{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "claude-code", "name": "Claude Code", "vendor": "Anthropic", "vendorUrl": "https://www.anthropic.com", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Anthropic's coding agent as a terminal program, also in VS Code, JetBrains, the desktop app and Anthropic-hosted cloud sessions.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-code.json", "repo": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code", "license": "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", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@anthropic-ai/claude-code" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Sign in through the browser with a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise claude.ai account, or use a Claude Console API key (`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`), or Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry or Claude Platform on AWS credentials. The free claude.ai plan doesn't include Claude Code.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "Free to download, and it needs a paid plan or API tokens to run. Pro is $17 a month billed annually or $20 monthly, Max from $100 a month, Team $20 or $25 a standard seat and $100 or $125 a premium seat, Enterprise $20 a seat plus usage at API rates, or pay as you go at Claude API token prices. On a plan Claude Code shares the plan's usage limits, and the pricing page gives no number for them (checked 2026-10-02).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-02).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 141000, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-02" }, "docsUrl": "https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview", "llmsTxt": "https://code.claude.com/docs/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "official", "harness", "coding-agent", "cli", "closed-source", "claude-only", "mcp", "llms-txt", "telemetry-default-on", "status-page", "card-required" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "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.", "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 61.9, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 316, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 8, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 87, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 80, "security": 80, "transparency": 81 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": -6, "negativeNotes": [ "2025-10-03 to 2026-06-25. 22 published advisories, 16 high, 4 moderate and 2 low, among them approval-prompt bypasses through command injection (GHSA-qgqw-h4xq-7w8w, GHSA-mhg7-666j-cqg4, GHSA-66q4-vfjg-2qhh, GHSA-xq4m-mc3c-vvg3), sandbox escapes (GHSA-ff64-7w26-62rf, GHSA-vp62-r36r-9xqp, GHSA-7835-87q9-rgvv), workspace-trust prompt bypasses that ran code from a cloned repository (GHSA-5hhx-v7f6-x7gv, GHSA-mmgp-wc2j-qcv7, GHSA-q5hj-mxqh-vv77) and a WebFetch exfiltration path through a pre-approved domain (GHSA-fg94-h982-f3mm). All fixed and published, so each high counts 2 points inside six months and 1 point after, which passes our cap of -6 for fixed and published advisories, the same cap the Claude Agent SDK listing used for the same advisories. None published since 25 June 2026 (https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories)" ], "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "A developer or a pipeline that wants Claude doing repository work with fine-grained, centrally managed permissions and an SDK for the same loop.", "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.", "strengths": [ "Six permission modes, allow, ask and deny rules down to command arguments, PreToolUse hooks, and managed settings that can disable bypass and auto mode", "An OS sandbox (Seatbelt, bubblewrap) whose network proxy denies every host outside an allowlist that starts empty", "`claude -p` with json and stream-json output, `--max-turns`, `--max-budget-usd`, resume and fork, and Python and TypeScript SDKs for the same loop", "Signed apt, dnf and apk repositories, a GPG-signed checksum manifest and a stable channel that skips releases with major regressions", "Telemetry documented per provider and per service, each with its own opt-out" ], "weaknesses": [ "The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none", "Auto mode, a classifier rather than a person, has been the starting mode for interactive sessions on every plan since 28 September 2026", "22 security advisories in the year to 25 June 2026, 16 rated high", "Usage metrics on by default on the Claude API, and error reports on Pro and Max sign-ins", "Closed source, Claude models only, and no free plan includes it" ], "agentNotes": [ "Pass `--permission-mode` on every `claude -p` run. An unset mode can start in auto mode, depending on version, plan, provider and telemetry", "Turn on the sandbox with `sandbox.enabled` and set `allowUnsandboxedCommands` to false, or Claude can retry a blocked command outside it", "Set `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1` on a Claude login to stop metrics and error reports in one go", "Set `autoUpdatesChannel` to stable or `DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1` in CI. Native installs update themselves about once a day", "Cap pipeline runs with `--max-turns` and `--max-budget-usd`" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 61.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 87, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 80, "security": 80, "transparency": 68 }, "provenanceScore": 94 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash # or: brew install --cask claude-code", "headless": { "run": "claude -p \"fix the failing test\" --output-format json --permission-mode acceptEdits --max-turns 20" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/claude-code" }, "sameCompany": [ "anthropic-api", "claude-agent-sdk" ], "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Pro plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "$17 a month billed annually" }, { "item": "Max plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 100, "note": "lowest Max tier" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Anthropic, PBC", "domain": "claude.com", "domainRegistered": "1995-05-24", "domainNote": "claude.com was registered in 1995, long before Anthropic bought it. Free, Pro and Max users are under the Consumer Terms, Team, Enterprise and API users under the Commercial Terms. The security.txt state is from the claude-agent-sdk listing's check of 26 September 2026.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms", "privacy": "https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.claude.com", "changelog": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "score": 94 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.json", "live": { "slug": "claude-code", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.claude.com", "indicator": "minor", "summary": "Partially Degraded Service", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T17:38:16.741883162Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "anthropics/claude-code", "version": "v2.1.294", "released": "2026-10-08", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:05:28.571690038Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@anthropic-ai/claude-code", "version": "2.1.293", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:05:25.416280478Z" } ], "githubStars": 149871, "npmWeekly": 14786283, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://claude.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:46.229446919Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://code.claude.com/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:13.323627435Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "claude.com", "registered": "1995-05-24", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/claude.