# Droid CLI vs Rovo Dev CLI

> Droid CLI scores 59.1 (C) to Rovo Dev CLI's 43.9 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Droid CLI scores 59.1 (C) on agent readiness against Rovo Dev CLI's 43.9 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Rovo Dev CLI leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Droid CLI: grade C, 59.1/100, rank #619 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/droid-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/droid-cli.json
- Rovo Dev CLI: grade E, 43.9/100, rank #1010 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rovo-dev-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rovo-dev-cli.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

### Droid CLI (C)

Good for: Teams that want a terminal coding agent with tiered autonomy, command rules and an optional sandbox, and that will pay for a Factory plan.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 49 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 79 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 53
- Security & auth, 63 against 48
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 61

Watch for: No free tier or trial was found. Plans start at $20 a month and included usage is stated only as rolling rate limits without numbers

### Rovo Dev CLI (E)

Good for: Teams already on Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket who want the agent to read and update work items and pages from the terminal or a pipeline.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 15 against 10

Watch for: Atlassian has announced end of life for standalone Rovo Dev, with the CLI moving to the Rovo CLI and no dates set


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Droid CLI | Rovo Dev CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 49 | 35 | Droid CLI +14 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 45 | Droid CLI +34 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 53 | Droid CLI +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 48 | Droid CLI +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 15 | Rovo Dev CLI +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 61 | Droid CLI +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 61 | Droid CLI +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59.1 · C** | **43.9 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Droid CLI | Rovo Dev CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Factory | Atlassian |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Factory's Terms and Conditions. The `droid` npm package is marked `UNLICENSED` and the public repository holds documentation only. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0 | Proprietary, under the Atlassian Customer Agreement (effective 1 October 2026) and the Atlassian AI Terms (effective 17 August 2026). No source is published |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-14 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-20 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 49 stars, 7.8k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Droid CLI.** `droid exec` is read-only unless `--auto` raises the autonomy level, with command rules, an optional kernel-enforced sandbox, JSON output and documented exit codes. No free tier, status page or security.txt was found, the source is closed, and usage metrics go to Factory by default.

**Rovo Dev CLI.** Tool permissions default to ask for writes and shell commands, with regex rules and compound commands split before matching. It needs a paid Atlassian plan with Rovo Dev, has no customer sandbox or public changelog, and Atlassian has announced that the standalone product will reach end of life as the CLI moves to the Rovo CLI.

## Before you call either

### Droid CLI

1. Set `FACTORY_API_KEY` (starts `fk-`) from the API keys page in Factory settings for headless runs. Interactive use signs in through a browser
2. Start with `droid exec` and no flags for analysis. Add `--auto low` for edits and `--auto medium` for installs, tests and local commits
3. Use `--output-format json` and read `is_error`, `num_turns` and `session_id`. Treat a non-zero exit code as failure
4. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true before running on untrusted code. In `droid exec` a sandbox violation is denied without a prompt
5. Pin the version in CI with `npm install -g droid@<version>`, or set `FACTORY_DROID_AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=false` on standalone installs, which update themselves

### Rovo Dev CLI

1. Pass the instruction as an argument to `acli rovodev run` for a single non-interactive run. No JSON output flag or exit codes are documented
2. Use `acli rovodev serve <port>` and stream `/v3/stream_chat?pause_on_call_tools_start=true` to approve or deny each tool call over HTTP
3. Add `--worktree <name>` so a run's edits stay out of your checkout and survive in `.rovodev/worktrees/<name>`
4. Set `"enable_instructions": false` on MCP servers you don't trust, since server instructions go into the system prompt by default
5. Check `/usage` before long runs. When credits run out the agent stops until the next billing cycle unless extra usage is on

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Droid CLI or Rovo Dev CLI?

Droid CLI scores 59.1 (C) on agent readiness against Rovo Dev CLI's 43.9 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Rovo Dev CLI leads on payments & pricing.


## For agents

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

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