Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

OpenHands vs Paseo

OpenHands scores 70.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

OpenHands BB

Best 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, 90 against 50
  • Schema & documentation, 90 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 70
  • Security & auth, 64 against 58
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 75

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

Paseo B

Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • No incidents deducted, where OpenHands loses 7 points for them

Watch for

Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability OpenHands +40

OpenHands 90

Read as a local package. Official npm package @openhands/agent-canvas (Node 24 or later, plus uv), a Docker image on GHCR and openhands-sdk on PyPI (Python 3.12 or later) (20). A CI workflow (ci.yml) runs on main beside desktop, Docker and end-to-end workflows; the runs passed on every load on 1 October, and GitHub's pages refused us on 1 November, so the award rests on that check (25). 456 open issues and 395 open pull requests with priority labels and a high-priority Cloud resume bug (#17664), per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November (18). Dated release notes for every Canvas version and a written SDK rule of at least five minor releases before a public API or REST contract is removed, which the SDK followed on 28 October when it dropped the ACP curated model lists at their stated 1.59.0 deadline, but the Canvas CHANGELOG.md still stops at 1.0.0-alpha.2 (12). Canvas is 1.34.0 and the SDK 1.59.0, and the README's beta badge was removed on 23 October 2026 (commit 4d1c4d1, noted in the 1.33.0 release notes), so the product is no longer labelled beta. Only the Apps extension API keeps a beta label (15).

Paseo 50

Local software. Desktop builds, an Android APK, a Docker image and a Nix package (20). ci.yml on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). CHANGELOG.md (15). Version 0.15.3 (0). 20 + 15 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 50.

Schema & documentation OpenHands +25

OpenHands 90

The Agent Server REST API has an OpenAPI 3.1 spec in the docs repository (40 paths, still labelled 0.1.0), the Cloud API has another (155 paths), SDK models are Pydantic-typed and there's a TypeScript client (25). llms.txt at docs.openhands.dev (551 lines on 1 November), with no CLI, local GUI or V0 pages in it (10). The docs have a when-to-use page and examples of good and bad task instructions. On 23 October the Deprecated Projects group (local GUI, CLI, V0) was taken out of the navigation and links to it reworded towards Agent Canvas, though the pages stay reachable by URL and the SDK architecture page still links the CLI repository (15). Confirmation policies, security analysers and MCP configs are discriminated Pydantic unions with validators (13). SDK examples are checked by a CI workflow and there are troubleshooting pages, but we found no error reference for the Agent Server (12). Dated release notes for each Canvas version in the docs (1.25.0 to 1.34.0 added since 1 October), and release tags (15).

Paseo 65

Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).

Maintenance & community OpenHands +10

OpenHands 85

Agent Canvas 1.34.0 on 2026-10-27 and SDK 1.59.0 on 2026-10-28, by the repository tags (30). 29 Canvas releases (1.9.0 on 3 August to 1.34.0) and 33 SDK releases (1.40.1 on 5 August to 1.59.0) in the 90 days from 3 August, not counting the security rebuild tags (20). Issues labelled by priority, but 456 open issues and 395 open pull requests and no visible reply times per the 1 October check; GitHub's pages refused us on 1 November (16). npm, PyPI and GHCR packages current per the 1 October check (the registries didn't answer from our shell on 1 November). The unmaintained openhands CLI is gone from the docs navigation and the pricing page but its pages remain (10). CI on main, Dependabot, a security scan and an API-breakage check on the SDK, and security rebuilds of older images (agent-canvas 1.23.0-r3, agent-server 1.49.5-r3, 29 October) (9).

Paseo 75

v0.15.3 and commits on 7 November 2026 (30). More than three 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). CI on push (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

Agent ergonomics OpenHands +8

OpenHands 78

Harness reading of the framework line, scored on what an agent or pipeline driving it has to supply. The default agent carries three tools (terminal, file editor, task tracker), and filter_tools_regex trims MCP tools before they reach the model (23). Stuck detection is on by default and a condenser compacts long histories, but Canvas leaves max_iterations unset and we found no cost cap (15). Headless runs go through the SDK, the Agent Server REST API or the Cloud API with typed events, and the old CLI's --headless mode is unmaintained (14). Conversations persist and resume, and a Docker conversation keeps its workspace and history when the container is replaced (16). Python SDK and TypeScript client, but the quickstart needs Node 24 and uv, and the defaults skip both confirmation and the sandbox (10).

