Claude Code vs Paseo

Claude Code 20

Harness reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Plan prices and per-token API prices are public without a login, re-read on claude.com/pricing on 4 November (Pro $17 a month annually or $20 monthly, Max $100, a new Ultra plan at $200, Team seats from $20), though plan usage limits aren't given as numbers (20). No free route. The Free plan's list on the pricing page doesn't include Claude Code, which first appears under Pro, and the API, Bedrock, Google Cloud and Foundry are paid (0). A person signs in through a browser or creates a key, and there's no supported local-model mode (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20. Judgement call, against Anthropic's own product. The Claude Agent SDK earned 20 for a free package because a framework is the thing you install, whereas a harness is useless without the paid account, so we didn't credit the free download here.

Paseo 60

Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.

Claude Code 80

Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. The data-usage page, re-read on 4 November, says usage metrics are on by default on the Claude API without code, prompts or file paths, error reports are on by default for Pro, Max and Ultra sign-ins since v2.1.198, /feedback reports are on, session quality surveys run on every provider, and every provider sends WebFetch hostnames to api.anthropic.com for a blocklist check, each with an opt-out. Metrics, error reports and /feedback are off by default on Bedrock, Google Cloud, Foundry and Claude Platform on AWS unless a host sets CLAUDE_CODE_PROVIDER_MANAGED_BY_HOST (18). Six modes, allow, ask and deny rules, protected paths, and managed settings that can disable bypass and auto mode. 2.1.314 added permissions.blockWritesOutsideWorkingDirectories. The sandbox is opt-in and absent on native Windows, and auto mode, a classifier rather than a person, is the built-in starting mode for terminal and VS Code sessions on 2.1.283 or later, per the permission-modes page re-read on 4 November; sandboxing per 17 October (16). The auto-mode classifier blocks named exfiltration patterns, the sandbox proxy denies hosts outside an allowlist that starts empty, and WebFetch checks a blocklist, but since 1 October 2026 a mod can approve a call a deny rule refuses unless managed settings or a Team or Enterprise sign-in hold it (11). Opt-in OpenTelemetry with tool content behind OTEL_LOG_TOOL_CONTENT, local transcripts for 30 days, and cloud sessions logged through a proxy; 2.1.317 adds plan, seat type and provider attributes (15). HackerOne bug bounty and SECURITY.md (unchanged since 15 May 2026 in the clone), advisories published with GHSA ids, the newest in GitHub's reviewed database GHSA-pq7j-f95f-qfcv (High, 15 October; OSV holds 29 for the package on 4 November, none newer), and anthropic.com's security.txt valid to 31 December 2026, re-read on 4 November (20). 18 + 16 + 11 + 15 + 20 = 80. SOC 2 isn't scored on the framework reading. Advisories and the changelog-only sandbox and permission fixes count under negative events. Judgement call, written by an agent on Claude, on the same checklist the other harnesses got.

Paseo 58

Harness reading. The README says no telemetry, tracking or forced log-ins (30 of 30). Worktree per agent, on your own machine (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). SECURITY.md (8). 30 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 8 = 58.

Claude Code 91

Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. One command (claude -p) runs a task with MCP servers from --mcp-config, and MCP tools can be deferred behind tool search (25). --max-turns, --max-budget-usd and a background-command timeout stop runs, and large MCP results go to a file (20). json and stream-json output, -p errors name the cause, and since 2.1.318 -p JSON results carry credential_expires_at and a timed-out claude.ai login names claude auth login and claude setup-token (16). --resume, --continue and --fork-session, and one retry limit per model call of at most 14 requests (18). Python and TypeScript Agent SDKs. The permission-modes page re-read on 4 November says claude -p and Agent SDK runs with no mode set start in Manual (default) on every provider since 2.1.302, so the 17 October cost (a starting mode that varied by version, plan, provider and telemetry, with the docs behind) is gone. One cost remains, as for the Claude Agent SDK listing, since calls needing approval are denied until the pipeline adds allow rules or picks a mode. Judgement call. Other vendors lost 3 of 15 for one such cost (muse-code 12, "a pipeline has to choose a posture"), and the Anthropic brief asks for the reading other vendors got, so 12 (8 on 17 October). Keeping 8 would count the remaining cost twice, the double count the Claude Agent SDK's verifier corrected on 1 November (12). 25 + 20 + 16 + 18 + 12 = 91.

