Agent Zero vs goose
We give Agent Zero a 3.2 GPA and goose a 3.4, out of 4.0. goose grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Agent Zero
Open-source agent framework that works in its own Linux computer
Free
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAAgent ZeroVery good | 3.4GPAgooseVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source under the MIT license, with no paid edition and no hosted tier. The project funds itself through a crypto token called A0T, not through plans. What you do pay for is model access, billed by whichever provider you connect. | AIt costs nothing. goose is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid plan at all. What you may pay for is the model, billed by the provider you connect, unless you run a local one or reuse a subscription you already have. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole framework is free: the desktop, the browser, memory, plugins, the lot. Nothing is held back, because there's no paid plan to hold it for. You can even point it at a local model through Ollama or LM Studio. | AThe whole thing is free: the desktop app, the CLI and the API, with nothing held back. The desktop app can even download a model and run it on your own machine, with no API key. |
| Features | AThe agent gets a full Linux desktop with a browser, a terminal and LibreOffice, and you share the mouse and keyboard. It keeps memory per project, hands parts of a job to subagents, runs scheduled jobs, and takes more than 100 community plugins. | AThe same agent as a desktop app, in a terminal and as an API. More than 70 extensions connect it to databases, browsers, GitHub and Google Drive. Workflows save as recipes you can share, subagents take on parallel tasks, and there's a sandbox mode with permission controls. |
| Ease of use | DYou host it yourself. There's no hosted version to sign in to, so it runs in Docker on a machine you provide, and you connect your own model provider before it does anything. The guided desktop Launcher does take some of the sting out of installing it. | CIt's an app you install, but it does nothing until you've connected a model provider, signed in with a subscription or downloaded a local model. Recipes are YAML files, and the docs say it works best with Claude 4 models. No rating is on record either. |
| Platforms and integrations | BThe Launcher comes for Mac, Windows and Linux, and you work in a web interface. It connects to MCP servers and to model providers like OpenAI, Anthropic and Ollama. No iPhone or Android app is listed. | BMac, Windows and Linux, as a desktop app and a CLI. More than 70 MCP extensions, and an API for building it into other things. There's no phone app and no hosted cloud version. |
| Best for | an open-source agent you can watch and take apart | a free agent that runs on your own machine |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Agent Zero and goose. How we grade
Where they differ
- Agent Zero is free. goose is free.
- Only Agent Zero lists a web app.
- Agent Zero is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- goose also covers workflow automation.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxOpen sourceLocal-firstAI agents
At a glance
| Agent Zero | goose | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The whole framework is free and open source under the MIT license, with no paid edition or hosted tier. You supply the machine it runs on and your own model access, which the provider bills separately. | Goose is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid plan. Model usage is billed by the provider you connect, unless you run a local model or use a provider's free tier. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Agent Zero, s.r.o. | Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) |
| Price read from | agent-zero.ai | goose-docs.ai |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Agent Zero
- Developers who want an agent whose prompts and tools they can inspect and change
- Keeping an agent sandboxed in Docker instead of running it on the host
- Running on local models through Ollama or LM Studio
goose
- Developers who want a local agent for coding and terminal work
- People who want to reuse a Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscription they already pay for
- Teams that share repeatable workflows as recipes
Worth knowing
Agent Zero
- The site lists no hosted version: you install it with the Launcher, a terminal installer or Docker on a machine you provide.
- Model access is not included. You connect a cloud provider, an AI account such as ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot, or a local model server.
- The Launcher is offered for macOS, Windows and Linux; the installation page lists no iOS or Android app.
- The project funds itself through its A0T crypto token, not paid plans; a beta LLM API with a daily quota is open only to people who stake A0T.
goose
- goose is free, but hosted models are billed by the provider you connect, and the docs note that not every provider has a free tier.
- It runs on your own machine: there are desktop apps for macOS, Linux and Windows and a CLI, and the site lists no hosted cloud version.
- The docs say goose relies heavily on tool calling and currently works best with Claude 4 models.
- The project left Block for the Agentic AI Foundation in April 2026; its repository moved from block/goose to aaif-goose/goose.
Key features
Agent Zero
- Linux desktop in a container
- The agent gets an XFCE desktop session inside its Docker container, where it runs terminals, file tools and GUI software. You see each action and share the same mouse and keyboard.
- Browser with annotation
- A built-in browser opens pages, clicks, types, uploads files and takes screenshots. In Annotate mode you click a page element to have it changed, inspected, copied or commented on.
- Document cowork
- A Markdown editor and LibreOffice Writer, Calc and Impress are built into the workspace, so you and the agent edit the same document, spreadsheet or slide deck.
- Projects, memory and secrets
- Projects keep files, instructions, memory, secrets, Git repositories and model presets separate per workspace. A Memory Dashboard is used to review and manage what is stored.
- A0 CLI Connector
- An optional command-line bridge lets a sandboxed instance request access to files, a terminal and a Chromium-based browser on your own computer.
- Plugin Hub, MCP and A2A
- More than 100 community plugins install from the Web UI, each scanned for risks first. The agent also connects to MCP servers and Agent-to-Agent flows.
goose
- Desktop app, CLI and API
- The same agent runs in a native desktop app, a terminal CLI and an API for embedding. The desktop app and CLI share provider, model and extension settings.
- MCP extensions
- More than 70 documented extensions connect goose to databases, APIs, browsers, GitHub, Google Drive and other tools through the Model Context Protocol, and you can build your own.
- Providers and existing subscriptions
- Works with 15+ providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama, OpenRouter, Azure and Bedrock, or with a Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscription you already have, through ACP.
- Built-in local inference
- The desktop app can download a GGUF model from Hugging Face and run it in-process with llama.cpp, with no API key and no separate model server.
- Recipes
- Workflows are saved as portable YAML recipes holding instructions, extensions, parameters and subrecipes, then shared with a team or run in CI.
- Subagents and safety controls
- Subagents handle parallel tasks outside the main conversation. Safeguards include prompt injection detection, tool permission controls, a sandbox mode and an adversary reviewer.
Plans
Agent Zero
Agent Zero (MIT licensed)Free
The complete framework, installed with the desktop Launcher, a terminal installer or Docker, with a model provider of your choice.
goose
goose (Apache 2.0)Free
The full desktop app, CLI and API. You bring a model provider, an existing AI subscription or a local model.