Paseo 70

Harness reading. A self-hosted daemon that agents can use to create worktrees, launch other agents and talk to them, scriptable from the CLI (70).

Security & auth OpenHands +6

OpenHands 64

Harness reading of the framework checklist, as for goose and the other agent harnesses. 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. Agent Canvas still sends a canvas_install event to PostHog through z.openhands.dev on first use "regardless of consent" (telemetry.ts header, re-read on 1 November), and the consent banner's box is still defaultChecked. AGENT_CANVAS_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1, --disable-telemetry, VITE_DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or the browser's Do Not Track setting stops all of it, the last since 1.26.0 (15). Confirmation policies (always, never, at or above a risk level) and a Docker sandbox per conversation exist, but Canvas still starts with confirmation_mode: false and the npm install runs on the host with full filesystem access. No network egress controls found. Local listeners bind to 127.0.0.1 with an injected session key, and since SDK 1.52.0 (5 October) DockerWorkspace publishes its ports on loopback (12). LLM, Invariant and GraySwan risk analysers and a policy-rail module, documented, all advisory (11). Conversation event logs, completion logs and OpenTelemetry tracing through Laminar, with hosted Laminar setup documented on 16 October (13). Security programme. openhands.dev's security.txt expired on 28 October 2026 (re-read on 1 November), though the responsible-disclosure policy it names still loads. A Vanta-hosted trust page per the 1 October check, and the git diff injection published as an OpenHands advisory with a CVE. CVE-2026-112346, the SDK's unauthenticated sandbox server, was published by VulnCheck on 26 October with no OpenHands advisory found. No bug bounty found. 13, down from 15 for the expired file, read as shopware's and tokeneconomizer's expired files are (still credited for the policy behind them, less than a valid file).

Paseo 58

Harness reading. The README says no telemetry, tracking or forced log-ins (30 of 30). Worktree per agent, on your own machine (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). SECURITY.md (8). 30 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 8 = 58.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runOpenHandsPaseoEdge
Reliability16%209050OpenHands +40
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29065OpenHands +25
Agent ergonomics13%16.27870OpenHands +8
Security & auth14%17.56458OpenHands +6
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88575OpenHands +10
Transparency & trust7%8.86768Paseo +1
Negative events≤15-70
TotalBB 70.3/100B 62.1/100

Facts side by side

FactOpenHandsPaseo
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAll Hands AIMohamed Boudra
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceMIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted serviceApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-282026-11-07
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updated2025-09-03no document linked
Customer content may train modelsyesnot read yet
Popularity90k starsnone
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

OpenHands

A self-hosted coding agent with a typed SDK, an Agent Server API and a Docker container per conversation on request. Agent Canvas still starts with confirmation off on the host's filesystem, sends an install event before asking consent, and a critical SDK sandbox flaw fixed in October was published by a third party.

Paseo

A self-hosted, open-source workspace for running many coding agents on your own machines, scriptable from the CLI and reachable from phone, web or desktop, with no telemetry or forced log-in. It's pre-1.0 and run largely by one maintainer.

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. Pin openhands-sdk and openhands-workspace at 1.52.0 or later so DockerWorkspace binds to loopback, and set OH_SESSION_API_KEYS_0 on any reachable Agent Server
  5. Use the SDK or the Agent Server API for headless runs. The openhands --headless CLI is no longer maintained

Paseo

  1. Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
  2. Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, OpenHands or Paseo?

OpenHands scores 70.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Are OpenHands and Paseo open source?

Yes. OpenHands is open source (MIT (Agent Canvas, SDK, tools and Agent Server). OpenHands Cloud is a hosted service). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with OpenHands or Paseo

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