Paseo 70

Harness reading. A self-hosted daemon that agents can use to create worktrees, launch other agents and talk to them, scriptable from the CLI (70).

Claude Code 80

Framework reading. No published JSON Schema for settings that we checked (per the 1 October check, not re-read), but the settings reference types every key, and the stream-json output has typed message classes in the Python and TypeScript Agent SDKs (18). llms.txt at code.claude.com/docs/llms.txt with a Markdown version of each page; code.claude.com's robots.txt carries Content-Signal ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes (10). The permission-mode table says what each mode is best for and, re-read on 4 November, now gives default as the starting mode for claude -p and the Agent SDK, matching 2.1.302. The rules still carry many version-specific exceptions (mods, protected paths, carve-outs by settings source) that a model has to read closely. Judgement call. The page catching up removes the reason given on 17 October but not the one given before it, so the line stays at 15 rather than rising; the lighter reading gives 17 and schema 82 (15). Permission modes, sandbox settings and rule syntax are enumerated, though rules are strings parsed at runtime (12). Examples on every page and a troubleshooting section for install and auth errors (13). A changelog for every release. CHANGELOG.md in the repository has no dates, feed.xml dates the latest 20 (2.1.318 at 00:00 UTC on 4 November), and the code.claude.com changelog page dated every release on 17 October. Breaking changes still aren't marked (12). 18 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 13 + 12 = 80.

Paseo 65

Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).

Claude Code 81

Closed source with clear terms, LICENSE.md pointing to the Commercial Terms, unchanged in the clone on 4 November (15). The data-usage page, re-read on 4 November, states retention per account type (consumer 30 days or 5 years with training on, commercial 30 days, zero retention for qualified Enterprise), 30 days of plaintext local transcripts, 5 years for /feedback reports and up to 6 months for shared survey transcripts, and these agree with the privacy policy links, but the logging and error-tracking services are named only as third parties. The page still doesn't say that since 2.1.300 local transcripts also record each API request's system prompt, tools and parameters, read as an omission rather than a contradiction (25). No written deprecation policy. The README still marks npm installs deprecated without a date. 2.1.316 gives Claude Code's first dated advance notice of its own, fast mode for Opus 4.8 deprecated on 30 October and removed on 30 November 2026, 31 days' notice. Judgement call. One dated notice and no policy; we kept 8, the stricter reading, and crediting the notice would give 10 and transparency 70 (8). Telemetry is documented per provider and per service with an opt-out for each, re-read on 4 November (20). 15 + 25 + 8 + 20 = 68.

Paseo 68

Apache 2.0 for everything but third-party components (30). No telemetry and agents run on your machine (22 of 30). CHANGELOG.md, no deprecation policy (10). States no telemetry (20). 30 + 22 + 10 + 20 = 82.

Claude Code 82

2.1.318 on 4 November 2026 (feed.xml 00:00:44 UTC, tag v2.1.318), not confirmed on npm because registry.npmjs.org didn't resolve and the fallback waited on an approval prompt (30). 81 release tags in the 90 days from 6 August (v2.1.223 on 6 August to v2.1.318), from the clone (20). A public issue tracker with automatic triage, duplicate detection and labels, but over 5,000 open issues and no visible maintainer replies on the page we read, per the 1 October check, not re-read since (12). The Python and TypeScript Agent SDKs that run the same loop are current, Python 0.2.176 and TypeScript 0.3.316 tagged 31 October, per the Claude Agent SDK listing's 1 November check (15). Signed releases and a stable channel, but no public CI for the program (5). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 5 = 82.

Paseo 75

v0.15.3 and commits on 7 November 2026 (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). CI on push (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.