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Head to head · Agent multi agent · October 2026 research run

OpenHands vs Paperclip

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent multi agent.

OpenHandsAll Hands AI · Agent harness BB70.8/100#108 of 578 PaperclipPaperclip Labs, Inc. · Agent harness C59/100#354 of 578

Which one, for what

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 66
  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 81
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 70
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 78

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for

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

Paperclip C

Good for Someone running several coding or operations agents who wants one place for tasks, budgets, approvals and history across harnesses.

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

claude_local defaults dangerouslySkipPermissions to true and codex_local defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, with agents running on the host

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runOpenHandsPaperclipEdge
Reliability16%208366OpenHands +17
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28781OpenHands +6
Agent ergonomics13%16.27870OpenHands +8
Security & auth14%17.56664OpenHands +2
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88578OpenHands +7
Transparency & trust7%8.86765OpenHands +2
Negative events≤15-5-10
Total70.8 · BB59 · C

Facts side by side

FactOpenHandsPaperclip
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAll Hands AIPaperclip Labs, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceMIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted serviceMIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-302026-10-05
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-07-23
Privacy policy last updated2025-09-032026-07-23
Customer content may train modelsyesyes, with an opt-out
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity90k stars99k stars, 60k npm/wk
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

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.

Paperclip

Board approvals, budgets with a hard stop and an activity log sit above whichever harnesses do the work, and eleven stable versions shipped in 90 days. The Claude Code and Codex adapters skip permission prompts and the sandbox by default, and twelve security advisories, five of them critical, have been published since April 2026.

Before you call either

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

Paperclip

  1. Set PAPERCLIP_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1 before the first start. Telemetry is on by default
  2. Set dangerouslySkipPermissions and dangerouslyBypassApprovalsAndSandbox to false on agents that read untrusted input, or run them in a sandbox provider
  3. Install with Node.js 24.11 or newer, and install and sign in to each harness CLI on the host first. Paperclip assumes they are there
  4. Use --bind lan or --bind tailnet at onboarding for anything beyond one machine. The default local_trusted mode treats every request as the board admin
  5. Treat 409 on task checkout as owned by another agent and pick different work. The API docs say not to retry

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, OpenHands or Paperclip?

OpenHands scores 70.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Are OpenHands and Paperclip open source?

Yes. OpenHands is open source (MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service). Paperclip is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with OpenHands or Paperclip

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