# Muse Code vs OpenHands

> OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) to Muse Code's 61.3 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openhands
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openhands.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openhands.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-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: 2026-10-12

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Muse Code's 61.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Muse Code: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #487 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/muse-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/muse-code.json
- OpenHands: grade BB, 70.8/100, rank #143 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openhands.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openhands.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 226 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Muse Code (C)

Good for: Developers who want Meta's Muse models, Muse Wonder Full included, in a terminal or CI agent with the sandbox and approvals on from the first run.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where OpenHands loses 5 points for them

Watch for: Closed source, with no public CI or issue tracker for the CLI found and release notes that carry no dates

### 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 45
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 57

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 | Muse Code | OpenHands | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 83 | OpenHands +38 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 87 | OpenHands +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 78 | Muse Code +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 66 | Muse Code +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | OpenHands +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 85 | OpenHands +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 67 | OpenHands +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **61.3 · C** | **70.8 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Muse Code | OpenHands |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Meta | All Hands AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary binary, used under the Meta Model API Terms of Service, which cover Meta's coding harness. Subscriptions are also under the Meta Subscription Terms of Service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs in the linked repository are MIT. | MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-11 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated |  | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2025-09-03 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 63k npm/wk | 90k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Muse Code.** Muse Code runs with approvals and an OS sandbox on by default, per-host network approval, an append-only event log and a headless mode with documented exit codes. It is the only route to Muse Wonder Full. It is closed source with undated release notes and no free route, and subscriptions allow training on code unless Contributor mode is turned off.

**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

### Muse Code

1. Set `META_API_KEY` for headless runs. Browser sign-in isn't available in CI or for Meta Managed Accounts
2. Gate on your own test command, not the exit code. `muse exec` returns 0 when the turn completes even if tests still fail
3. Pass `--max-model-steps` on unattended runs so a stuck task can't loop
4. Prefer `--disable-approval` to `--yolo` in CI so the sandbox stays on. On Linux the runner needs a working bubblewrap and a non-musl build
5. Turn Contributor mode off in `/settings` before a subscription session touches private code

### 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, Muse Code or OpenHands?

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Muse Code's 61.3 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Muse Code and OpenHands open source?

No open-source release is listed for Muse Code. 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/muse-code-vs-openhands.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openhands.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "muse-code", "b": "openhands"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare muse-code openhands`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/muse-code.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openhands.json

## Other comparisons with Muse Code or OpenHands

- [Agent Zero vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Agent Zero vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-openhands.md)
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