Best for
Best for developers tackling complex, multi-file refactors and architectural changes from the terminal.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
AI Code Comparison
Claude Code vs. OpenCode
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for developers who want an agent with no vendor lock-in, their own model keys, or a fully local setup.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Claude Code | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Included in Claude Pro, $20 / month Max from $100 per month. Also available through the Anthropic API, billed per use. | Free, MIT licence You bring your own provider keys and pay them directly. The optional OpenCode Zen gateway is pay as you go per million tokens and includes several free models. |
| Free trial | Through a Claude subscription | Free open-source agent |
| Commercial use | Yes | Yes, MIT licence |
| Output | Terminal agent with project-level planning | Agentic coding in a terminal, a desktop app or an IDE |
| API | Yes, the Anthropic API | Local server with a TypeScript SDK |
| Where it runs | Terminal, pairs with any editor | Terminal, a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, and IDE extensions; open source under the MIT licence, installed through npm, Homebrew, Scoop, Chocolatey, Arch, Mise, Docker or a binary |
| Inline completions | No, it works by instruction rather than by autocomplete: the CLI and the VS Code and JetBrains extensions offer plan review, inline diffs and @-mentions, not tab completions as you type | No, OpenCode is driven by prompts rather than by suggestions as you type; its language-server integration feeds diagnostics back to the agent instead of offering inline completions |
| Agent mode | Yes, terminal-native agent with a project-level planning loop, deep multi-file context and MCP support | Yes, an autonomous coding agent with several sessions running in parallel and the option to share a session |
| Model choice | Yes, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku and Fable models, switched with the /model command, the --model flag, an environment variable or a settings file, including extended 1M-token context variants | Yes, more than 75 providers through Models.dev with your own keys, plus local models through Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp and any other OpenAI-compatible endpoint declared in opencode.json |
| Data control | Team, Enterprise and API usage is not used to train models and is retained for 30 days, with zero data retention available to qualified Enterprise accounts; on Free, Pro and Max the account's own training setting applies. It also runs against Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform and Microsoft Foundry, where telemetry and feedback are off by default | Provider keys are stored locally in the user's own auth file rather than on a server, the project states it does not store your code or context data, and local models keep the work on your machine |
| Ecosystem fit | Terminal, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, a desktop app, the web and mobile, plus GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Slack and Chrome; MCP servers connect external tools and the Agent SDK builds custom agents on the same engine | Terminal, desktop app and IDE extensions, with language servers and MCP servers configurable; the optional OpenCode Zen gateway supplies models tested for coding agents |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), On-premise |
| Support | Not stated | Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Slack, Chrome, Model Context Protocol servers, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform, Microsoft Foundry | Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, GitHub, Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Claude Code Included in Claude Pro, $20 / month OpenCode Free, MIT licence
- Free trial Claude Code Through a Claude subscription OpenCode Free open-source agent
- Deployment Claude Code Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based OpenCode Cloud (SaaS), On-premise
- Company size Claude Code Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise OpenCode Freelancers, Small and mid-sized
- Commercial use Claude Code Yes OpenCode Yes, MIT licence
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Claude Code
Strengths
- Deepest reasoning for complex multi-file and architectural tasks
- Project-level planning
- Editor-agnostic
Limitations
- Terminal-first, not a full IDE interface
- Usage limits on Pro, and cost climbs on Max or heavy API use
OpenCode
Strengths
- MIT-licensed and free, with no restriction on commercial use
- More than 75 model providers plus fully local models, so no vendor lock-in
- One agent across terminal, desktop app and IDE
- Local server and TypeScript SDK for embedding the agent in other tools
Limitations
- You manage provider keys and pay model costs directly, so spend is harder to predict than a seat price
- Topping up OpenCode Zen credit adds a card processing fee of 4.4% plus $0.30 per transaction
- Zen model prices span a wide range, from $0.05 to $180 per million tokens depending on the model
Plans
Pricing
Claude Code
- Claude Pro $20 Per month, includes Claude Code.
- Claude Max From $100 Per month.
- Anthropic API Pay per use Amount depends on usage.
OpenCode
- OpenCode $0 Open source under the MIT licence. You bring your own provider keys and pay them directly.
- OpenCode Zen Pay as you go Billed per million tokens, from $0.05 per million input tokens on the cheapest model up to $180 per million output tokens on the most expensive. Several models are free. Credit auto-reloads by $20 when the balance falls below $5, and top-ups add a card processing fee of 4.4% plus $0.30. Workspace and per-member monthly spending caps are available.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Claude Code
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
OpenCode
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Claude Code https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code · no check date recorded yet
OpenCode https://opencode.ai · checked against the official source on 2026-09-07
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.