# Orca vs Paperclip

> Orca scores 57.4 (C) to Paperclip's 52.6 (D) for multi-agent orchestration. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-paperclip
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-paperclip.md (~5,000 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

Orca scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 52.6 (D), and leads in 0 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do multi-agent orchestration.

- Orca: grade C, 57.4/100, rank #791 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orca.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orca.json
- Paperclip: grade D, 52.6/100, rank #976 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paperclip.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

### Orca (C)

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

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- No incidents deducted, where Paperclip loses 15 points for them

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

### Paperclip (D)

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

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 65
- Security & auth, 64 against 43
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 66 against 54

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


## Why the edge

### Security & auth: Paperclip +21

- 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.
- Paperclip (64): Harness reading of the framework checklist, as used for the other 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. Anonymous usage telemetry is on by default and goes to telemetry.paperclip.ing. The README lists what is excluded and four opt-outs, and Sentry and OpenTelemetry stay off until configured. We found no first-run notice in the CLI source (18). Board approvals for hires and strategy, execution policies and per-action connection permissions, but `claude_local` defaults `dangerouslySkipPermissions` to true, `codex_local` defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, local agents run on the host, sandbox providers are optional plugins and the default `local_trusted` mode has no login (10). A documented `low_trust_review` preset contains agents that read untrusted pull requests or tickets. It is opt-in (10). An activity log of mutating actions, run logs, cost events and audited board API keys (14). SECURITY.md with GitHub private reporting and twelve advisories published per the 8 October check, three now with CVEs in OSV. No security.txt, bug bounty or SOC 2 report found (12).

### Payments & pricing: Paperclip +20

- 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.
- Paperclip (60): No payment protocol (0). Read with the self-hosted rule. The software is free under MIT with nothing to buy (20). No card and no Paperclip account (20). One `npx` command installs and starts it with no signup (20). Paperclip Cloud is a waitlist with no published price, so there is no paid option to score.

### Schema & documentation: Paperclip +16

- Orca (65): Harness reading. A docs site with CLI orchestration and native chat pages (65).
- Paperclip (81): The running server publishes OpenAPI at `/api/openapi.json` and validates requests with Zod, and the MCP server's tools take Zod schemas. No copy of the spec is published on the docs site, and paperclip.ing/openapi.json describes only the website (22). llms.txt at paperclip.ing, and docs pages answer as Markdown at `.md` (10). An API reference page per resource and task guides, but the MCP tool descriptions are one line each, such as List agents in a company (13). Typed inputs throughout, apart from the `paperclipApiRequest` tool, which takes any path under `/api` and a JSON body (12). cURL, JavaScript and Python examples and a status-code table, with one `{error}` shape and an occasional `details` field (12). A changelog page for every stable release and release notes in the repository, but the API path carries no version (12).

### Transparency & trust: Paperclip +12

- 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.
- Paperclip (66): MIT (30). The privacy policy of 23 July 2026 separates self-hosted use from the hosted services and names Paperclip Labs, Inc., but keeps data as long as reasonably necessary, lists no subprocessors, and the 90-day telemetry retention appears only in source. The terms grant a broad licence over content sent to the services and allow model training on opt-in detailed telemetry (16). Release notes carry dated Breaking Changes sections and upgrade guides, with no written deprecation policy or notice period (10). The README discloses telemetry, what it excludes and four opt-outs, and the event contract is public in the repository, but it is on by default (17).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Orca | Paperclip | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 58 | 59 | Paperclip +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 81 | Paperclip +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 70 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 64 | Paperclip +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Paperclip +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 78 | Paperclip +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 66 | Paperclip +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -15 | |
| **Total** | | **57.4 · C** | **52.6 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Orca | Paperclip |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Lovecast Inc. | Paperclip Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2026-10-23 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-07-23 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-07-23 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | none | 99k stars, 60k npm/wk |

## How the scores have moved

### Orca

No score change since it was listed.

### Paperclip

- -6.4 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): correction
- no change on 27 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**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.

**Paperclip.** Board approvals, budgets with a hard stop and an activity log sit above whichever harnesses do the work, with ten stable versions in 90 days. The Claude Code and Codex adapters skip permission prompts and the sandbox by default, twelve security advisories have appeared since April 2026, and a 24 October cross-company read fix is in no stable release.

## Before you call either

### 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

### 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, Orca or Paperclip?

Orca scores 57.4 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 52.6 (D), and leads in 0 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Are Orca and Paperclip open source?

Yes. Orca is open source (MIT). Paperclip is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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