# Claude Code vs Kilo Code CLI

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) 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…

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- Updated: 2026-10-09

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) 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 #409 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-code.json
- Kilo Code CLI: grade BB, 75.4/100, rank #47 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.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 72
- Security & auth, 80 against 66
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 76

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

### Kilo Code CLI (BB)

Good for: Developers who want an open-source terminal agent with per-tool permission rules, an optional sandbox and a choice of provider, and the same engine in VS Code and JetBrains.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 80
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 82

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Claude Code loses 6 points for them

Watch for: Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, and the privacy policy and PRIVACY.md don't mention it


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Claude Code | Kilo Code CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 85 | Kilo Code CLI +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 90 | Kilo Code CLI +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 72 | Claude Code +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 66 | Claude Code +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 50 | Kilo Code CLI +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 87 | Kilo Code CLI +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 76 | Claude Code +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **61.9 · C** | **75.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Claude Code | Kilo Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Kilo Code Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| 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 | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-05-29 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 141k stars | 28k stars, 33k 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.

**Kilo Code CLI.** Shell commands ask before running by default, and an optional operating-system sandbox blocks writes outside the workspace and outbound network. Telemetry to PostHog is on by default and the sandbox is off, so an unattended `kilo run --auto` approves everything not denied unless both are configured first.

## 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`

### Kilo Code CLI

1. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true in the global `kilo.jsonc` before `kilo run --auto`. `--auto` approves every permission request not explicitly denied
2. Set `experimental.openTelemetry` to false, or `KILO_TELEMETRY_LEVEL` to a value other than `all`, to stop telemetry
3. Add needed hosts to `sandbox.allowed_hosts` in global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on
4. Without `--auto` a non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1
5. Put provider keys in global config or the environment. `{env:VAR}` in a project `kilo.json` is ignored

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Claude Code or Kilo Code CLI?

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) 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 Kilo Code CLI open source?

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Claude Code or Kilo Code CLI

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