# Kilo Code CLI vs OpenAI Codex (slim)

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenAI Codex's 73 (BB), and leads in 1 of 7 scored categories. OpenAI Codex leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side…

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openai-codex.md (~2,500 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openai-codex.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openai-codex
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenAI Codex's 73 (BB), and leads in 1 of 7 scored categories. OpenAI Codex leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing. Both do agent harness.

- Kilo Code CLI: BB 75.4, rank #47 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.min.md
- OpenAI Codex: BB 73, rank #92 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.min.md
- Kilo Code CLI, good for Developers who want an open-source terminal agent with per-tool permission rules, an optional sandbox and a choice of provider, and the same engine in VS Code and JetBrains. Ahead on Reliability, 85 against 55.
- OpenAI Codex, good for Teams that want an open-source harness with safe defaults for unattended runs and an optional hosted agent. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 80 against 72; Security & auth, 82 against 66; Payments & pricing, 60 against 50.

| Category | Kilo Code CLI | OpenAI Codex |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 85 | 55 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 90 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 80 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 66 | 82 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 50 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 76 | 79 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Kilo Code CLI | OpenAI Codex |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Kilo Code Inc. | OpenAI |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-29 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk | 126k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |