# Jules vs MiniMax Code

> MiniMax Code scores 67.5 (B) to Jules's 44.5 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-minimax-code
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-minimax-code.md (~3,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-minimax-code.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-minimax-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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-19

MiniMax Code scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Jules's 44.5 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Jules: grade E, 44.5/100, rank #1014 of 1175. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/jules.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/jules.json
- MiniMax Code: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #277 of 1175. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-code.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 752 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Jules (E)

Good for: A person or pipeline that wants to hand scoped GitHub tasks to a cloud agent and collect a pull request or a patch, or run a repoless job in a disposable VM.

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: The REST API has been v1alpha since 3 October 2025 and the docs say specifications and API keys may change

### MiniMax Code (B)

Good for: Scripted coding runs on MiniMax's models or any compatible model, driven by JSON output and exit codes.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 63 against 13
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 76
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 18
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 44

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- Open source
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.8 out of 5

Watch for: Pre-1.0 and labelled a source preview, with npm at 0.6.12 and the public source at 0.6.5


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Jules | MiniMax Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 13 | 63 | MiniMax Code +50 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 81 | MiniMax Code +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 75 | MiniMax Code +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 57 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | MiniMax Code +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 18 | 77 | MiniMax Code +59 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 61 | MiniMax Code +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **44.5 · E** | **67.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Jules | MiniMax Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Google LLC | MiniMax |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Google Terms of Service. The TypeScript SDK is Apache-2.0; the CLI binary is closed | MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published |
| Tools exposed | 8 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-03-09 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-30 | 2026-01-19 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-01-19 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 1.3k npm/wk | 2k stars, 6.8k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | 3.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Jules.** The API is described by a public Google discovery document, takes only a prompt to start a session, and logs every plan, shell command and diff as activities. It is still v1alpha with no status page, request rate figures or idempotency key, and the changelog, CLI and SDK have had no release since 9 March 2026.

**MiniMax Code.** An MIT-licensed terminal coding agent with a headless mode that returns versioned JSON, documented exit codes and an ACP server, and telemetry off by default. It's pre-1.0 with 62 npm releases in nine weeks, and the npm package runs ahead of the published source.

## Before you call either

### Jules

1. Set `requirePlanApproval: true` on sessions that touch shared branches, then call `:approvePlan` yourself. API sessions otherwise run their plan without review
2. Session creation has no request ID. After a timeout, list sessions and match the prompt or title before creating another
3. Poll activities with a `create_time` filter and cache them. Activities never change once written
4. Read the request fields from the discovery document at https://jules.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1alpha. The field tables on jules.google render empty
5. Budget against the daily task quota of 15, 100 or 300 by plan. New sessions are refused until the rolling 24 hours reset

### MiniMax Code

1. Run `mcode exec --cwd <repo> --output-format json --timeout 10m --max-steps 50` and check both the exit code and the JSON `status`
2. Keep `--permission full` and `off` for a container or throwaway workspace. The default `smart` fails when it would need a person
3. Set `MCODE_PROVIDER_API_KEY` and add a provider for BYOK. M Plan models need a browser sign-in with `mcode login --region global`
4. Set `MINIMAX_DATA_DIR` per CI runner. Keys and sessions live in `~/.minimax` by default
5. Pin a version. npm published 62 releases in nine weeks and the public source trails it

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Jules or MiniMax Code?

MiniMax Code scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Jules's 44.5 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Jules and MiniMax Code open source?

No open-source release is listed for Jules. MiniMax Code is open source (MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Jules or MiniMax Code

- [Agent Zero vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-jules.md)
- [Agent Zero vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Aider vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-jules.md)
- [Aider vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Amp vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-jules.md)
- [Amp vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-jules.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Claude Code vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-jules.md)
- [Claude Code vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Cline vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-jules.md)
- [Cline vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Crush vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-jules.md)
- [Crush vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-jules.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Devin vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-jules.md)
- [Devin vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Droid CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Pi vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-jules.md)
- [Pi vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [goose vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-jules.md)
- [goose vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Harness² vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-jules.md)
- [Harness² vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-jules.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Jules vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-junie.md)
- [Jules vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Jules vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Jules vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Jules vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Jules vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-opencode.md)
- [Jules vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-openhands.md)
- [Jules vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Jules vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Jules vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Jules vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-warp.md)
- [Junie CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-muse-code.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-opencode.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-openhands.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-warp.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-jules.md)
- [CLI Manager vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Harness vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-jules.md)
- [Harness vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Jules vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Jules vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-paperclip.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-parallax-agents.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp