# Kiro CLI vs OpenHands

> OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.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: 2026-10-08

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness.

- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #370 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json
- OpenHands: grade BB, 70.8/100, rank #120 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openhands.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openhands.json

## Which one, for what

### Kiro CLI (C)

Good for: Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out

### OpenHands (BB)

Good for: Teams that want to self-host a coding agent with a web UI, per-conversation Docker sandboxes and scheduled or webhook automations, or embed the agent through a Python SDK and REST API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 57
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 67
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 73

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

Watch for: Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kiro CLI | OpenHands | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 83 | OpenHands +26 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 87 | OpenHands +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 78 | OpenHands +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 66 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | OpenHands +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 85 | OpenHands +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 67 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **59.9 · C** | **70.8 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kiro CLI | OpenHands |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | All Hands AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source | MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-14 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | 2025-09-03 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| 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 | yes |  |
| Popularity | 4.4k stars | 90k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Kiro CLI.** Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.

**OpenHands.** A Docker container per conversation with `OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker`, each with its own Agent Server. Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem.

## Before you call either

### Kiro CLI

1. Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=<list>` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments
2. Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues
3. Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows
4. Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default
5. Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools

### OpenHands

1. Set `AGENT_CANVAS_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1` and `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first start
2. Start Canvas with `OH_CONVERSATION_RUNTIME=docker` or use the Docker image. The npm install runs the agent on the host
3. Turn on confirmation mode with a risk threshold. Canvas starts with it off
4. Use the SDK or the Agent Server API for headless runs. The `openhands --headless` CLI is no longer maintained
5. Set `filter_tools_regex` on the agent to keep unneeded MCP tool definitions out of the context

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kiro CLI or OpenHands?

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Kiro CLI and OpenHands open source?

No open-source release is listed for Kiro CLI. OpenHands is open source (MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service).


## For agents

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

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