# Junie CLI vs Qwen Code

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) to Junie CLI's 53.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- Junie CLI: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #804 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/junie.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/junie.json
- Qwen Code: grade BB, 72.4/100, rank #107 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.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

### Junie CLI (D)

Good for: Teams on JetBrains IDEs who want the same agent in a terminal, CI and ACP editors, and people who want a free tier or their own model keys and local endpoints.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 63

Watch for: One-shot, piped, ACP and Gateway runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers, hooks, agents and skills without a prompt

### 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:
- Reliability, 69 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 62
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 55
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 42
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 72

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Junie CLI loses 3 points for them

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 | Junie CLI | Qwen Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 69 | Qwen Code +24 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 91 | Qwen Code +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 85 | Qwen Code +30 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 53 | Junie CLI +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 42 | 60 | Qwen Code +18 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 88 | Qwen Code +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 63 | Junie CLI +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.2 · D** | **72.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Junie CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | JetBrains | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, JetBrains s.r.o., all rights reserved, under the JetBrains AI Terms of Service. The GitHub repository holds the README, release binaries and the issue tracker, not source | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-12 | 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 | 487 stars, 3.2k npm/wk | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | 2.8/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Junie CLI.** Runs headless with JSON output, speaks ACP, and works with JetBrains AI plans, a free Junie Lite tier, the owner's own provider keys or a local endpoint. Non-interactive runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers and hooks without asking, the sandbox is EAP-only with network open, and no exit codes are documented.

**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

### Junie CLI

1. Run headless only in repositories you trust. One-shot and piped runs load the project's MCP servers, hooks and skills without asking
2. Set `JUNIE_API_KEY` (from junie.jetbrains.com/cli) or a provider key such as `JUNIE_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` in CI. The default sign-in opens a browser
3. Add `--output-format json` or `--json-output-file` to parse results. Check the output, since exit codes aren't documented
4. Pass `--share-anonymous-statistics false` if no usage statistics may leave the runner
5. Pin a build with `--use-version` and `--skip-update-check`. The CLI updates itself on start by default

### 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, Junie CLI or Qwen Code?

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on transparency & trust.

### Are Junie CLI and Qwen Code open source?

No open-source release is listed for Junie CLI. Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

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