# Conductor vs Crush

> Crush scores 49.8 (D) to Conductor's 41.3 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-crush
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-crush.md (~5,500 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Crush scores 49.8 (D) on agent readiness against Conductor's 41.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Conductor: grade E, 41.3/100, rank #1285 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/conductor.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/conductor.json
- Crush: grade D, 49.8/100, rank #1072 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crush.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crush.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Conductor (E)

Good for: Existing Conductor users planning their move before Cloud closes on 20 November 2026 and the local app winds down in early 2027.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Crush loses 6 points for them

Watch for: No new downloads or sign-ups since 4 November 2026

### Crush (D)

Good for: Developers who want a Go terminal agent with a wide provider list, local models and Claude Code-compatible hooks.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 52 against 25
- Schema & documentation, 65 against 60
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 58
- Transparency & trust, 59 against 53

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: `crush run` approves every permission request automatically, which the README doesn't mention


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Crush +55

- Conductor (0): No new sign-ups since 4 November, free users can't upgrade, and no price is shown. No protocol, no published price, no open free tier, no onboarding (0).
- Crush (55): No payment protocol (0). Scored on Charm's Hyper provider. Its public provider file at hyper.charm.land/v1/provider lists per-million-token figures for 22 models without a login, but no pricing page confirms them as billed rates, and plan prices sit in a script-rendered app (15). The CLI is free to use and runs with your own provider key or a local model, so nothing needs a card (20). A local model through Ollama, llama.cpp or LM Studio, or an existing provider key in the environment, works with no Charm account, so an agent can install it and run a task without a person signing up (20).

### Reliability: Crush +27

- Conductor (25): Read as local software that is winding down. Installed from Conductor's own download, which stopped taking new users on 4 November 2026 (10). Closed source, so no public CI or issue tracker (0, 0). A dated changelog, newest 0.93.0 on 4 November (15). Version 0.93 (0). 10 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 25.
- Crush (52): Local-package reading. `@charmland/crush` on npm, a Homebrew tap, Winget, Scoop, AUR, Nix, FreeBSD pkg, Charm's apt and yum repositories and release binaries, with supported platforms named in the README (20). The public build workflow runs `go test -race -failfast ./...` on Linux, macOS and Windows for every push to main and every pull request, but GitHub pages and the API answer 403 to us, so results are unread (15). The 18 October issue and pull request counts came from shields.io badges, a third-party copy of GitHub data, and are struck. The repository's own refs show 2,574 pull requests to #4224, 272 of them open with a merge ref, and 147 merges into main in the 90 days to 4 November. Crash and regression issues couldn't be read (10). Release notes are generated from commit messages, with no CHANGELOG file and no breaking-change headings found. The legacy JSON config is deprecated in favour of `crushrc` while still loading (7, held partial). v0.99.0, before 1.0, with no stability statement (0). 20 + 15 + 10 + 7 + 0 = 52.

### Maintenance & community: Crush +24

- Conductor (58): 0.93.0 on 4 November 2026 (30). Several dated releases in 90 days, per the changelog index (20). Discord, a subreddit and email for support (8). Closed app, no package or CI to read (0). 30 + 20 + 8 + 0 + 0 = 58. The local app gets new models and critical fixes only until early 2027.
- Crush (82): v0.99.0 tagged on 29 October 2026 (6 days, 30). 21 release tags from 7 August to 29 October, v0.88.1 to v0.99.0, besides a moving `nightly` tag that isn't counted (20). The 18 October shields.io counts are struck. The repository's refs show 147 merges into main and 438 commits in the 90 days to 4 November, with 272 open pull requests carrying a merge ref, and new contributors signing the CLA most days. Reply times couldn't be read (12). No SDK, as with other harnesses. npm, Homebrew, Winget, Scoop, apt, yum and NUR builds come from the release workflow (12, held partial). Dependabot, a `go mod tidy` check in CI and nightly security scans, with CI results unread (8). 30 + 20 + 12 + 12 + 8 = 82.

### Transparency & trust: Crush +6

- Conductor (53): Closed service with terms and privacy pages (15). The transition notice says when Cloud data deletion begins (20 November) and that all user data is deleted when the app shuts down in early 2027 (20 of 30). Dated shutdown notice (15 of 20). SOC 2 report on a trust portal, subprocessors not read (10 of 20). 15 + 20 + 15 + 10 = 60.
- Crush (59): FSL-1.1-MIT, source-available, barring competing commercial use and converting each release to MIT on its second anniversary. Code from before 30 May 2025 is MIT. Not an OSI licence today (20). No privacy policy or terms for Crush were found on charm.land, and Hyper's legal pages render by script and weren't read. The README says Hyper is zero-data-retention, while Hyper's own app says some plans aren't and that usage on them may train Hyper's models, so the statements don't agree (8). The JSON config is marked deprecated with no removal date, and no deprecation policy was found (6). The README discloses usage metrics, links the source, says prompts aren't collected and gives two opt-outs, but doesn't mention the alias to the Hyper account (15).

