OpenCode vs Claude Code: Open Source or Anthropic's Agent?

OpenCode vs Claude Code is really a question about models and billing. Both are terminal coding agents that read your repo, edit files and run commands. OpenCode is open source and model-agnostic. Claude Code is Anthropic's own product, tuned for Claude and bundled into Claude plans.

How we researched this: OpenCode's site, docs and GitHub repo, Anthropic's docs and pricing, all as of October 2026, plus public user reports. We haven't run our own benchmarks.

OpenCode vs Claude Code at a glance

The big difference: which models you can use

OpenCode lets you pick any model; Claude Code gives you Claude and nothing else.

According to OpenCode's providers docs, it "uses the AI SDK and Models.dev to support 75+ LLM providers." You add keys with /connect. You can sign in with a ChatGPT Plus/Pro account or a GitHub Copilot subscription, or point it at Ollama or LM Studio for local models. OpenCode also offers its own paid gateway and a set of free models.

Claude Code runs Claude models through an Anthropic plan, an API key, or cloud providers like Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform and Microsoft Foundry, per its deployment docs. The default model on paid plans is Opus 5.5, with a 1M-token context window, according to the model configuration page.

Here's the catch that most comparisons skip. You can't legally run your Claude Pro or Max subscription inside OpenCode. OpenCode's own docs say third-party plugins for this exist but "Anthropic explicitly prohibits this," and OpenCode stopped bundling them as of version 1.3.0. So Claude inside OpenCode means paying per token.

How much does each cost?

OpenCode is free; the models cost money. Claude Code costs a subscription that includes the model. Prices below are as of October 2026.

OpenCode options:

• Free models: OpenCode's Zen docs list a rotating set that's free "for a limited time" (for example Big Pickle and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Free).
• OpenCode Go: $10/month, or $40/month for Go Plus, covering about 30 open and low-cost models. Each model has a monthly dollar limit (Claude Haiku 5.5 gets $15 on Go and $60 on Go Plus), with 20% of it available per five hours.
• Pay as you go through OpenCode's console: Claude Opus 5.5 at $4 input / $20 output per million tokens, Sonnet 5.5 at $2 / $10, GPT 6.1 Sol at $2 / $10. Each credit purchase adds a 4.6% + $0.31 processing fee.
• Your own keys or subscriptions: an Anthropic or OpenAI API key, ChatGPT Plus/Pro, or GitHub Copilot.

Claude Code options, from claude.com/pricing:

• Pro: $20/month, or $17/month billed annually.
• Max: from $100/month, with 5x or 20x Pro's usage per five-hour session.
• Team Standard: $25/seat monthly, $20 billed annually.
• API key: Opus 5.5 at $4 / $20 per million tokens, the same list rate as OpenCode's console.

Usage on Claude plans is shared with Claude chat and resets on a rolling five-hour window with weekly caps. Our Claude Code pricing guide goes through the tiers in detail.

Cost scenarios: which is cheaper for you?

These are rough calculations from list prices, not measured bills. Real costs depend on how much context each request carries and how much is cached.

A quick worked example: one long agent turn that sends 1 million input tokens and gets 50,000 output tokens back costs $4 + $1 = $5 on Opus 5.5 at list price with no caching. Cache reads are $0.20 per million, so repeated context costs far less. Still, a few heavy sessions a day on pay-per-token can pass $20 in a week, which is why Claude-heavy users usually come out ahead on a subscription.

Features and extensibility

Both tools have the same core features: MCP, skills, custom commands, subagents and a rules file. The details differ.

OpenCode's docs cover rules, agents, permissions, LSP servers, MCP servers, agent skills, commands, custom tools, plugins, an SDK and a server mode, plus GitHub and GitLab integrations. It has two built-in agents you switch with Tab: build (full access) and plan (read-only, asks before running bash). An @general subagent handles larger searches.

Switching from Claude Code is easy. OpenCode's rules docs say it reads CLAUDE.md when there's no AGENTS.md, falls back to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, and picks up skills from ~/.claude/skills/. You can turn that off with OPENCODE_DISABLE_CLAUDE_CODE=1.

Claude Code's overview lists CLAUDE.md (it can read AGENTS.md too), auto memory, skills, hooks that run shell commands before or after any action, subagents, background agents and the Agent SDK. Beyond the terminal, you get Claude Code on the web, cloud scheduled tasks, a Slack integration, GitHub Actions and a Chrome extension for debugging live pages.

Safety defaults

Claude Code is stricter out of the box. OpenCode trusts you to lock it down.

OpenCode's permissions page says it "starts from permissive defaults": most actions are set to allow, while .env files and directories outside the project ask first. The docs don't describe an OS-level sandbox.

Claude Code's default Manual mode prompts before actions. It also offers an OS-level sandbox for shell commands (Seatbelt on macOS, bubblewrap on Linux and WSL2), though per its sandboxing docs it's off until you enable it.

If you run OpenCode on a repo with secrets or production credentials, set its permissions to "ask" for bash and edits before you start.

Downsides of each

OpenCode:

• No legal way to use a Claude subscription, so Claude costs per token.
• Permissive defaults mean more setup if you want approvals.
• Free models rotate, and some are labeled "for a limited time."
• Quality varies with the model you pick, so results depend on your choice more than on the tool.

Claude Code:

• Claude models only.
• No free tier; Claude Free doesn't include it.
• Closed source, so you can't audit or fork the client.
• Usage limits are shared with regular Claude chat.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Claude Code if Claude is your main model and you'd rather pay a flat monthly fee than watch token bills. It's also the safer pick for teams that want admin controls, SSO and stricter defaults.
• Choose OpenCode if you want open source, want to switch between OpenAI, Google, open-weight and local models, or already pay for ChatGPT or Copilot. It's also the cheapest way to start, since the tool and some models cost nothing.
• Try both if you're unsure. OpenCode reads your CLAUDE.md and skills, so you can test it on the same repo without rewriting anything.

Comparing more agents? See Claude Code vs Codex for OpenAI's take, or our roundup of the best free AI for coding.

FAQ

Is OpenCode free?

Yes. OpenCode is MIT-licensed and free, and it ships with some free models. Other providers, OpenCode Go ($10 or $40 a month) and pay-as-you-go credits cost money.

Can I use my Claude Max subscription in OpenCode?

Not within Anthropic's rules. OpenCode's docs say Anthropic prohibits it, and OpenCode no longer bundles the plugins that did it. Use an Anthropic API key or OpenCode's pay-as-you-go Claude models instead.

Where is OpenCode's source code?

OpenCode's site links to the anomalyco/opencode repository on GitHub, released under the MIT license.