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:04:27.501644209Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anthropics/claude-code/main/CHANGELOG.md", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-07T18:08:56.603683021Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:08:56.603683021Z", "fingerprint": "b6cbbc1a0d93" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T17:38:16.741883162Z" } }, "answer": "Claude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "prime-agent", "name": "Prime Agent", "vendor": "Prime Intellect", "vendorUrl": "https://www.primeintellect.ai", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Prime Agent is an open-source coding and research agent from Prime Intellect, run from a terminal. The model works through a persistent Python REPL, spawns subagents as function calls and keeps sessions running in a background daemon.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json", "repo": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account of its own is required. `/login` on first launch picks a subscription or an API-key provider, and provider keys can also come from environment variables such as `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` or `PRIME_API_KEY`.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and MIT-licensed, with nothing to buy for the agent itself. The model provider is paid separately, and Prime Intellect's own inference service is one of the providers.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README or the source (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 21614, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent#readme", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "free", "no-card", "rust", "mcp", "telemetry-default-on", "pre-1.0", "beta" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.5, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 352, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 60, "reliability": 65, "schema": 42, "security": 50, "transparency": 64 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Budgets for turns, tokens and time bound an autonomous run, and sessions survive a closed terminal through a supervising daemon. Model-written Python and shell commands run with the user's rights, with no approval step and no sandbox, and the Rust build on the main branch ships only as nightly betas.", "bestFor": "Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.", "strengths": [ "MIT licence, with CI on main passing on 8 October 2026 (fmt, clippy with warnings as errors, sharded tests, cargo-deny)", "Three model tools (bash, edit, ipython). MCP tools are found and called from Python, so their definitions stay out of the prompt", "Autonomous mode takes limits on turns, tokens, time and continuations, plus user-defined quality gates with retries", "A daemon supervises one worker per session, restarts it with backoff and restores from append-only JSONL session files", "Telemetry is disclosed on first run, carries primitive values only and has four documented ways to turn it off" ], "weaknesses": [ "No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox", "The stable channel (v0.9.8, 29 September 2026) is the TypeScript build. The Rust code on main ships only as nightly betas", "No documentation site for Prime Agent. Headless, JSON, RPC and ACP modes are described only in source and crate READMEs", "Usage telemetry is on by default, and the vendor privacy policy (updated 23 February 2024) does not describe it", "No SECURITY.md in the repository, and public issues and unsolicited pull requests are closed automatically" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run it in a disposable clone, container or VM. It executes model-written Python and shell commands with the user's rights and asks nothing first", "Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine", "For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded", "Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive", "The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 60, "reliability": 65, "schema": 42, "security": 50, "transparency": 67 }, "provenanceScore": 61 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://app.primeintellect.ai/prime-agent/install.sh | sh" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/prime-agent" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Prime Intellect, Inc.", "domain": "primeintellect.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.primeintellect.ai/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.primeintellect.ai/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.primeintellect.ai", "changelog": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The site footer, terms and privacy policy name Prime Intellect, Inc. of Dover, Delaware. The repository LICENSE names Prime Intellect Ltd. as copyright holder.", "www.primeintellect.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 8 October 2026. A security policy with a reporting address is at https://www.primeintellect.ai/security.", "The status page covers Prime Intellect's hosted platform (API, inference, sandboxes), not the locally run agent.", "The LICENSE adds that the software is a port of the Prime Agent TypeScript product, originally copyright 2025 Mario Zechner, used under the MIT licence. GitHub's licence detector reports the file as unrecognised." ], "score": 61 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.json", "live": { "slug": "prime-agent", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.primeintellect.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:37:11.094181515Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent", "version": "v0.9.8", "released": "2026-09-29", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:26:16.585379993Z" } ], "githubStars": 21619, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://primeintellect.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:39:02.360151245Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T16:26:16.585379993Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Anthropic", "b": "Prime Intellect", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "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", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "2026-10-07", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes, with an opt-out", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "141k stars", "b": "22k stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Claude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Claude Code or Prime Agent?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Claude Code. Prime Agent is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are Claude Code and Prime Agent open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 42", "Agent ergonomics, 87 against 73", "Security \u0026 auth, 80 against 50", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 81 against 64" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "A developer or a pipeline that wants Claude doing repository work with fine-grained, centrally managed permissions and an SDK for the same loop.", "slug": "claude-code", "watchFor": "The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 50", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 20" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Free to start without a card", "Open source", "No incidents deducted, where Claude Code loses 6 points for them" ], "goodFor": "Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.", "slug": "prime-agent", "watchFor": "No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.harness", "name": "Agent harness" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code.json", "title": "Aider vs Claude Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Aider vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-claude-code.json", "title": "Amp vs Claude Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-claude-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Amp vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-devin.