# OpenAI Agents API vs Orca

> OpenAI Agents scores 73.3 (BB) to Orca's 57.4 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-orca
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-orca.md (~5,400 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: 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)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

OpenAI Agents API scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- OpenAI Agents API: grade BB, 73.3/100, rank #111 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-agents-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-api.json
- Orca: grade C, 57.4/100, rank #795 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orca.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orca.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### OpenAI Agents API (BB)

Good for: Teams that want OpenAI to run the agent loop, with sandboxes, MCP tools and subagents, and are fine with a beta API, US-only data residency and no Zero Data Retention.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 70
- Security & auth, 87 against 43
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 85 against 54

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Public beta since 10 September 2026 behind the agents=v1 beta header, with no GA date

### Orca (C)

Good for: Developers who want an orchestrator agent to split work across parallel coding agents, on desktop or mobile.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: Anonymous usage data collected by default, with an opt-out


## Why the edge

### Security & auth: OpenAI Agents API +44

- OpenAI Agents API (87): Project keys with restricted per-endpoint permissions, service accounts and workload identity, per the openai-api listing; we didn't confirm a key can be limited to /v1/agents (27 of 30). Automatic review for approvals, a sandbox network restricted to a host allowlist, vaults for secrets and a sandbox security guide (17 of 20). The agent reads web pages, MCP results and browser content; the sandbox security guide and approval flow are the mitigations, with no prompt-injection guide of its own found (8 of 15). Tracing, observability and usage per session and admin audit logs (15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 family, Bugcrowd bounty and a disclosure policy, per the openai-api listing (20). Not ZDR-eligible and US residency only, recorded under transparency. 27 + 17 + 8 + 15 + 20 = 87.
- Orca (43): Harness reading. Anonymous usage data with an opt-out, per the README's link to its telemetry docs (15 of 30). Worktrees per agent and a sandboxed Linux build (12 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). A dependency-security workflow (6 of 20). 15 + 12 + 5 + 5 + 6 = 43.

### Transparency & trust: OpenAI Agents API +31

- OpenAI Agents API (85): Closed service with clear terms, Apache-2.0 SDKs (15). Session state retained until deleted, deletable sessions and artifacts, not ZDR-eligible, US residency only, and the data-controls guide agrees; no retention period for artifacts after a sandbox expires (25 of 30). Dated deprecation notices with minimum periods for GA models; a beta API can change faster (15 of 20). Subprocessors and processing countries listed, per the openai-api listing (20). 15 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 75.
- Orca (54): MIT (30). Privacy and telemetry docs on the site (not read) (18 of 30). No deprecation policy (5). Disclosed with an opt-out (15 of 20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 15 = 68.

### Schema & documentation: OpenAI Agents API +23

- OpenAI Agents API (88): The reference is linked from the overview and the SDKs carry beta.agents types; we didn't confirm /agents/sessions in OpenAI's public OpenAPI file, so 15 of 25. llms.txt with every Agents API page and Markdown twins (10). The overview, architecture page and the agents guide that compares the Agents API, Agents SDK and Responses API say when to use it (20). Typed configuration with enumerated container sizes, network modes and environment types (13 of 15). Examples in six languages and an errors page with codes per HTTP status, turn and session (15). Dated changelog entries and a versioned beta header (15). 15 + 10 + 20 + 13 + 15 + 15 = 88.
- Orca (65): Harness reading. A docs site with CLI orchestration and native chat pages (65).

### Maintenance & community: OpenAI Agents API +12

- OpenAI Agents API (87): Closed API. Last dated change 16 October 2026, Ultrafast mode and document skills (30). Four dated changelog entries in the 57 days since release, 10 September, 29 September, 9 October and 16 October (20). Changelog and help centre, as the openai-api listing reads them (12 of 15). Official SDKs carry beta.agents (15). SDK CI, per the openai-api listing (10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 10 = 87.
- Orca (75): Tags to v1.4.251 and commits on 6 November 2026 (30). Many releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). Extensive CI (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

### Agent ergonomics: OpenAI Agents API +10

- OpenAI Agents API (80): Read as an API an agent drives. Context is compacted automatically, and session budgets and streamed events keep output sized (20 of 25). Sessions can be listed, continued and steered, events streamed or sent by webhook, artifacts fetched (15 of 20). Actionable error codes with recovery steps (20). No idempotency key; a documented check-then-retry procedure (10 of 20). One session call with defaults (medium sandbox, network enabled), SDKs in five languages (15). 20 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 15 = 80.
- Orca (70): Harness reading. An orchestrator agent that splits work across workers in their own workspaces, chat or raw CLI, a browser and a CLI in one app (70).

### Payments & pricing: Orca +10

- OpenAI Agents API (30): No machine payment protocol (0). Model, tool and container prices published without a login, and no fee for the API itself (20). The Free tier reading of the openai-api listing, half (10). Sign-up in a browser (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.
- Orca (40): Scored on the cloud option. No protocol (0). The cloud price wasn't found on the pages read (0). The desktop app is free and MIT with no card (20). The local app needs no sign-up that we found (20). 0 + 0 + 20 + 20 = 40.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenAI Agents API | Orca | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 58 | OpenAI Agents API +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 65 | OpenAI Agents API +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 70 | OpenAI Agents API +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 87 | 43 | OpenAI Agents API +44 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Orca +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 75 | OpenAI Agents API +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 54 | OpenAI Agents API +31 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.3 · BB** | **57.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenAI Agents API | Orca |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Agent harness |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Lovecast Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.openai.com/v1/agents/sessions` | no (local only) |
| Transports | https |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted API under OpenAI's Services Agreement. The SDKs are Apache 2.0 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not read yet |

## Verdicts

**OpenAI Agents API.** OpenAI's hosted agent runtime, the Codex harness behind one session call, with MCP, functions, web search, computer use, subagents and sandboxes on OpenAI or your own infrastructure. Documentation, errors and SDKs are thorough. It's still public beta, can't use Zero Data Retention and keeps data in the United States only.

**Orca.** An open-source orchestrator for coding agents with worker agents in their own worktrees, chat and terminal views, a browser and a CLI, on desktop and mobile, with heavy test automation. It collects anonymous usage data by default, and the cloud option's pricing wasn't found.

## Before you call either

### OpenAI Agents API

1. POST https://api.openai.com/v1/agents/sessions with a project key and the header OpenAI-Beta: agents=v1, or use client.beta.agents in the SDKs
2. Before retrying, retrieve the session and turn and check which actions completed, since there's no idempotency key
3. Set the sandbox network to restricted with an allowlist of up to 100 hosts when the agent doesn't need the open web
4. Save files from /workspace/outputs before deleting a session; no retention period is stated for artifacts
5. Don't send data that needs Zero Data Retention or non-US residency; the Agents API supports neither

### Orca

1. See the telemetry docs on onorca.dev to opt out of anonymous usage data
2. Use the orchestration CLI to hand a large task to one agent that starts workers

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, OpenAI Agents API or Orca?

OpenAI Agents API scores 73.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call OpenAI Agents API and Orca without installing anything?

OpenAI Agents API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openai.com/v1/agents/sessions. No hosted endpoint is listed for Orca.

### Are OpenAI Agents API and Orca open source?

No open-source release is listed for OpenAI Agents API. Orca is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp