# Orca vs Qoder CLI (slim)

> Qoder CLI scores 59.5 (C) to Orca's 57.4 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-qoder-cli.md (~6,250 tokens) · this version ~2,780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-qoder-cli.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-qoder-cli
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Qoder CLI scores 59.5 (C) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Orca: C 57.4, rank #791 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orca.min.md
- Qoder CLI: C 59.5, rank #695 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qoder-cli.min.md
- Orca, good for Developers who want an orchestrator agent to split work across parallel coding agents, on desktop or mobile. Ahead on Reliability, 58 against 51; Payments & pricing, 40 against 35. Also No key needed to call it; Open source; No incidents deducted, where Qoder CLI loses 3 points for them.
- Qoder CLI, good for Developers already on Qoder who want the same agent in a terminal, in CI through a PAT, in Zed through ACP, or embedded through the Agent SDK. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 81 against 65; Agent ergonomics, 80 against 70; Security & auth, 58 against 43; Transparency & trust, 61 against 54.

| Category | Orca | Qoder CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 58 | 51 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 65 | 81 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 70 | 80 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 58 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 35 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 75 | 72 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 54 | 61 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Orca | Qoder CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Lovecast Inc. | Qoder (BRIGHT ZENITH PRIVATE LIMITED) |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary, under the Qoder Terms of Service (BRIGHT ZENITH PRIVATE LIMITED, last updated 29 April 2026). No source is published, and the Agent SDK's LICENSE file points to the same terms |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 5k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Qoder CLI +16: Orca 65 (Harness reading. A docs site with CLI orchestration and native chat pages (65).); Qoder CLI 81 (Framework reading. A CLI reference with types and defaults for every flag, a settings reference with types and defaults, TypeScript declaration files and a Python reference for the SDK, and Result and error-code tables. No schema for the stream-json events was found (16). docs.qoder.com/llms.txt indexes every page with a Markdown twin, and robots.txt allows both (10). The permissions page states what each mode does and is best for, what headless runs do with ask, and which actions skip the auto classifier (17). Permission modes and output formats are enums and rules have a fixed syntax (12). CI examples, an SDK error page with exit codes 0, 1, 41, 42, 44, 52, 53, 54 and 130, Result subtypes and a troubleshooting index. Code 44 names a sandbox the docs don't describe (14). Dated release notes for the CLI and the SDK, though the SDK notes stop at 1.0.41 on 15 September while npm has 1.0.53, and the CLI reference still names the removed `lite` model (12). 16+10+17+12+14+12 = 81. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)
- Security & auth, Qoder CLI +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.); Qoder CLI 58 (Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. Browser sign-in with background refresh, or a PAT created with chosen permissions and an expiry and revocable, plus scoped service accounts for organisations. Usage statistics and AI code statistics are on by default with documented opt-outs, and the privacy policy lets users turn off Share & Improve depending on the plan, without saying which plans or the default (18). Five permission modes, deny over ask over allow across seven rule layers, ask turned into deny in headless runs, a `dont_ask` mode, trusted directories, protected paths and an administrator switch that disables YOLO. No local sandbox is documented, and `auto` mode lets an AI classifier decide and approves read-only tools on any path (14). Workspace files can't add auto-mode rules, protected paths stop the agent changing shell startup files or .mcp.json without approval, and network paths always ask on Windows. A project's .qoder/settings.json is still one of the rule layers, and nothing contains a command once approved (9). The enterprise audit log records administrative and configuration events for administrators and says it leaves out prompts, terminal commands, MCP call parameters and CLI execution, and individuals have local session history only (5). qoder.com/enterprise says Qoder is certified to ISO/IEC 27001 and has completed a SOC 2 Type II audit. No security.txt, disclosure policy or bug bounty was found, and fixes appear as one-line release notes without advisories. Graded 12 against the named comparables for ISO 27001 and SOC 2 claims with no disclosure route (fireworks-inference, people-data-labs, launchdarkly), where the 18 October check gave 9 (12). 18+14+9+5+12 = 58. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)
- Agent ergonomics, Qoder CLI +10: 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).); Qoder CLI 80 (Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. `--tools`, `--allowed-tools` and `--disallowed-tools` restrict built-in tools, and `--strict-mcp-config` with `--allowed-mcp-server-names` limits MCP servers. Nothing on deferred MCP tool loading was found (18). text, json and stream-json output, `--max-turns`, `--max-output-tokens` and `--no-session-persistence` (16). Distinct exit codes for authentication, input, configuration, turn-limit and tool failures, and SDK Result subtypes with error codes (16). `--continue`, `--resume`, `--session-id`, `--fork-session`, SDK checkpoints with rewind, and `--max-model-request-retries` (15). Official SDKs in TypeScript and Python, an ACP server, and headless runs that need only a PAT and a permission flag (15). 18+16+16+15+15 = 80. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)
- Reliability, Orca +7: 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.); Qoder CLI 51 (Local-package reading, the same as the other closed-source harnesses. An install script for macOS, Linux and Windows on arm64 and amd64 that checks a SHA-256 from a manifest on the same download host, and an npm package with Node.js 20 or later stated (20). No public CI or test suite, since no source is published (0). We found no public issue tracker for the CLI. The forum's bug-reports category, shared by every Qoder product, had 116 new topics in the month to 18 October, and 15 of the 29 topics on its first page had no reply. A few named the CLI (8). Versions are semver-shaped and every release is dated in the release notes, but removals such as `/goal take` in 1.1.11 shipped in patch versions without a breaking-change label (8). 1.0.0 on 20 May 2026, now 1.1.73 (15). 20+0+8+8+15 = 51. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)
- Transparency & trust, Qoder CLI +7: 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.); Qoder CLI 61 (Proprietary, with clear terms from BRIGHT ZENITH PRIVATE LIMITED under Singapore law, and the SDK's LICENSE points to the same terms (15). The privacy policy lists purposes with retention for each (mostly for as long as the account exists), names storage in the United States, Singapore and Japan and names model providers. The terms let the operator use User Content to improve the Services unless Share & Improve is turned off, and the policy says the opt-out depends on the plan. No subprocessor list or DPA was found (14). Dated notices with two weeks' warning for the Lite tier removal (4 to 18 September 2026) and for the credit factor change on 21 September, but no stated deprecation policy (8). Usage statistics and AI code statistics are disclosed as settings with an opt-out, both on by default, and the installer's telemetry isn't described (14). 15+14+8+14 = 51. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)
- Payments & pricing, Orca +5: 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.); Qoder CLI 35 (Harness reading of the published rubric, scored on the Qoder subscription the CLI needs. No payment protocol (0). Plan prices, the Credit Pack price ($20 for 1,500 credits) and per-model credit factors are public in the docs without a login. qoder.com/pricing is disallowed by robots.txt and wasn't read (20). A Free plan with basic models for a limited number of messages and a 14-day Pro trial with 300 credits. We found no statement on whether a card is needed (15). A person signs in through a browser, and a PAT is created by hand at qoder.com/account/integrations (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35. Per the 18 October check, not re-read on 4 November (Qoder's terms bar scraping its Services by automated means, so its sites are paused for this run).)