# Conductor vs MiniMax Code (slim)

> MiniMax Code scores 66.1 (B) to Conductor's 41.3 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-minimax-code.md (~6,200 tokens) · this version ~2,430 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-minimax-code.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-minimax-code
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

MiniMax Code scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against Conductor's 41.3 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- Conductor: E 41.3, rank #1285 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/conductor.min.md
- MiniMax Code: B 66.1, rank #382 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-code.min.md
- Conductor, good for Existing Conductor users planning their move before Cloud closes on 20 November 2026 and the local app winds down in early 2027.
- MiniMax Code, good for Scripted coding runs on MiniMax's models or any compatible model, driven by JSON output and exit codes. Ahead on Reliability, 51 against 25; Schema & documentation, 81 against 60; Agent ergonomics, 79 against 55; Security & auth, 57 against 45; Payments & pricing, 60 against 0; Maintenance & community, 79 against 58; Transparency & trust, 63 against 53. Also Free to start without a card; Open source.

| Category | Conductor | MiniMax Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 25 | 51 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 60 | 81 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 55 | 79 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 57 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 58 | 79 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 53 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Conductor | MiniMax Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Conductor (joining Meta) | MiniMax |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Licence | Proprietary. A closed-source Mac app and hosted Conductor Cloud under Conductor's terms | MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | not read yet | 2026-01-19 |
| Privacy policy last updated | not read yet | 2026-01-19 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | none | 2k stars, 6.8k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Payments & pricing, MiniMax Code +60: 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).); MiniMax Code 60 (Self-hosted rule. No payment protocol (0). The CLI is free under MIT with nothing to buy (20). No card or MiniMax account is needed for the software, and BYOK works without a login (20). An agent can install it from npm and run `mcode exec` with a provider key and no sign-up (20). M Plan and MiniMax API usage are separate purchases. Total 60.)
- Reliability, MiniMax Code +26: 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.); MiniMax Code 51 (Local-package reading, for the CLI. An install script for macOS, Linux and WSL and one for Windows, and npm `@minimax-ai/code` with Node.js 22.19+, 24.2+, 25 or 26 stated. The installer doesn't support Alpine or musl (20). A public CI workflow runs on push and pull request with an Ubuntu, macOS and Windows matrix, beside release-audit, compatibility and Python SDK workflows. Whether it passes on main couldn't be read, since GitHub's pages answer 403 and this run doesn't use third-party copies of GitHub data. The repository's own records show passing runs on earlier revisions and mark fresh cross-platform acceptance as not run (15). Open issue counts and replies couldn't be read. The clone shows fixes that cite the issues they close (#159, #318, #393 to #395, #433), but which open issues are crashes or regressions isn't visible (8). A dated CLI changelog with Added, Improved and Fixed headings and no breaking-change label. Its latest entry is 0.7.0 (26 October) while npm's latest is 0.7.4 (30 October) (8). 0.7.x and called a source preview (0). Total 51.)
- Agent ergonomics, MiniMax Code +24: Conductor 55 (Harness reading. Each task gets a workspace, branch, terminal and diff, with pull requests and merges from the app, and an API for integrations; not re-read in detail (55).); MiniMax Code 79 (Harness reading, for a pipeline driving the CLI. Lightweight mode sends no tool schemas, Plan mode is separate from permissions, `/btw` side chats run without blocking the main task, and since 0.7.0 MCP tools beyond 64, or with large schemas, load on demand through `tool_search`. No per-tool allow or deny list was found in the CLI docs (16). json and stream-json output, `--timeout`, `--max-steps`, `--output-schema` and `--output-last-message` (18). Exit codes per failure class, a status field and an interaction error when a run would need a person (17). `--session`, `--continue`, fork and rewind, and a model request is retried when the first response doesn't arrive within 300 seconds (16). One positional argument runs a task and BYOK needs no MiniMax login. The TypeScript SDK `@minimax-ai/code-sdk` 0.1.0 (npm, 29 October) drives `mcode exec`, and a Python SDK is in the repository with no published release found (12). Total 79.)
- Schema & documentation, MiniMax Code +21: 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).); MiniMax Code 81 (Harness reading. `mcode exec` returns a versioned `ExecResult` JSON document (`schemaVersion` 1) or versioned stream-json events, takes `--output-schema` for the final answer, and `mcode acp` speaks the Agent Client Protocol. No OpenAPI, since there's no server API (20). llms.txt indexes the docs, and each page is served as Markdown (10). The security page says when to use each permission policy and to keep `full` and `off` to isolated workspaces, and the automation page gives a CI baseline (16). An options table with defaults and enums for permission, output and prompt modes (12). Examples for each mode, a nine-row exit-code table, five result statuses and a named error for invalid structured output (13). A dated CLI changelog in the docs, whose latest entry (0.7.0, 26 October) trails npm's 0.7.4 (10). Total 81.)
- Maintenance & community, MiniMax Code +21: 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.); MiniMax Code 79 (0.7.4 on npm on 30 October 2026 (30). Every npm release from 0.1.0 on 14 August falls in the last 90 days, 62 of them by 15 October per the 19 October check (20). The clone has 167 commits since 3 August and 32 since 2 October, with fixes that cite issues, but pull requests are taken only from collaborators, and issue counts and reply times couldn't be read (11). An official TypeScript SDK, `@minimax-ai/code-sdk` 0.1.0, published on 29 October, and a Python SDK in the repository with no published release found. ACP ships inside the CLI (10). CI pins its GitHub Actions by commit, and the root package pins overrides for vulnerable dependencies (8). Total 79.)
- Security & auth, MiniMax Code +12: Conductor 45 (Closed app. Telemetry and data handling weren't read beyond the transition notice (10 of 30). A security and permissions page (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance found (5). No audit log found (5). SOC 2 Type II report at trust.conductor.build (15 of 20). 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 = 45.); MiniMax Code 57 (Harness reading of the framework checklist. 30 for credentials and what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. Provider keys are read from an environment variable and never printed, and stored in `config.yaml` in the data directory. All three telemetry channels are off by default and the doc lists every field sent. The default `smart` policy classifies actions through a cloud classifier, and what it sends isn't documented (20). Ask, Auto and Full access in the TUI. Headless defaults to `smart` and fails on a pending permission request instead of approving it, while `full` and `off` skip checks. A bundled sandbox runtime with macOS tests, a read-only filesystem policy for Explore subagents when sandboxing is available, but the default sandbox coverage isn't documented (12). SECURITY.md says permissions and sandboxing don't replace review of untrusted plugins, MCP servers and shell commands. No guidance found for fetched web content (6). Sessions kept locally, `/export` with credential redaction, `/transcript` and stream-json events (11). SECURITY.md takes private reports by email and GitHub's private advisories with no response SLA, history and build scans with Gitleaks run in a release-audit workflow, and OSV lists no advisories for `@minimax-ai/code` or `@minimax-ai/code-sdk`. No security.txt (8). Total 57.)