Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run
Paseo vs Qwen Code
Qwen Code scores 68.7 (B) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Paseo leads on security & auth. Both do agent harnesses.
Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons
Which one, for what
Paseo B
Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.
Ahead on
- Security & auth, 58 against 53
Also in its favour
- No key needed to call it
- No incidents deducted, where Qwen Code loses 4 points for them
Watch for
Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3
Best for Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 69 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 85 against 70
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 75
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
The default approval mode is Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, and sandboxing and folder trust are both off by default
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.
Schema & documentation Qwen Code +26
Paseo 65
Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).
Qwen Code 91
Framework reading. A settings.schema.json in the repository, a settings reference with the type and default of each key, and an OpenAPI file for the daemon's REST API (25). llms.txt on the docs site lists the pages with a line each, though it links to HTML and the Markdown path we tried returned 404 (8). The approval-mode page says when to use each mode and the sandbox page what each method and Seatbelt profile allows (15). Approval modes, sandbox backends, filesystem and network policies are enums (13). The headless page documents json and stream-json output, and exit codes 41, 42, 44, 52, 53, 55 and 130 are documented (15). A dated changelog generated from releases (15).
Reliability Qwen Code +19
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.
Qwen Code 69
Local-package reading. npm with engines node 22 or newer (re-read in package.json at 0.26.5), Homebrew at 0.26.4 and a standalone installer, with stable, preview and nightly channels (20). Public CI, and of the 15 most recent completed CI runs on main on 8 October, 12 passed, 3 were cancelled and none failed, per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November (22). 1,402 open issues and 334 open pull requests per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November; the triage and follow-up bots still run in the workflows (15). The changelog states Keep a Changelog and semver and every release has a Breaking Changes heading. Breaking changes shipped in patch releases 0.23.4 and 0.24.1, and again in 0.26.1 (24 October, QQ bot session isolation) and 0.26.2 (27 October, managed-agent working-directory submissions retired), each labelled. All are 0.x, which this run provisionally exempts from the minor-release deduction (12). 0.26.5, pre-1.0 (0). 20 + 22 + 15 + 12 + 0 = 69.
Agent ergonomics Qwen Code +15
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).
Qwen Code 85
Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. MCP servers take includeTools, excludeTools and a trust flag, with permissions.allow, ask and deny rules and --exclude-tools (20). Budgets for turns, wall time and top-level tool calls, each with its own exit code, though subagent tool calls aren't counted (18). Documented exit codes (18). --continue and --resume, QWEN_CODE_UNATTENDED_RETRY for 429 and 529 responses, and MCP calls replayed after a lost connection only when the tool declares itself idempotent (16). A TypeScript SDK on npm at 0.1.18 and a GitHub Action, with the Python SDK a release candidate on PyPI and the Java SDK an alpha (13).
Maintenance & community Qwen Code +13
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.
Qwen Code 88
0.26.5 on 1 November 2026 (30). 39 stable releases from 3 August to 1 November (v0.21.4 to v0.26.5), plus previews and nightlies (20). Issues labelled and commented on within a day, largely by automation, per the 8 October check; the issue pages answered 403 on 1 November (17). The TypeScript SDK reached 0.1.26 on 29 October, while the Python SDK's newest tag is still sdk-python-v0.1.0-preview.0 (9 May 2026) and the Java SDK is an alpha (11). CI, CodeQL, a monthly scorecard and Dependabot (10). 30 + 20 + 17 + 11 + 10 = 88.
Security & auth Paseo +5
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.
Qwen Code 53
Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. Usage statistics are on by default (privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled defaults to true in the settings schema at 0.26.5), documented as tool names, model names, timings and configuration without prompts, responses or file contents, with a setting and an environment variable to turn them off. Credentials are API keys in environment variables or settings.json (15). Five approval modes with a read-only plan mode and allow, ask and deny rules, but the settings default is still Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, folder trust is still disabled by default and sandboxing is opt-in. Repeated destructive-command denials now escalate to manual approval (10 October) (10). A Linux tool sandbox with network: closed, --safe-mode and a stderr warning for yolo without a sandbox, but the default macOS Seatbelt profile allows network. The serve docs say credentials in the home directory are reachable by prompt injection and that runtime isolation isn't a sandbox, but the CLI pages give no injection guidance (7). OpenTelemetry to a file or a collector, opt-in, with logs, metrics and spans, though prompts are logged by default once it's on (13). SECURITY.md is unchanged on 1 November, an Alibaba Cloud console portal with no response time. Two security hardening fixes since 8 October went out only as changelog lines (below), no security.txt was found, and CodeQL and a monthly scorecard run in CI. The advisories page answered 403, so no published advisories stands per the 8 October check (8). 15 + 10 + 7 + 13 + 8 = 53.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Paseo | Qwen Code | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 50 | 69 | Qwen Code +19 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 65 | 91 | Qwen Code +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 70 | 85 | Qwen Code +15 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 58 | 53 | Paseo +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 75 | 88 | Qwen Code +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 68 | 66 | Paseo +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| Total | B 62.1/100 | B 68.7/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Paseo | Qwen Code |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Mohamed Boudra | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-01 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| 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 | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.8/5 (4) |
How the scores have moved
Paseo
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
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.
