OpenCode is a free, MIT-licensed coding agent that runs almost any model. Claude Code is Anthropic's closed one, and it runs Claude. The deciding fact: a Claude Pro or Max subscription pays for Claude inside Claude Code and does not work inside OpenCode, where the same models bill per token.
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Pick OpenCode if you want to choose the model yourself, run a local one, or pay $10 a month for open models, and you accept that Sonnet or Opus inside OpenCode means an API key and a meter.
Pick Claude Code if you have already decided the model is Claude and you use it for hours a day, because a flat Pro or Max plan is the only way to get it without paying per token.
Pick neither if you mostly want help inside the editor you already have open, because both are agents you hand a whole task to, and Cursor or the Copilot you may already pay for covers autocomplete and small edits with less setup.
prices checked 2026-10-05 · by dan scutaru
| OpenCode | Claude Code | |
|---|---|---|
| price | free tier · from $10/mo | from $20/mo |
| free tier | The software is free and MIT licensed. You bring a model: your own API key, a local model, or the rotating free models on OpenCode Zen, most of which may use your data to improve the model. | None. Claude's Free plan does not include Claude Code. |
| runs on | mac, windows, linux | web, ios, android, mac, windows, linux, api |
| licence | MIT, open source | proprietary, all rights reserved |
| models | 75+ providers, plus local models | Claude only, from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry |
| Claude Pro or Max login | no, API key only | yes |
| top individual plan | Go Plus, $40/mo, Claude only as Haiku 5.5. Zen is pay as you go | Max 20x, $200/mo |
| usage limits | Go: per-model caps per 5 hours, week and month | five-hour window plus a weekly cap |
| maintained by | Anomaly, about 950 contributors | Anthropic |
You can run Claude models in OpenCode, but only on pay-per-token billing. OpenCode's provider docs say plugins that reuse a Claude Pro or Max login exist, that Anthropic prohibits them, and that they stopped shipping with OpenCode in version 1.3.0. The removal was merged on 19 March 2026 in a pull request titled "anthropic legal requests".
Anthropic's terms agree: subscription sign-in is for Claude Code and its own apps. In May it announced a monthly credit for apps built on its Agent SDK, then paused it on 15 June. OpenCode is not built on that SDK, so nothing changed. Community plugins still circulate, and the account at risk is yours.
OpenCode the program costs nothing. You pay for the model: your own API key at the provider's rate, OpenCode Zen (pay as you go, Claude at Anthropic's list price, plus a 4.4% + $0.30 card fee per top-up), or a Go subscription. Claude Code has no free tier. It comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month ($17 billed annually), with Max at $100 or $200, or bills per token through an API key.
OpenCode Go costs $10 a month and Go Plus $40. Both cover open and low-cost models such as DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, Kimi and MiniMax. The only Claude model on them is Haiku 5.5, the small one; Sonnet and Opus are not included. OpenCode's own estimates for the $10 plan run from about 110 requests per five hours on Kimi K3 to about 6,320 on GLM-5.3-Flash. If your Pro limits keep running out, Go only helps if you will code with a model that is not Claude.
This is OpenCode's clearest win. Its docs carry configs for Ollama, LM Studio and llama.cpp, each pointed at localhost, so code and prompts stay on your machine. Claude Code has no supported equivalent: Anthropic's gateway docs say it does not support routing Claude Code to non-Claude models. People do it with compatibility shims and are on their own when it breaks.
Almost every page ranking for this query is written by a company selling a third product. Developer threads are less tidy. On Hacker News, people who went back to Claude Code cite long sessions: one stays because it is "so wildly better at compaction". People who stay on OpenCode cite its undo command, its language-server support, and Claude Code doing more than it was asked.
If you want to pick the model, run one locally or keep the bill near zero, yes. If you want Claude on a flat monthly plan, no.
No. Claude's free plan does not include Claude Code. The cheapest routes are Claude Pro at $20 a month, or an API key where you pay per token with no monthly fee. The full answer →
The software is, under an MIT licence. The models are a separate bill. Zen has a rotating list of free models, and for most of them the docs say your data may be used to improve the model.
No. Its GitHub repository is public, but the licence file reserves all rights. OpenCode is MIT licensed.
Today it means the coding agent at opencode.ai, maintained by Anomaly in the anomalyco/opencode repository. An earlier project of the same name is archived and continues as Crush, from Charm.