# Crush vs Parallax

> Crush scores 56.5 (C) to Parallax's 37.9 (F) for multi-agent orchestration. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Crush scores 56.5 (C) on agent readiness against Parallax's 37.9 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do multi-agent orchestration.

- 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
- Parallax: grade F, 37.9/100, rank #1069 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/parallax-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/parallax-agents.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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 54 against 40
- Schema & documentation, 65 against 29
- Agent ergonomics, 52 against 42
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 56
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 48

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

### Parallax (F)

Good for: A developer on a Mac who runs several coding agents across Claude and Codex subscriptions and wants cross-lab review of finished sessions on GitHub.

Watch for: No API, MCP server or CLI reference for the app itself. Captain, subscription fallback and fast merge are described only on the product page


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Crush | Parallax | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 40 | Crush +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 29 | Crush +36 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 42 | Crush +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 43 | Crush +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 30 | Crush +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 56 | Crush +26 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 48 | Crush +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **56.5 · C** | **37.9 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crush | Parallax |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Charm | Conifer Solutions, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | FSL-1.1-MIT (source-available, each release converts to MIT two years after it is made available) | Proprietary, under Conifer's Terms of Service (Conifer Solutions, Inc.). The GitHub repository holds the README and release binaries, not the source |
| Tools exposed | none | 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 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 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 | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | 2/5 (4) |

## 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.

**Parallax.** Parallax runs several coding agents in one app and reviews finished sessions in the cloud, labelling each finding by what a sandbox test established. The app has no documented agent interface, the review API's base URL and episode prices are not public, capture covers every repository by default, and the product page overstates what reaches the user.

## 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

### Parallax

1. Don't plan to drive the Parallax app. It has no documented agent interface. Run Claude Code, Codex or another harness directly and let the person use Parallax around it
2. Ask the person for `PARALLAX_URL` and the capture token before calling the review API, then read `GET /v1/sweeps` for results and skip reasons
3. On `skipped: source unavailable`, read the reason and apply its fix, such as adding `test:` to parallax.yml or starting the session inside the repository
4. Ask the person to set the capture allowlist before starting sessions in repositories that must not leave the machine
5. Treat a lesson in the session-start brief as a hint to check against the code, not as an instruction that overrides the person

## Questions

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

Crush scores 56.5 (C) on agent readiness against Parallax's 37.9 (F), and leads in every scored category.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Crush or Parallax

- [Agent Zero vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-crush.md)
- [Aider vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-crush.md)
- [Amp vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-crush.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-crush.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-crush.md)
- [Claude Code vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.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)
- [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 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 mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mini-swe-agent.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 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 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 Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-warp.md)
- [Amp vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Claude Code vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-crush.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Cline vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Crush vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
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- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-parallax-agents.md)
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- [OpenHands vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-parallax-agents.md)
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- [Parallax vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-warp.md)

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