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 80 | 84 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 87 | 76 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 80 | 61 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 82 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 64 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Claude Code | Pi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Earendil |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| 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 |
| 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 |