Jules vs OpenHands (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Jules grades higher than OpenHands: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Jules grades higher on value for money and ease of use. OpenHands grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and 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 Jules if
- Fits if your code lives on GitHub and you want chores done in the background
- Works for solo developers who can live inside 15 tasks a day
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use GitLab or Bitbucket, because the docs describe GitHub only
- Watch out: the docs say limits and features may change, as it is an experimental beta
- Tight if you want more, since paid tiers come only through Google AI Pro or Ultra
- Watch out: paid tiers are for individual gmail.com accounts for now, and their prices are not on the Jules pages
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
| 2.6GPAJulesGood | 2.4GPAOpenHandsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree for 15 tasks a day with 3 at once, which a single developer can live on. Paid tiers are bundled into a Google AI plan whose price the Jules pages do not state. | 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 | B15 tasks every rolling 24 hours on Gemini 2.5 Pro with no card mentioned. You can work on that, though a busy day hits the cap. | 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 | CPlans first, runs in a cloud VM, opens pull requests and reads AGENTS.md. The listing's gaps keep it at C: GitHub only, and a public beta. | 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 | CNo store rating on record, and you connect GitHub repositories and write the task prompts yourself. | DNo store rating, and the route is to self-host it on a laptop or shared VM. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, and the docs describe no code host except GitHub. | BWeb, with GitHub, Slack, Jira, Linear and Notion listed, plus an SDK. |
| Best for | small coding jobs handed to a GitHub agent | 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: Jules and OpenHands. How we grade
Where they differ
- OpenHands is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Jules | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $500 per month for up to 10 users |
| Free plan | 15 tasks per day (rolling 24 hours), 3 concurrent tasks, Gemini 2.5 Pro. | 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 | ||
| Made by | OpenHands | |
| Price read from | jules.google | openhands.dev |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Jules
- It works with GitHub repositories; the docs describe no other code host.
- Paid tiers come only through Google AI Pro or Ultra, and for now only for individual @gmail.com accounts.
- The Jules pages do not state the Google AI plan prices, so no monthly figure is recorded here.
- The docs call Jules an experimental coding agent in public beta, and say limits and features may change.
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
Jules
- Plan before changes
- After a prompt, Jules writes a plan that you can review and approve before any code is edited.
- Cloud virtual machine
- Jules clones the repository into a virtual machine, installs dependencies and edits files there, so work continues while you are away.
- Pull requests on GitHub
- Finished work arrives as a diff you can browse and approve, then as a pull request. Adding a 'jules' label to an issue also assigns it a task.
- AGENTS.md support
- Jules reads an AGENTS.md file in the repository root to learn conventions and how to work with the codebase.
- Scheduled and suggested tasks
- The docs describe scheduled tasks and suggested tasks, and there is a command-line tool and a REST API alongside the web app.
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
Jules
Jules$0
15 tasks per day, 3 concurrent tasks, powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Jules in ProIncluded
with a Google AI Pro subscription
100 tasks per day, 15 concurrent tasks and higher access to the latest models, starting with Gemini 3 Pro.
Jules in UltraIncluded
with a Google AI Ultra subscription
300 tasks per day, 60 concurrent tasks and priority access to the latest models.
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
Jules
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, Jules or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Jules publishes no starting price, and OpenHands starts at $500 per month for up to 10 users.
Which has a free plan, Jules or OpenHands?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Jules and OpenHands have a free plan.
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.