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Head to head · Agent harness · October 2026 research run

goose vs OpenHands

goose has a score of 73.9 (BB) against OpenHands's 70.9 (BB). Both do agent harness. The largest gap is security & auth, 11 points.

gooseAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Agent harness BB73.9/100#52 of 452 OpenHandsAll Hands AI · Agent harness BB70.9/100#92 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick goose for

  • security & auth (+11)

Pick OpenHands for

  • reliability (+6)
  • schema & documentation (+6)
  • transparency & trust (+6)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this rungooseOpenHandsEdge
Reliability16%207783OpenHands +6
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28187OpenHands +6
Agent ergonomics13%16.28278goose +4
Security & auth14%17.57766goose +11
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88685goose +1
Transparency & trust7%8.86369OpenHands +6
Negative events≤15-2-5
Total73.9 · BB70.9 · BB

Facts side by side

FactgooseOpenHands
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block)All Hands AI
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneOAuth or key
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service
Tools exposednonenone
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listednot listed
Last release2026-09-232026-09-30
Popularity55k stars90k stars
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)2.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

goose

Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.

OpenHands

A Docker container per conversation with OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker, each with its own Agent Server. Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem.

Before you call either

goose

  1. Set GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve or approve before a run. The default approves everything
  2. Pass --max-turns with a real limit. The default is 1000
  3. Set SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED=true when the task reads web pages or untrusted repositories
  4. Use --output-format json and --no-session in CI, and check the exit code
  5. Point remotes and links at aaif-goose/goose and goose-docs.ai. The block/goose paths redirect

OpenHands

  1. Set AGENT_CANVAS_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 and DO_NOT_TRACK=1 before the first start
  2. Start Canvas with OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker or use the Docker image. The npm install runs the agent on the host
  3. Turn on confirmation mode with a risk threshold. Canvas starts with it off
  4. Use the SDK or the Agent Server API for headless runs. The openhands --headless CLI is no longer maintained
  5. Set filter_tools_regex on the agent to keep unneeded MCP tool definitions out of the context

Other comparisons with goose or OpenHands

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