# goose vs Qwen Code

> goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on schema & documentation. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.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: 2026-10-08

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on schema & documentation. Both do agent harness.

- goose: grade BB, 73.9/100, rank #72 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json
- Qwen Code: grade BB, 72.4/100, rank #93 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.json

## Which one, for what

### goose (BB)

Good for: People and pipelines that want one agent across many model providers or local models, with recipes for repeatable jobs and a desktop app for non-engineers.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 77 against 69
- Security & auth, 77 against 53

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

Watch for: Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default

### Qwen Code (BB)

Good for: Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 81

Watch for: The default approval mode is Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, and sandboxing and folder trust are both off by default


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | goose | Qwen Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 77 | 69 | goose +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 91 | Qwen Code +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 85 | Qwen Code +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 77 | 53 | goose +24 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 88 | Qwen Code +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 63 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.9 · BB** | **72.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | goose | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| 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 | 55k stars | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

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

**Qwen Code.** Apache-2.0 with no account of its own, any OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini-compatible endpoint, and headless runs bounded by turn, tool-call and wall-time budgets with distinct exit codes. Out of the box, Auto mode lets an LLM classifier approve tool calls, with the sandbox and folder trust both off. Usage statistics are on by default.

## 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

### Qwen Code

1. Pass `--approval-mode` on every run. The settings default is `auto`, and one docs page says headless runs default to asking, so don't rely on either
2. Add `--max-session-turns`, `--max-wall-time` and `--max-tool-calls`. All three are unlimited by default. Exit 53 is the turn limit and 55 a budget
3. `--yolo` doesn't turn on a sandbox. Add `--sandbox`, or on Linux set `tools.executionSandbox` with `network` set to `closed`
4. Set `QWEN_USAGE_STATISTICS_ENABLED=false` to stop usage statistics
5. Authenticate with `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_BASE_URL` and `OPENAI_MODEL` in CI. The browser sign-in is discontinued

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, goose or Qwen Code?

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on schema & documentation.

### Are goose and Qwen Code open source?

Yes. goose is open source (Apache-2.0). Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

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