# GitHub Copilot CLI vs Orca (slim)

> Orca scores 57.4 (C) to GitHub Copilot CLI's 56 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
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Orca scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against GitHub Copilot CLI's 56 (C), and leads in 1 of 7 scored categories. GitHub Copilot CLI leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- GitHub Copilot CLI: C 56, rank #844 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/github-copilot-cli.min.md
- Orca: C 57.4, rank #791 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orca.min.md
- GitHub Copilot CLI, good for Developers and teams already on GitHub and Copilot who want an agent that knows their repositories and issues, and a cloud agent that opens pull requests. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 72 against 65; Security & auth, 65 against 43; Transparency & trust, 74 against 54. Also Free to start without a card.
- Orca, good for Developers who want an orchestrator agent to split work across parallel coding agents, on desktop or mobile. Also No key needed to call it; Open source; No incidents deducted, where GitHub Copilot CLI loses 8 points for them.

| Category | GitHub Copilot CLI | Orca |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 55 | 58 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 65 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 70 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 65 | 43 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 77 | 75 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 74 | 54 |

| Fact (where they differ) | GitHub Copilot CLI | Orca |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | GitHub | Lovecast Inc. |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| 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 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-27 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-04-27 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-04-27 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Popularity | 11k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Security & auth, GitHub Copilot CLI +22: GitHub Copilot CLI 65 (Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. Since 1.0.100 (19 October 2026) `--disable-client-telemetry` turns off the telemetry the CLI sends, which the command reference says doesn't affect server-side telemetry. Since 24 April 2026 Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max interactions train GitHub's models by default, with an opt-out, and Business and Enterprise data is excluded, re-read on 4 November. A fine-grained token with only the Copilot Requests permission works for CI (16). Asks before the first use of each modifying tool, deny rules that beat `--allow-all-tools`, URL and path permissions, trusted directories and enterprise managed settings. Local sandboxing is generally available since 1.0.93 (7 October 2026) and off by default, enterprises can require it fail-closed, and since 1.0.100 the sandbox allows local network access by default. Assisted Permissions, where a model approves requests it judges safe, left experimental mode in 1.0.104. The CLI still can't enforce two organisation MCP policies (17). The sandbox proxy filters hosts, sandboxed shells withhold `GITHUB_TOKEN` since 1.0.92, and content exclusion applies, but we found no prompt-injection guidance for the CLI (9). OpenTelemetry export with GenAI spans, opt-in, with enterprise capture controls since 12 October, and session logs (13). Two advisories with CVEs in 2026 and none since on OSV, re-read on 4 November, but no SECURITY.md in the repository and an expired security.txt on github.com per the 26 September check, which the proxy still refuses. We didn't check GitHub's bug bounty (10). SOC 2 isn't scored on the framework reading. 16+17+9+13+10 = 65.); Orca 43 (Harness reading. Anonymous usage data with an opt-out, per the README's link to its telemetry docs (15 of 30). Worktrees per agent and a sandboxed Linux build (12 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). A dependency-security workflow (6 of 20). 15 + 12 + 5 + 5 + 6 = 43.)
- Transparency & trust, GitHub Copilot CLI +20: GitHub Copilot CLI 74 (Proprietary licence with clear terms for running and redistributing (15). The data-use page dates the training change (24 April 2026), says which plans it covers and how to opt out, and says Business and Enterprise data isn't used, re-read on 4 November, but we didn't find retention periods for CLI sessions (18). On 15 October 2026 GitHub gave dated notice that Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra leave all Copilot experiences on 16 November 2026, with a named alternative for each, per the 17 October check. Breaking changes are mostly marked in a dated changelog. There's no written deprecation policy or notice period, the same reading as openai-codex and gemini-cli (15). The command reference now lists `--disable-client-telemetry`, added in 1.0.100 on 19 October, so client telemetry is disclosed with an opt-out, but no page says what it sends. OpenTelemetry export is documented and opt-in (12). 15+18+15+12 = 60.); Orca 54 (MIT (30). Privacy and telemetry docs on the site (not read) (18 of 30). No deprecation policy (5). Disclosed with an opt-out (15 of 20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 15 = 68.)
- Schema & documentation, GitHub Copilot CLI +7: GitHub Copilot CLI 72 (Framework reading. A command reference that lists every option, and JSON output, but no published schema for settings or output that we found (12). docs.github.com/llms.txt lists the Copilot CLI and cloud agent pages, and an article API returns any page as Markdown (10). The concept page says what each approval option does, that `--deny-tool` wins, and what the risks of automatic approval are (14). Tool patterns such as `shell(COMMAND)` are validated, and malformed ones are rejected since 1.0.x (10). Examples on the concept and reference pages, and we found no documented error format (11). A dated changelog per release with breaking changes marked (15).); Orca 65 (Harness reading. A docs site with CLI orchestration and native chat pages (65).)