# Kiro CLI vs Qwen Code

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth. Both do agent harness.

- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #419 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json
- Qwen Code: grade BB, 72.4/100, rank #93 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.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.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 66 against 53

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

### 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:
- Reliability, 69 against 57
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 67
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 73

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Kiro 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 | Kiro CLI | Qwen Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 69 | Qwen Code +12 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 91 | Qwen Code +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 85 | Qwen Code +18 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 53 | Kiro CLI +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Qwen Code +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 88 | Qwen Code +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 63 | Kiro CLI +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59.9 · C** | **72.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kiro CLI | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| 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 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-14 | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 4.4k stars | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Kiro CLI or Qwen Code?

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth.

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

No open-source release is listed for Kiro CLI. Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

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