Head to head · Agent harness · October 2026 research run
Kilo Code CLI vs OpenCode
Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenCode's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenCode leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do agent harness.
Which one, for what
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 68
- Security & auth, 66 against 60
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 81
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 67
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No incidents deducted, where OpenCode loses 4 points for them
Watch for
Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, and the privacy policy and PRIVACY.md don't mention it
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
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 72
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50
Also in its favour
- No key needed to call it
Watch for
Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Kilo Code CLI | OpenCode | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 85 | 68 | Kilo Code CLI +17 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 90 | 88 | Kilo Code CLI +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 72 | 79 | OpenCode +7 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 66 | 60 | Kilo Code CLI +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 50 | 60 | OpenCode +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 87 | 81 | Kilo Code CLI +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 76 | 67 | Kilo Code CLI +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| Total | 75.4 · BB | 67.7 · B |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Kilo Code CLI | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Kilo Code Inc. | Anomaly |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | 2026-08-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-29 | 2026-03-06 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | 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 | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk | 211k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (2) |
Verdicts
Kilo Code CLI
Shell commands ask before running by default, and an optional operating-system sandbox blocks writes outside the workspace and outbound network. Telemetry to PostHog is on by default and the sandbox is off, so an unattended kilo run --auto approves everything not denied unless both are configured first.
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
Kilo Code CLI
- Set
sandbox.enabledto true in the globalkilo.jsoncbeforekilo run --auto.--autoapproves every permission request not explicitly denied - Set
experimental.openTelemetryto false, orKILO_TELEMETRY_LEVELto a value other thanall, to stop telemetry - Add needed hosts to
sandbox.allowed_hostsin global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on - Without
--autoa non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1 - Put provider keys in global config or the environment.
{env:VAR}in a projectkilo.jsonis ignored
OpenCode
- Add deny rules for
bashpatterns andexternal_directorybefore an unattended run. Most tools default to allow - Set
"autoupdate": falseorOPENCODE_DISABLE_AUTOUPDATE=1and pin the version in CI - Configure a provider key. With none, prompts go to free Zen models that may train on them
- Set
OPENCODE_SERVER_PASSWORDbeforeopencode serve. Without it the server runs unauthenticated - Use
opencode run --format jsonand read the event stream rather than the formatted output
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Kilo Code CLI or OpenCode?
Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenCode's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenCode leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.
Are Kilo Code CLI and OpenCode open source?
Yes. Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT). OpenCode is open source (MIT).
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- OpenCode vs OpenHands
- OpenCode vs Prime Agent
- OpenCode vs Qwen Code
- Kilo Code CLI vs Paperclip
- OpenCode vs Paperclip
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-opencode.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json·/api/v1/tools/opencode.json - From a terminal
anchor compare kilo-code-cli opencode(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "kilo-code-cli", "b": "opencode"}at/mcp, no key