# Kilo Code CLI vs Qwen Code (slim)

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-qwen-code.md (~2,500 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-qwen-code.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-qwen-code
- 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 Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on agent ergonomics 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
- Qwen Code: BB 72.4, rank #103 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.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 69; Security & auth, 66 against 53; Transparency & trust, 76 against 63.
- Qwen Code, 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 Agent ergonomics, 85 against 72; Payments & pricing, 60 against 50.

| Category | Kilo Code CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 85 | 69 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 90 | 91 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 85 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 66 | 53 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 50 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 76 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Kilo Code CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Kilo Code Inc. | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-29 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |