# Pi vs OpenMausBot

> Pi scores 68.6 (B) to OpenMausBot's 65.4 (B) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openmausbot
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openmausbot.md (~3,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openmausbot.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openmausbot.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: 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)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

Pi scores 68.6 (B) on agent readiness against OpenMausBot's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenMausBot leads on schema & documentation. Both do agent harnesses.

- Pi: grade B, 68.6/100, rank #236 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/earendil-pi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/earendil-pi.json
- OpenMausBot: grade B, 65.4/100, rank #368 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openmausbot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openmausbot.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 875 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Pi (B)

Good for: Developers and pipelines that want a small, scriptable coding agent they can extend in TypeScript and drive over JSONL or RPC, inside their own container.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 60
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 74
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 59

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No permission system or sandbox. Tool calls run with the user's rights and without an approval prompt

### OpenMausBot (B)

Good for: A person or an outside agent who wants several CLI agents (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, ACP CLIs) organised as named bots with their own computers, routines and approvals, driven by MCP or a CLI.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 84

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: New bots start at Full access, which approves provider permission requests without a card


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Pi | OpenMausBot | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 60 | Pi +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 90 | OpenMausBot +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 77 | OpenMausBot +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 59 | Pi +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 50 | Pi +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 74 | Pi +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 59 | Pi +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **68.6 · B** | **65.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Pi | OpenMausBot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Earendil | Supamaus Software Private Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 20 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-21 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-10 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-18 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 113k stars, 5.2M npm/wk | 8.2k stars, 3.5k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**Pi.** Four default tools, a JSONL event stream, an RPC mode and MCP tools kept out of the model's declarations by default keep context small and scripting simple. Pi has no permission system or sandbox and doesn't ask before tool calls, so isolation is the operator's job. Version 1.4.0 is dated 21 October 2026.

**OpenMausBot.** A bounded 20-tool MCP server with typed schemas, annotations and idempotent sends, and a headless CLI with JSON output and exit codes, let another agent hand work to a bot team and wait on it. New bots start at Full access, so provider permission requests pass without a card, and usage analytics stay on until switched off.

## Before you call either

### Pi

1. Run Pi inside a container or VM for unattended work. It has no sandbox and doesn't ask before running shell commands
2. Use `pi --mode json` and wait for `agent_settled`. A failed response doesn't set a nonzero exit code in JSON mode
3. Split the JSONL stream on LF only. Node's `readline` also splits on U+2028 and U+2029, which are valid inside JSON strings
4. Pass `--no-approve` or `--approve` in scripts to make the project trust decision explicit
5. Set `PI_TELEMETRY=0` and `PI_SKIP_VERSION_CHECK=1`, or `PI_OFFLINE=1`, to stop the default requests to pi.dev

### OpenMausBot

1. Ask the owner for a pairing code from Settings > Phone, exchange it at `POST /api/auth/pair`, and set `OPENMAUSBOT_TOKEN` with an explicit `OMB_PORT`
2. Pass a `send_id` with every `send_bot_message` and `send_channel_message`, so a retry returns the first receipt
3. Use `wait_for_conversation` instead of polling, and on `needs-user` stop and tell the owner a card is waiting
4. Check a bot's access level with the owner before sending work. New bots run at Full access unless defaults were changed
5. Ask the owner to switch off Settings > General > Usage analytics if nothing beyond model calls should leave the machine

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Pi or OpenMausBot?

Pi scores 68.6 (B) on agent readiness against OpenMausBot's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenMausBot leads on schema & documentation.

### Are Pi and OpenMausBot open source?

Yes. Pi is open source (MIT). OpenMausBot is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Pi or OpenMausBot

- [Agent Zero vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Aider vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Aider vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Amp vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Amp vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Claude Code vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Claude Code vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Cline vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cline vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Crush vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Crush vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Devin vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Devin vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Droid CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Pi vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Pi vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Pi vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-goose.md)
- [Pi vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harness2.md)
- [Pi vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Pi vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-jules.md)
- [Pi vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-junie.md)
- [Pi vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Pi vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Pi vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Pi vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Pi vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Pi vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-opencode.md)
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- [Pi vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Pi vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Pi vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Pi vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Pi vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-warp.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [goose vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Harness² vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-openmausbot.md)
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- [Junie CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-openmausbot.md)
- [Muse Code vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openmausbot.md)
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- [OpenCode vs OpenMausBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-openmausbot.md)
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- [OpenMausBot vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-warp.md)

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