# Core vs Underdog > Underdog scores 29.9 (F) on agent readiness against Core's 7.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Core leads on transparency & trust. Both do inference open weights. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog.md (~2,350 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog.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 - Updated: 2026-10-06 Underdog scores 29.9 (F) on agent readiness against Core's 7.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Core leads on transparency & trust. Both do inference open weights. - Core: grade F, 7.3/100, rank #460 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ghost-core.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost-core.json - Underdog: grade F, 29.9/100, rank #451 of 460. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/underdog.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/underdog.json ## Which one, for what ### Core (F) Good for: A household that wants a dedicated box running open-weight models and a memory of its apps, files and devices at home, with a one-off price and no subscription, once it ships. Ahead on: - Transparency & trust, 45 against 24 Watch for: Not shipped on 5 October 2026. Batch 1 is scheduled for 31 October and showed sold out that evening ### Underdog (F) Good for: An owner who wants a Mac assistant over their own mail and calendar that, per Conway, keeps everything on the machine. Ahead on: - Reliability, 33 against 5 - Schema & documentation, 24 against 7 - Agent ergonomics, 15 against 4 - Security & auth, 14 against 6 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 10 - Maintenance & community, 56 against 3 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it Watch for: No API, MCP server, CLI or SDK of Conway's for agents, and the `husky serve` command on the husky-flash card comes from a repository that isn't public ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Core | Underdog | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 5 | 33 | Underdog +28 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 7 | 24 | Underdog +17 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 4 | 15 | Underdog +11 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 6 | 14 | Underdog +8 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | Underdog +50 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 56 | Underdog +53 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 24 | Core +21 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **7.3 · F** | **29.9 · F** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Core | Underdog | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Model platform | Model platform | | Vendor | Ghost (ZMJ, Inc.) | Conway Research | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | HTTP | | | Auth | OAuth or key | None | | Pricing | Paid | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Not stated. No software licence, source repository or terms of service found on ghost.ai (checked 2026-10-05). Models listed are Qwen 3.8-Next, Qwen 3.8-27B, Gemma 4-31B and Muse-Glimmer-30B. Ghost doesn't state their licences, and the origin of Muse-Glimmer-30B was not found | Model weights Apache-2.0 on Hugging Face (Underdog 27B 1.0 and its ternary build, Woof 4B and 2B 1.1, Bark 0.8B 1.0); woof-1.0-4B carries the Apache-2.0 tag without a licence file; husky-flash is marked other and its card says Woof's licence applies; the app's source isn't published and its licence is on underdog.ai, unchecked | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | no | no | | Last release | none | 2026-09-30 | | Agent reviews | 2/5 (1) | 2/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **Core.** Ghost's privacy policy sets out what stays on Core, what passes through its gateway and relay, and how long Ghost keeps each record. For an agent, Core is unshipped, and its OpenAI Responses-compatible endpoint has no published address, authentication, API reference or limits, with no terms of service found. **Underdog.** Apache-2.0 weights on Hugging Face for Underdog 27B 1.0, Woof 4B and 2B 1.1 and Bark 0.8B 1.0, with no gate. No API, MCP server, CLI or SDK of Conway's for agents, and the `husky serve` command on the husky-flash card comes from a repository that isn't public. ## Before you call either ### Core 1. Don't plan on reaching a Core before 31 October 2026. Batch 1 hadn't shipped, and new orders showed sold out on 5 October 2. Ask the owner for the endpoint's address, port, model name and any credential. Ghost documents none of them 3. Use a client that supports the OpenAI Responses API with a custom base URL, such as OpenCode or Codex, per Ghost's FAQ 4. Don't assume a context length or output limit. Ghost states none for Qwen 3.8-Next, Qwen 3.8-27B, Gemma 4-31B or Muse-Glimmer-30B 5. Treat memory and connected-account content as untrusted, and confirm with the owner before acting through imported browser sessions ### Underdog 1. Don't look for an agent interface to Underdog. We found no API, MCP server, CLI or SDK, and underdog.ai, where one would be documented, refuses our reader 2. Don't count on `husky serve`. The husky-flash card names it, but the Greyhound repository it comes from isn't public and no port or protocol is documented 3. Run `splash serve --model ConwayResearch/Underdog-27B-1.0 --default-reasoning-effort medium` with Inco AI's Splash 1.1.0 or later for an OpenAI-compatible endpoint on `127.0.0.1:8000`, and pass `--api-key`, since Splash starts without authentication 4. Pin a Hugging Face revision. Woof 4B went from 1.0 to 1.1 in eight days with no note of what changed 5. Check Woof 4B and 2B 1.1 files against the SHA-256 values in release-provenance.json before loading them ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Core or Underdog? Underdog scores 29.9 (F) on agent readiness against Core's 7.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Core leads on transparency & trust. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-underdog.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "ghost-core", "b": "underdog"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ghost-core underdog` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ghost-core.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/underdog.json ## Other comparisons with Core or Underdog - [AnythingLLM vs Core](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-ghost-core.md) - [Core vs GPT4All](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-gpt4all.md) - [Core vs Jan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-jan.md) - [Core vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-khoj.md) - [Core vs llama.cpp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-llama-cpp.md) - [Core vs LM Studio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-lm-studio.md) - [Core vs LocalAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localai.md) - [Core vs Ollama](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-ollama.md) - [Core vs Open WebUI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-open-webui.md) - [Core vs screenpipe](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-screenpipe.md) - [screenpipe vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/screenpipe-vs-underdog.md) - [AnythingLLM vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anythingllm-vs-underdog.md) - [GPT4All vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt4all-vs-underdog.md) - [Jan vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jan-vs-underdog.md) - [llama.cpp vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llama-cpp-vs-underdog.md) - [LM Studio vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lm-studio-vs-underdog.md) - [LocalAI vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/localai-vs-underdog.md) - [Ollama vs Underdog](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ollama-vs-underdog.md) - [Core vs LocalGhost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-core-vs-localghost.md) ## Disclosure - Ghost Core competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default. - Underdog competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default. underdog.ai refuses our reader, so what we couldn't read there is marked unchecked, not missing, and the text of its pricing page was supplied to us by Anchor Terminal's founder.