### Schema & documentation: Crush +5

- Conductor (60): Harness reading. Docs for workspaces, review and merge, a Conductor API reference page linked from the docs (not read), and security and permissions pages (60).
- Crush (65): Harness reading of the framework line. A JSON Schema for the config at https://charm.land/crush.json (also printed by `crush schema`), `--json` on the session commands, and an OpenAPI document that `crush server` generates from its endpoint list and serves at `/v1/docs/openapi.json`, which isn't published anywhere we could fetch. `crush run` output has no typed form (20). No llms.txt (charm.land/llms.txt is a not-found page). The docs are Markdown in the repository and the hooks guide says it was written for humans and agents (5). The README and config docs explain when to allow, deny or hook a tool and warn that configs run as code (12). The schema carries enums and defaults, such as the attribution trailer style, while permissions take bare tool names with no command patterns (11). Many examples for providers, MCP, hooks and local models, with no reference for error messages or exit codes (9). Version tags and GitHub releases with generated notes, which we couldn't open, and no changelog file (8).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Conductor | Crush | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 25 | 52 | Crush +27 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 65 | Crush +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 52 | Conductor +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 41 | Conductor +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 55 | Crush +55 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 82 | Crush +24 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 59 | Crush +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | |
| **Total** | | **41.3 · E** | **49.8 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Conductor | Crush |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Conductor (joining Meta) | Charm |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary. A closed-source Mac app and hosted Conductor Cloud under Conductor's terms | FSL-1.1-MIT (source-available, each release converts to MIT two years after it is made available) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | not read yet | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | not read yet | no document linked |
| Popularity | none | 29k stars, 5.6k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.3/5 (4) |

## How the scores have moved

### Conductor

No score change since it was listed.

### Crush

- -6.9 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): security, correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: new evidence

## Verdicts

**Conductor.** Conductor ran parallel coding agents on the Mac, and Meta is acquiring it. It has taken no new users since 4 November 2026, Cloud turns read-only on 13 November and shuts down on 20 November, and the local app winds down in early 2027, when all user data is deleted.

**Crush.** Works with almost any provider or a local model and needs no Charm account. `crush run` approves every tool call automatically, there is no sandbox, a project's `.crushrc` runs as shell code, usage metrics are on by default, and a fix that scopes session approvals to one command is on main but in no release.

## Before you call either

### Conductor

1. Export your data from Settings, Account, Export data before 20 November 2026
2. Move Cloud workspaces to your Mac with Transfer to local before 13 November
3. Plan a move off the local app before early 2027; see the agent-harnesses category for alternatives

### Crush

1. Add `permissions deny` rules or a PreToolUse hook before `crush run`. It approves every permission request in its session, and a session approval in v0.99.0 covers later commands in the same directory
2. Read `.crushrc`, `crushrc` and `crush.json` in a cloned repository before running Crush there. They execute as shell code at startup
3. Set `CRUSH_DISABLE_METRICS=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` to stop usage metrics to data.charm.land
4. Wrap `crush run` in your own timeout. It has no turn, time or cost limit flag
5. Configure a provider by environment variable or `crushrc` first. With none, `crush run` exits with an error asking for interactive setup

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Conductor or Crush?

Crush scores 49.8 (D) on agent readiness against Conductor's 41.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Conductor or Crush

- [Agent Zero vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-conductor.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-crush.md)
- [Aider vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-conductor.md)
- [Aider vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-crush.md)
- [Amp vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-conductor.md)
- [Amp vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-crush.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-conductor.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-crush.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-conductor.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-crush.md)
- [AXLR vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-conductor.md)
- [AXLR vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-crush.md)
- [Claude Code vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-conductor.md)
- [Claude Code vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-conductor.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.md)
- [Conductor vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Conductor vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-deepseek-superagent.md)
- [Conductor vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-devin.md)
- [Conductor vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Conductor vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-emdash.md)
- [Conductor vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-goose.md)
- [Conductor vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-harness2.md)
- [Conductor vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Conductor vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-jules.md)
- [Conductor vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-junie.md)
- [Conductor vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Letta](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-letta.md)
- [Conductor vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Conductor vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Conductor vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Conductor vs OpenAI Agents API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-openai-agents-api.md)
- [Conductor vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Conductor vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-opencode.md)
- [Conductor vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-openhands.md)
- [Conductor vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Conductor vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-orca.md)
- [Conductor vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-paseo.md)
- [Conductor vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Conductor vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Conductor vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Conductor vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Conductor vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Conductor vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Conductor vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-traycer.md)
- [Conductor vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Conductor vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-verdent.md)
- [Conductor vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Conductor vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-warp.md)
- [Crush vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Crush vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Crush vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-deepseek-superagent.md)
- [Crush vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-devin.md)
- [Crush vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Crush vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-emdash.md)
- [Crush vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Crush vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Crush vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-goose.md)
- [Crush vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harness2.md)
- [Crush vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Crush vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-jules.md)
- [Crush vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-junie.md)
- [Crush vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Letta](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-letta.md)
- [Crush vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Crush vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Crush vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Crush vs OpenAI Agents API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openai-agents-api.md)
- [Crush vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Crush vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-opencode.md)
- [Crush vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openhands.md)
- [Crush vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Crush vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-orca.md)
- [Crush vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-paseo.md)
- [Crush vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Crush vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Crush vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Crush vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Crush vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Crush vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-traycer.md)
- [Crush vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Crush vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-verdent.md)
- [Crush vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Crush vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-warp.md)
- [Clawboo vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-conductor.md)
- [Clawboo vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-crush.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-conductor.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-crush.md)
- [Conductor vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Conductor vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Conductor vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Crush vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Crush vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Crush vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-parallax-agents.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp