# Claude Code vs Qwen Code (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code.md (~2,550 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qwen-code
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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: C 61.9, rank #316 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-code.min.md
- Qwen Code: BB 72.4, rank #88 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.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 Security & auth, 80 against 53; Transparency & trust, 81 against 63.
- Qwen Code, 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 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.

| Category | Claude Code | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 50 | 69 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 80 | 91 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 87 | 85 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 80 | 53 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 82 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Claude Code | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| 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 | Apache-2.0 |
| 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 benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 141k stars | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |