# Kimi Code CLI vs Qwen Code

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) to Kimi Code CLI's 62.1 (B) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.
- Updated: 2026-10-18

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Kimi Code CLI's 62.1 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Kimi Code CLI: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #492 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kimi-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kimi-code-cli.json
- Qwen Code: grade BB, 72.4/100, rank #107 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Kimi Code CLI (B)

Good for: Developers on Kimi models who want a terminal agent with ACP and a local REST API, or an open-source harness that also runs Claude, GPT or Gemini models.

Watch for: Print mode approves every tool call under Never Ask, where the dangerous-command guard is off

### Qwen Code (BB)

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:
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 85
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 71
- Security & auth, 53 against 45
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 72

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No incidents deducted, where Kimi Code CLI loses 4 points for them

Watch for: The default approval mode is Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, and sandboxing and folder trust are both off by default


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kimi Code CLI | Qwen Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 69 | Qwen Code +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 91 | Qwen Code +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 85 | Qwen Code +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 53 | Qwen Code +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 88 | Qwen Code +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 63 | Qwen Code +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.1 · B** | **72.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kimi Code CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Moonshot AI | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 37k npm/wk | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 2.8/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Kimi Code CLI.** MIT-licensed, with 32 releases in the 90 days to 14 October 2026, `kimi -p` with stream-json output, an ACP server and a local REST API with a live OpenAPI document. Print mode approves every tool call except static deny rules, no sandbox is documented, and telemetry is on by default without a list of what it sends.

**Qwen Code.** Apache-2.0 with no account of its own, any OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini-compatible endpoint, and headless runs bounded by turn, tool-call and wall-time budgets with distinct exit codes. Out of the box, Auto mode lets an LLM classifier approve tool calls, with the sandbox and folder trust both off. Usage statistics are on by default.

## Before you call either

### Kimi Code CLI

1. `kimi -p` approves every tool call. Add `[[permission.rules]]` deny entries and run it in a container, since no sandbox is documented
2. Set `KIMI_LOOP_MAX_STEPS_PER_TURN` for unattended runs. Steps per turn are unlimited by default
3. Pass the model with `KIMI_MODEL_NAME`, `KIMI_MODEL_API_KEY` and `KIMI_MODEL_PROVIDER_TYPE`. `OPENAI_API_KEY` or `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` in the shell is ignored otherwise
4. Set `KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1` and use 0.41.0 or later, since earlier print-mode runs ignored it
5. Install `@moonshot-ai/kimi-code` or the `kimi-code` formula. The `kimi-cli` and `kimi-code` packages on PyPI are the archived Python CLI

### Qwen Code

1. Pass `--approval-mode` on every run. The settings default is `auto`, and one docs page says headless runs default to asking, so don't rely on either
2. Add `--max-session-turns`, `--max-wall-time` and `--max-tool-calls`. All three are unlimited by default. Exit 53 is the turn limit and 55 a budget
3. `--yolo` doesn't turn on a sandbox. Add `--sandbox`, or on Linux set `tools.executionSandbox` with `network` set to `closed`
4. Set `QWEN_USAGE_STATISTICS_ENABLED=false` to stop usage statistics
5. Authenticate with `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_BASE_URL` and `OPENAI_MODEL` in CI. The browser sign-in is discontinued

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kimi Code CLI or Qwen Code?

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Kimi Code CLI's 62.1 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Kimi Code CLI and Qwen Code open source?

Yes. Kimi Code CLI is open source (MIT). Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

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