Qwen Code
Apache-2.0 with no account of its own, any OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini-compatible endpoint, and headless runs bounded by turn, tool-call and wall-time budgets with distinct exit codes. Out of the box, Auto mode lets an LLM classifier approve tool calls, with the sandbox and folder trust both off. Security fixes ship as changelog lines without advisories.
Before you call either
Paseo
- Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
- Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs
Qwen Code
- Pass
--approval-modeon every run. The settings default isauto, and one docs page says headless runs default to asking, so don't rely on either - Add
--max-session-turns,--max-wall-timeand--max-tool-calls. All three are unlimited by default. Exit 53 is the turn limit and 55 a budget --yolodoesn't turn on a sandbox. Add--sandbox, or on Linux settools.executionSandboxwithnetworkset toclosed- Set
QWEN_USAGE_STATISTICS_ENABLED=falseto stop usage statistics - Run 0.26.2 or later before using
qwen servein a cloned repository. Earlier versions let the repository's.envset the daemon token
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Paseo or Qwen Code?
Qwen Code scores 68.7 (B) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Paseo leads on security & auth.
Are Paseo and Qwen Code open source?
Yes. Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0). Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).
Other comparisons with Paseo or Qwen Code
- Agent Zero vs Paseo
- Agent Zero vs Qwen Code
- Aider vs Paseo
- Aider vs Qwen Code
- Amp vs Paseo
- Amp vs Qwen Code
- Antigravity CLI vs Paseo
- Antigravity CLI vs Qwen Code
- Auggie CLI vs Paseo
- Auggie CLI vs Qwen Code
- AXLR vs Paseo
- AXLR vs Qwen Code
- Claude Code vs Paseo
- Claude Code vs Qwen Code
- Cline vs Paseo
- Cline vs Qwen Code
- Conductor vs Paseo
- Conductor vs Qwen Code
- Crush vs Paseo
- Crush vs Qwen Code
- Cursor CLI vs Paseo
- Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Paseo
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Qwen Code
- dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Paseo
- dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Qwen Code
- Devin vs Paseo
- Devin vs Qwen Code
- Droid CLI vs Paseo
- Droid CLI vs Qwen Code
- Pi vs Paseo
- Pi vs Qwen Code
- Emdash vs Paseo
- Emdash vs Qwen Code
- Gemini CLI vs Paseo
- Gemini CLI vs Qwen Code
- GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paseo
- GitHub Copilot CLI vs Qwen Code
- goose vs Paseo
- goose vs Qwen Code
- Harness² vs Paseo
- Harness² vs Qwen Code
- HarnessRouter vs Paseo
- HarnessRouter vs Qwen Code
- Jules vs Paseo
- Jules vs Qwen Code
- Junie CLI vs Paseo
- Junie CLI vs Qwen Code
- Kilo Code CLI vs Paseo
- Kilo Code CLI vs Qwen Code
- Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo
- Kimi Code CLI vs Qwen Code
- Kiro CLI vs Paseo
- Kiro CLI vs Qwen Code
- Letta vs Paseo
- Letta vs Qwen Code
- mini-swe-agent vs Paseo
- mini-swe-agent vs Qwen Code
- MiniMax Code vs Paseo
- MiniMax Code vs Qwen Code
- Mistral Vibe CLI vs Paseo
- Mistral Vibe CLI vs Qwen Code
- Muse Code vs Paseo
- Muse Code vs Qwen Code
- OpenAI Agents API vs Paseo
- OpenAI Agents API vs Qwen Code
- OpenAI Codex vs Paseo
- OpenAI Codex vs Qwen Code
- OpenCode vs Paseo
- OpenCode vs Qwen Code
- OpenHands vs Paseo
- OpenHands vs Qwen Code
- Orca vs Paseo
- Orca vs Qwen Code
- Paseo vs Prime Agent
- Paseo vs Qoder CLI
- Paseo vs Mirror CLI
- Paseo vs Rovo Dev CLI
- Paseo vs Sculptor
- Paseo vs T3 Code
- Paseo vs Traycer
- Paseo vs Unstoppable
- Paseo vs Verdent
- Paseo vs Vibe-Trading
- Paseo vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Prime Agent vs Qwen Code
- Qoder CLI vs Qwen Code
- Qwen Code vs Mirror CLI
- Qwen Code vs Rovo Dev CLI
- Qwen Code vs Sculptor
- Qwen Code vs T3 Code
- Qwen Code vs Traycer
- Qwen Code vs Unstoppable
- Qwen Code vs Verdent
- Qwen Code vs Vibe-Trading
- Qwen Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Clawboo vs Paseo
- Clawboo vs Qwen Code
- CLI Manager vs Paseo
- CLI Manager vs Qwen Code
- Harness vs Paseo
- Harness vs Qwen Code
- OpenMausBot vs Paseo
- OpenMausBot vs Qwen Code
- Paperclip vs Paseo
- Paperclip vs Qwen Code
- Parallax vs Paseo
- Parallax vs Qwen Code
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/paseo-vs-qwen-code.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/paseo.json·/api/v1/tools/qwen-code.json - From a terminal
anchor compare paseo qwen-code(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "paseo", "b": "qwen-code"}at/mcp, no key