# Claude Code vs Qwen Code

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on 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-qwen-code
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- 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

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on 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
- Qwen Code: grade BB, 72.4/100, rank #88 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.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:
- Security & auth, 80 against 53
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 63

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

### Qwen Code (BB)

Good for: Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 69 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 80
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 88 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: The default approval mode is Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, and sandboxing and folder trust are both off by default


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Claude Code | Qwen Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 69 | Qwen Code +19 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 91 | Qwen Code +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 85 | Claude Code +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 53 | Claude Code +27 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | Qwen Code +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 88 | Qwen Code +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 63 | Claude Code +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **61.9 · C** | **72.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Claude Code | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| 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 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 141k stars | 28k stars, 105k 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.

**Qwen Code.** Apache-2.0 with no account of its own, any OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini-compatible endpoint, and headless runs bounded by turn, tool-call and wall-time budgets with distinct exit codes. Out of the box, Auto mode lets an LLM classifier approve tool calls, with the sandbox and folder trust both off. Usage statistics are on by default.

## 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`

### Qwen Code

1. Pass `--approval-mode` on every run. The settings default is `auto`, and one docs page says headless runs default to asking, so don't rely on either
2. Add `--max-session-turns`, `--max-wall-time` and `--max-tool-calls`. All three are unlimited by default. Exit 53 is the turn limit and 55 a budget
3. `--yolo` doesn't turn on a sandbox. Add `--sandbox`, or on Linux set `tools.executionSandbox` with `network` set to `closed`
4. Set `QWEN_USAGE_STATISTICS_ENABLED=false` to stop usage statistics
5. Authenticate with `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_BASE_URL` and `OPENAI_MODEL` in CI. The browser sign-in is discontinued

## Questions

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

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Claude Code's 61.9 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Code leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Are Claude Code and Qwen Code open source?

No open-source release is listed for Claude Code. Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Claude Code or Qwen Code

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