AiderDeskvsKun
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
AiderDesk
Hotovo · AI-native IDE
#42OSSMCP
Panel
6.84 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.7
- Usefulness
- 7.0
- Cost
- 7.8
- Longevity
- 5.7
“It began as a graphical front end for a terminal program and now ships a headless mode, which closes the circle nicely.”
Kun
KunAgent · AI-native IDE
#84MCP
Panel
5.82 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.7
- Usefulness
- 6.2
- Cost
- 6.5
- Longevity
- 4.8
“It writes your code and also your slide deck, which is the most accurate description of an engineering week ever shipped as a feature list.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | AiderDesk | Kun |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | AI-native IDE | AI-native IDE |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows, web | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | No | YesBrowser output is attached to tasks and screenshots are captured through browser automation. |
| Sandboxed execution | NoDocker is documented as a way to run AiderDesk itself; task isolation is done with git worktrees, not containers. | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | No |
| Headless / CI mode | YesThrough an npm headless mode and the REST API. | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, Mistral, Amazon Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Cerebras, OpenRouter, LiteLLM, Ollama, LM Studio | OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Ollama, DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, MiniMax |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | Yes | YesOllama ships as a named provider preset, and base URLs are editable so any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible endpoint can be added. |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | n/a |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0 |
| GitHub stars | 1,448 | 6,324 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | AiderDesk | Kun | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 6.3 | AiderDesk — Pick it if you liked Aider but wanted to see the work; pick Aider itself if the terminal was never the part that bothered you. |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 5.8 | AiderDesk — One vendor maintains subagents, agent profiles, a vector context engine, MCP in both directions, a REST API and thirty model providers, and the shell runs on your machine. |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 6.5 | no preference |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 5.0 | AiderDesk — Hotovo is a services firm publishing a free Apache-2.0 product built on another project's name recognition, which is marketing spend with a repository attached. |
| La Jefa | 6.3 | 4.8 | AiderDesk — Free for sixty, and the REST API means it can be scripted, but there is no SSO, no audit log, and the browser UI is something we would have to host ourselves. |
| El Hacker | 8.3 | 6.5 | AiderDesk — Apache-2.0, my keys, and a provider list that ends in Ollama and LM Studio, so the whole thing runs on the box under my desk. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.