# GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenCode

> OpenCode has a score of 68 (B) against GitHub Copilot CLI's 57.9 (C). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 20 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-04

OpenCode has a score of 68 (B) against GitHub Copilot CLI's 57.9 (C). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 20 points.

- GitHub Copilot CLI: grade C, 57.9/100, rank #286 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/github-copilot-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/github-copilot-cli.json
- OpenCode: grade B, 68/100, rank #134 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencode.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencode.json

## Which one, for what

Pick GitHub Copilot CLI for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick OpenCode for reliability (+13), schema & documentation (+16), agent ergonomics (+7), payments & pricing (+20).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | GitHub Copilot CLI | OpenCode | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 68 | OpenCode +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 88 | OpenCode +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 79 | OpenCode +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | OpenCode +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 81 | OpenCode +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 71 | GitHub Copilot CLI +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **57.9 · C** | **68 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | GitHub Copilot CLI | OpenCode |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | GitHub | Anomaly |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under the licence in the repository's `LICENSE.md`. Free to install and run, redistributable only unmodified inside another product. The repository holds the README, changelog and install script, not the source | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | 11k stars | 211k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 2/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**GitHub Copilot CLI.** Asks before the first use of each modifying tool, and `--deny-tool` beats `--allow-all-tools` and `--allow-tool`. Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max interactions train GitHub's models by default since 24 April 2026.

**OpenCode.** Runs with no key or account on free OpenCode Zen models. Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox.

## Before you call either

### GitHub Copilot CLI

1. Pass `--deny-tool` for anything destructive. It wins over `--allow-all-tools` and `--allow-tool`
2. Turn on the sandbox with `/sandbox enable` or `--sandbox`. It's off unless you opt in
3. Turn off model training in Copilot settings on Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max. It's on by default since 24 April 2026
4. Run 1.0.88 or later where enterprise policy matters. Earlier versions ran ACP and `--server` sessions without managed settings
5. Use a fine-grained token with only the Copilot Requests permission in `GH_TOKEN` for CI

### OpenCode

1. Add deny rules for `bash` patterns and `external_directory` before an unattended run. Most tools default to allow
2. Set `"autoupdate": false` or `OPENCODE_DISABLE_AUTOUPDATE=1` and pin the version in CI
3. Configure a provider key. With none, prompts go to free Zen models that may train on them
4. Set `OPENCODE_SERVER_PASSWORD` before `opencode serve`. Without it the server runs unauthenticated
5. Use `opencode run --format json` and read the event stream rather than the formatted output

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