# Orca vs Paseo

> Paseo scores 62.1 (B) 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/orca-vs-paseo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-paseo.md (~4,150 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

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on reliability. Both do agent harnesses.

- 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
- Paseo: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #577 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paseo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paseo.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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 58 against 50

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

### Paseo (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 58 against 43
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 54

Watch for: Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Paseo +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.
- Paseo (60): Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.

### Security & auth: Paseo +15

- 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.
- 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.

### Transparency & trust: Paseo +14

- 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.
- Paseo (68): Apache 2.0 for everything but third-party components (30). No telemetry and agents run on your machine (22 of 30). CHANGELOG.md, no deprecation policy (10). States no telemetry (20). 30 + 22 + 10 + 20 = 82.

### Reliability: Orca +8

- Orca (58): Local software. Desktop and mobile builds and a Homebrew cask (20). Unit, end-to-end and platform test workflows; 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). Tags to v1.4.251, no changelog file (8). Version 1.4 (15). 20 + 15 + 0 + 8 + 15 = 58.
- 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.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Orca | Paseo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 58 | 50 | Orca +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 70 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 58 | Paseo +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Paseo +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 75 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 68 | Paseo +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.4 · C** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Orca | Paseo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Lovecast Inc. | Mohamed Boudra |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2026-11-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Orca or Paseo?

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on reliability.

### Are Orca and Paseo open source?

Yes. Orca is open source (MIT). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Orca or Paseo

- [Agent Zero vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-orca.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-paseo.md)
- [Aider vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-orca.md)
- [Aider vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-paseo.md)
- [Amp vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-orca.md)
- [Amp vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paseo.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-orca.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-paseo.md)
- [AXLR vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-orca.md)
- [AXLR vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-paseo.md)
- [Claude Code vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-orca.md)
- [Claude Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [Cline vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-orca.md)
- [Cline vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paseo.md)
- [Conductor vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-orca.md)
- [Conductor vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-paseo.md)
- [Crush vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-orca.md)
- [Crush vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-paseo.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-orca.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-paseo.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-orca.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-paseo.md)
- [Devin vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-orca.md)
- [Devin vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-paseo.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Pi vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-orca.md)
- [Pi vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-paseo.md)
- [Emdash vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-orca.md)
- [Emdash vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paseo.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [goose vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-orca.md)
- [goose vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paseo.md)
- [Harness² vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-orca.md)
- [Harness² vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-paseo.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-orca.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-paseo.md)
- [Jules vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-orca.md)
- [Jules vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-paseo.md)
- [Junie CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-orca.md)
- [Junie CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Letta vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/letta-vs-orca.md)
- [Letta vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/letta-vs-paseo.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-orca.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-paseo.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-orca.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-orca.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Muse Code vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-orca.md)
- [Muse Code vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenAI Agents API vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-orca.md)
- [OpenAI Agents API vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-orca.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenCode vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-orca.md)
- [OpenCode vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenHands vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-orca.md)
- [OpenHands vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paseo.md)
- [Orca vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Orca vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Orca vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Orca vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Orca vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Orca vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Orca vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Orca vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-traycer.md)
- [Orca vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Orca vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-verdent.md)
- [Orca vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Orca vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-warp.md)
- [Paseo vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Paseo vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Paseo vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Paseo vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Paseo vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Paseo vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Paseo vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Paseo vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-traycer.md)
- [Paseo vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Paseo vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-verdent.md)
- [Paseo vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Paseo vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-warp.md)
- [Clawboo vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-orca.md)
- [Clawboo vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-paseo.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-orca.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-paseo.md)
- [Harness vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-orca.md)
- [Harness vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paseo.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Orca](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-orca.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-paseo.md)
- [Orca vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Orca vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Paperclip vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-paseo.md)
- [Parallax vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-paseo.md)

---

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