# Jules vs OpenCode

> OpenCode scores 68.5 (B) to Jules's 44.5 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- 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)
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- Updated: 2026-10-18

OpenCode scores 68.5 (B) on agent readiness against Jules's 44.5 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- Jules: grade E, 44.5/100, rank #1000 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/jules.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/jules.json
- OpenCode: grade B, 68.5/100, rank #230 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencode.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencode.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 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
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 2.8 against 2.0 out of 5
- No incidents deducted, where OpenCode loses 4 points for them

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

### OpenCode (B)

Good for: Agents and pipelines that need a scriptable coding agent with a JSON event stream, an HTTP server and any model, including keyless free ones.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 72 against 13
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 76
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 18
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 44

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Jules | OpenCode | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 13 | 72 | OpenCode +59 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 88 | OpenCode +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 79 | OpenCode +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 60 | OpenCode +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | OpenCode +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 18 | 81 | OpenCode +63 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 67 | OpenCode +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **44.5 · E** | **68.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Jules | OpenCode |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Google LLC | Anomaly |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| 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 |
| Tools exposed | 8 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-03-09 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-03-06 |
| 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 | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 1.3k npm/wk | 211k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | 2/5 (2) |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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. Install `opencode-ai` for the 1.x server API and SDK. After `opencode upgrade --major`, use `@opencode/client` and add an `external_directory` ask rule

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Jules or OpenCode?

OpenCode scores 68.5 (B) on agent readiness against Jules's 44.5 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Jules and OpenCode open source?

No open-source release is listed for Jules. OpenCode is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Jules or OpenCode

- [Agent Zero vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-jules.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-opencode.md)
- [Aider vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-jules.md)
- [Aider vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-opencode.md)
- [Amp vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-jules.md)
- [Amp vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-opencode.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-jules.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-opencode.md)
- [Claude Code vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-jules.md)
- [Claude Code vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cline vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-jules.md)
- [Cline vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.md)
- [Crush vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-jules.md)
- [Crush vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-jules.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-opencode.md)
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- [Devin vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-opencode.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-jules.md)
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- [Gemini CLI vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-jules.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-opencode.md)
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- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [goose vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-jules.md)
- [goose vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode.md)
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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp