goose vs OpenHands (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, goose grades higher than OpenHands: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 2, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
goose grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. OpenHands grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
OpenHands
Open-source platform for AI coding agents and automations
Which one is for you
Pick goose if
- Fits if you're a developer who wants a local agent for coding and terminal work
- Works for people who already pay for Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and want to reuse that subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want something hosted, as it only runs on your own machine
- Not for you if you want an agent on your phone, since it comes as desktop apps and a CLI only
- Not for you if setting up a model provider sounds like a chore, because that's step one
- Watch out: hosted models are billed by your provider, not every provider has a free tier, and the docs recommend Claude 4
- Too light for jobs that must run on a schedule or a trigger, as none are on record
Pick OpenHands if
- Fits if you can self-host and want coding agents on your own machine
- Makes sense if you already pay an LLM provider and want to use that key
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a hosted service, as the pricing page lists no vendor-hosted plan
- Tight if you grow, since Teams is capped at 10 users and 5,000 sessions a month
- Watch out: every plan needs your own LLM key and that cost is paid separately
- Watch out: SSO and roles are not in the free version
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAgooseGood | 2.4GPAOpenHandsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AIt costs nothing: Apache 2.0, no paid plan, no hosted tier. What you may pay for is the model, billed by whichever provider you connect, unless you run a local one or reuse a Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscription you already have. | BAgent Canvas is free (MIT) on your own machine, but the LLM bill is yours. Teams is $500 a month for 10 users, $50 a seat past that. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole thing is free with nothing held back: the desktop app, the CLI and the API. It can even download a model from Hugging Face and run it in-process, so you can use it without an API key at all. | BA free open-source program you can run on a laptop, with no caps, but with your own LLM key and one shared identity. |
| Features | CIt does the local-agent job fully, and built-in local inference is something rivals don't have: 70-plus MCP extensions, recipes shared as YAML, subagents, a sandbox mode, prompt injection detection. It's a smaller job than this category's, with no hosted version and no scheduled or triggered runs on record. | CBring-your-own-agent canvas, event-driven automations and team controls. The listing's gaps: no roles or SSO on the free version and no vendor-hosted plan. |
| Ease of use | CIt's an app you install, and then it does nothing until you've connected a provider, signed in with a subscription or downloaded a local model. Recipes are YAML, there's a CLI alongside, and the docs recommend Claude 4 models, since it leans on tool calling. No rating on record. | DNo store rating, and the route is to self-host it on a laptop or shared VM. |
| Platforms and integrations | CComputers only: Mac, Windows and Linux, as a desktop app and a CLI, with no web version and no phone app. Beyond that, it has the 70-plus MCP extensions and an API to build it into other things. | BWeb, with GitHub, Slack, Jira, Linear and Notion listed, plus an SDK. |
| Best for | a free agent that runs on your own machine | running coding agents on your own machine for free |
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: goose and OpenHands. How we grade
Price against what you get
goose has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. OpenHands starts at $500 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and goose starts $500 a month lower. Of the other AI agents on the chart, none scores higher than goose for less, and 57 score higher than OpenHands for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- OpenHands is self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| goose | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $500 per month for up to 10 users |
| Free plan | 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. | Agent Canvas is free and open source (MIT) to self-host on a laptop or shared VM, with your own LLM key and a single shared identity. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) | OpenHands |
| Price read from | goose-docs.ai | openhands.dev |
| Checked | Nov 2, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
OpenHands
- You pay your LLM provider separately: every plan is bring-your-own-key.
- Teams is capped at 10 users (+$50 a month per seat) and 5,000 sessions a month.
- The free Agent Canvas has a single shared identity, with no user roles or SSO.
- Teams and Enterprise are self-hosted; the pricing page lists no vendor-hosted plan.
Key features
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.
OpenHands
- Agent Canvas
- A workspace for chatting with coding agents, customizing them and setting automations, run locally with your own LLM key.
- Bring your own agent
- Use third-party agents such as Claude and Codex alongside OpenHands, with MCP servers and secrets on every plan.
- Event-driven automations
- Start work from GitHub, Slack, Jira, Linear, schedules or other integrations, such as PR review or CI-failure fixes.
- Team controls
- Teams adds user identity and RBAC, SSO/SAML, budgeting and usage controls, and built-in OAuth integrations.
- SDK and control plane
- The product menu lists an SDK and an Agent Control Plane for building and governing agents across an organization.
Plans
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.
OpenHands
Agent Canvas$0
Open source (MIT), self-hosted on your laptop or a shared VM; bring your own LLM key and agent.
Teams$500
per month for up to 10 users
Self-hosted, multi-user RBAC, SSO/SAML, budgeting, built-in integrations; +$50 a month per extra seat.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited seats and organizations, enterprise agreement, SLA-based support and a customer success manager.
Ways to pay less
goose
No public discounts listed.
OpenHands
- Other savings
30-day trial of Teams
The Teams plan is listed with a 30-day trial that can be started from the pricing page.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, goose or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, goose is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $500 a month for OpenHands. goose is free, and OpenHands starts at $500 per month for up to 10 users.
Which has a free plan, goose or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both goose and OpenHands have a free plan.
Which platforms do goose and OpenHands run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only goose lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only OpenHands lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.