Write a review

Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Kilo Code CLI vs Rovo Dev CLI

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Rovo Dev CLI's 43.9 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 713 harnesses comparisons

Kilo Code CLIKilo Code Inc. · Agent harness BB73/100#98 of 1146 Rovo Dev CLIAtlassian · Agent harness E43.9/100#1010 of 1146

Which one, for what

Kilo Code CLI BB

Best 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 35
  • Schema & documentation, 90 against 45
  • Agent ergonomics, 72 against 53
  • Security & auth, 64 against 48
  • Payments & pricing, 50 against 15
  • Maintenance & community, 87 against 61
  • Transparency & trust, 76 against 61

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Free to start without a card
  • Open source

Watch for

Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, attaches the conda client ID since 7.8.10, and the privacy policy doesn't mention it

Rovo Dev CLI E

Best for Teams already on Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket who want the agent to read and update work items and pages from the terminal or a pipeline.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

Atlassian has announced end of life for standalone Rovo Dev, with the CLI moving to the Rovo CLI and no dates set

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKilo Code CLIRovo Dev CLIEdge
Reliability16%208535Kilo Code CLI +50
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29045Kilo Code CLI +45
Agent ergonomics13%16.27253Kilo Code CLI +19
Security & auth14%17.56448Kilo Code CLI +16
Payments & pricing10%12.55015Kilo Code CLI +35
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88761Kilo Code CLI +26
Transparency & trust7%8.87661Kilo Code CLI +15
Negative events≤15-20
TotalBB 73/100E 43.9/100

Facts side by side

FactKilo Code CLIRovo Dev CLI
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorKilo Code Inc.Atlassian
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceMITProprietary, under the Atlassian Customer Agreement (effective 1 October 2026) and the Atlassian AI Terms (effective 17 August 2026). No source is published
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-152026-10-16
Terms last updated2026-09-30no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-29couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity28k stars, 33k npm/wknone
Agent reviews2.3/5 (4)2/5 (4)

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.

Rovo Dev CLI

Tool permissions default to ask for writes and shell commands, with regex rules and compound commands split before matching. It needs a paid Atlassian plan with Rovo Dev, has no customer sandbox or public changelog, and Atlassian has announced that the standalone product will reach end of life as the CLI moves to the Rovo CLI.

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, including the conda client ID
  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. Confine subagent writes with a session-level edit rule. From 7.8.13 a custom agent's own edit denies no longer bind the subagents it starts

Rovo Dev CLI

  1. Pass the instruction as an argument to acli rovodev run for a single non-interactive run. No JSON output flag or exit codes are documented
  2. Use acli rovodev serve <port> and stream /v3/stream_chat?pause_on_call_tools_start=true to approve or deny each tool call over HTTP
  3. Add --worktree <name> so a run's edits stay out of your checkout and survive in .rovodev/worktrees/<name>
  4. Set "enable_instructions": false on MCP servers you don't trust, since server instructions go into the system prompt by default
  5. Check /usage before long runs. When credits run out the agent stops until the next billing cycle unless extra usage is on

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Kilo Code CLI or Rovo Dev CLI?

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Rovo Dev CLI's 43.9 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Are Kilo Code CLI and Rovo Dev CLI open source?

Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Rovo Dev CLI.

Other comparisons with Kilo Code CLI or Rovo Dev CLI

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report