# Crush vs goose

> goose scores 73.9 (BB) to Crush's 56.5 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-18

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Crush's 56.5 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- Crush: grade C, 56.5/100, rank #705 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crush.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crush.json
- goose: grade BB, 73.9/100, rank #82 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Crush (C)

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

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

### goose (BB)

Good for: People and pipelines that want one agent across many model providers or local models, with recipes for repeatable jobs and a desktop app for non-engineers.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 77 against 54
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 52
- Security & auth, 77 against 44
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 55
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Crush | goose | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 77 | goose +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 81 | goose +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 82 | goose +30 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 77 | goose +33 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 60 | goose +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 86 | goose +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 63 | goose +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **56.5 · C** | **73.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crush | goose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Charm | Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | FSL-1.1-MIT (source-available, each release converts to MIT two years after it is made available) | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 29k stars, 5.6k npm/wk | 55k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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, and usage metrics are on by default, so an unattended run needs deny rules and the metrics opt-out first.

**goose.** Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.

## Before you call either

### Crush

1. Add `permissions deny` rules or a PreToolUse hook before `crush run`. It approves every permission request in its session
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

### goose

1. Set `GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve` or `approve` before a run. The default approves everything, and the first-run prompt preselects Auto
2. Pass `--max-turns` with a real limit. The default is 1000
3. Set `SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED=true` when the task reads web pages or untrusted repositories
4. Use `--output-format json` and `--no-session` in CI, and check the exit code
5. Point remotes and links at aaif-goose/goose and goose-docs.ai. The block/goose paths redirect

## Questions

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

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Crush's 56.5 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Crush and goose open source?

No open-source release is listed for Crush. goose is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Crush or goose

- [Agent Zero vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-crush.md)
- [Agent Zero vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose.md)
- [Aider vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-crush.md)
- [Aider vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.md)
- [Amp vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-crush.md)
- [Amp vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-goose.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-crush.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-crush.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-goose.md)
- [Claude Code vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-crush.md)
- [Claude Code vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.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 Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-devin.md)
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- [Crush vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-earendil-pi.md)
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- [Crush vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-github-copilot-cli.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)
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- [Crush vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kiro-cli.md)
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- [Crush vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-warp.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)
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- [Gemini CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [goose vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.md)
- [goose vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter.md)
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- [goose vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [goose vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code.md)
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