Crushvsgoose
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Crush
Charm · Terminal agent
#25OSSMCP
Panel
6.50 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.0
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 7.3
- Longevity
- 6.2
“Has a --yolo flag, auto-discovers your local llama.cpp, and a license with MIT in the name that is not MIT yet.”
goose
Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Terminal agent
#13OSSMCP
Panel
6.85 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.3
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 6.8
- Longevity
- 7.3
“Block gave it to the Linux Foundation, which is the one exit strategy that cannot be un-acquired.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Crush | goose |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | Yes |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | NoThe built-in tools stop at web_fetch, web_search and download; there is no browser, CDP or Playwright tool. | YesThe built-in Computer Controller extension drives macOS apps including the browser through the Peekaboo CLI, rather than via a dedicated CDP or Playwright tool. |
| Sandboxed execution | NoShell and edit calls are guarded by permission prompts (or skipped with --yolo), with no container or OS-level isolation. | Yes`goose session|run --container <id>` executes extensions inside an existing Docker container; goose itself runs unsandboxed on the host otherwise. |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes`crush run` executes a single non-interactive prompt, reads stdin and supports --quiet for scripts. | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude, GPT, Gemini, any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible provider | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama (local), OpenRouter, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | YesOllama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and MLX providers are auto-discovered, and any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible base_url can be added. | Yes |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | FSL-1.1-MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | 28,444 | 54,860 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Crush | goose | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.3 | 7.3 | no preference |
| El Crítico | 6.3 | 6.5 | goose — A local agent with terminal execution whose Docker isolation is a --container flag you have to remember, a foundation instead of a vendor, and a bill that depends entirely on which model you point it at. |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 6.5 | no preference |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 5.3 | Crush — Charm put its coding agent under a source-available license and attached a $20 Hyper plan, which says they intend to sell it, and the terminal aesthetic is the distribution. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 5.8 | no preference |
| El Hacker | 7.5 | 9.3 | goose — Rust, Apache-2.0, every extension an MCP server in YAML, Ollama on my box, a foundation instead of a vendor; this is the one I would build if I had the time. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.