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Devin", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-devin" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Pi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-gemini-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Gemini CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-gemini-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-github-copilot-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-github-copilot-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.json", "title": "Claude Code vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Claude Code vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Claude Code vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cline vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Devin vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Pi vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "goose vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "OpenCode vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "OpenHands vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Prime Agent vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 15, "claude-code": 50, "edge": "prime-agent", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "prime-agent": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 38, "claude-code": 80, "edge": "claude-code", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "prime-agent": 42, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 14, "claude-code": 87, "edge": "claude-code", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "prime-agent": 73, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 30, "claude-code": 80, "edge": "claude-code", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "prime-agent": 50, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 40, "claude-code": 20, "edge": "prime-agent", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "prime-agent": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 3, "claude-code": 82, "edge": "claude-code", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "prime-agent": 79, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 17, "claude-code": 81, "edge": "claude-code", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "prime-agent": 64, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Claude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent harness.", "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.", "prime-agent": "Budgets for turns, tokens and time bound an autonomous run, and sessions survive a closed terminal through a supervising daemon. Model-written Python and shell commands run with the user's rights, with no approval step and no sandbox, and the Rust build on the main branch ships only as nightly betas." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.min.md" }, "markdown": "Claude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent harness.\n\n- 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\n- Prime Agent: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #352 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Claude Code (C)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 42\n- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 73\n- Security \u0026 auth, 80 against 50\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 81 against 64\n\nWatch for: The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none\n\n### Prime Agent (C)\n\nGood for: Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 65 against 50\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 20\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Free to start without a card\n- Open source\n- No incidents deducted, where Claude Code loses 6 points for them\n\nWatch for: No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Claude Code | Prime Agent | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 65 | Prime Agent +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 42 | Claude Code +38 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 73 | Claude Code +14 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 50 | Claude Code +30 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | Prime Agent +40 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 79 | Claude Code +3 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 64 | Claude Code +17 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **61.9 · C** | **60.5 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Claude Code | Prime Agent |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Anthropic | Prime Intellect |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Paid | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| 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 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | 141k stars | 22k stars |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Prime Agent.** Budgets for turns, tokens and time bound an autonomous run, and sessions survive a closed terminal through a supervising daemon. Model-written Python and shell commands run with the user's rights, with no approval step and no sandbox, and the Rust build on the main branch ships only as nightly betas.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Claude Code\n\n1. Pass `--permission-mode` on every `claude -p` run. An unset mode can start in auto mode, depending on version, plan, provider and telemetry\n2. Turn on the sandbox with `sandbox.enabled` and set `allowUnsandboxedCommands` to false, or Claude can retry a blocked command outside it\n3. Set `CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1` on a Claude login to stop metrics and error reports in one go\n4. Set `autoUpdatesChannel` to stable or `DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1` in CI. Native installs update themselves about once a day\n5. Cap pipeline runs with `--max-turns` and `--max-budget-usd`\n\n### Prime Agent\n\n1. Run it in a disposable clone, container or VM. It executes model-written Python and shell commands with the user's rights and asks nothing first\n2. Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine\n3. For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded\n4. Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive\n5. The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Claude Code or Prime Agent?\n\nClaude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Are Claude Code and Prime Agent open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Claude Code. Prime Agent is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"claude-code\", \"b\": \"prime-agent\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare claude-code prime-agent`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-code.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Claude Code or Prime Agent\n\n- [Aider vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code.md)\n- [Aider vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Amp vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-claude-code.md)\n- [Amp vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-devin.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-gemini-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Claude Code vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Claude Code vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Devin vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Pi vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [goose vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [OpenCode vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [OpenHands vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Prime Agent vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.md)\n\n## Disclosure\n\n- 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.\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Claude Code vs Prime Agent", "url": "" } ], "description": "Claude Code scores 61.9 (C) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Claude Code C 61.9", "Prime Agent C 60.5", "scores" ], "h1": "Claude Code vs Prime Agent", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-claude-code-vs-prime-agent.png", "path": "/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Claude Code vs Prime Agent for AI agents, C 61.9 vs C 60.5", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }