# Kilo Code CLI vs Prime Agent

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-prime-agent
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-prime-agent.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-prime-agent.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-prime-agent.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
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harness.

- Kilo Code CLI: grade BB, 75.4/100, rank #47 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json
- Prime Agent: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #463 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json

## Which one, for what

### Kilo Code CLI (BB)

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 65
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 42
- Security & auth, 66 against 50
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 79
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, and the privacy policy and PRIVACY.md don't mention it

### Prime Agent (C)

Good for: Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kilo Code CLI | Prime Agent | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 65 | Kilo Code CLI +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 42 | Kilo Code CLI +48 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 73 | Prime Agent +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 50 | Kilo Code CLI +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 60 | Prime Agent +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 79 | Kilo Code CLI +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 64 | Kilo Code CLI +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.4 · BB** | **60.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kilo Code CLI | Prime Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Kilo Code Inc. | Prime Intellect |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-29 | no date given |
| 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 | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk | 22k stars |

## 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.

**Prime Agent.** Budgets for turns, tokens and time bound an autonomous run, and sessions survive a closed terminal through a supervising daemon. Model-written Python and shell commands run with the user's rights, with no approval step and no sandbox, and the Rust build on the main branch ships only as nightly betas.

## Before you call either

### Kilo Code CLI

1. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true in the global `kilo.jsonc` before `kilo run --auto`. `--auto` approves every permission request not explicitly denied
2. Set `experimental.openTelemetry` to false, or `KILO_TELEMETRY_LEVEL` to a value other than `all`, to stop telemetry
3. Add needed hosts to `sandbox.allowed_hosts` in global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on
4. Without `--auto` a non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1
5. Put provider keys in global config or the environment. `{env:VAR}` in a project `kilo.json` is ignored

### Prime Agent

1. Run it in a disposable clone, container or VM. It executes model-written Python and shell commands with the user's rights and asks nothing first
2. Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine
3. For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded
4. Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive
5. The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kilo Code CLI or Prime Agent?

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on payments & pricing.

### Are Kilo Code CLI and Prime Agent open source?

Yes. Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT). Prime Agent is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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