DevinvsBackground Agents (Open-Inspect)
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Devin
Cognition · Autonomous SWE
#139MCP
Panel
5.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.3
- Usefulness
- 5.8
- Cost
- 4.3
- Longevity
- 5.5
“Replaced ACUs with credits in April 2026, so now the meter runs in a unit you already understand.”
Background Agents (Open-Inspect)
Cole Murray · Autonomous SWE
#126OSS
Panel
6.44 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.0
- Usefulness
- 7.0
- Cost
- 6.7
- Longevity
- 6.0
“It supports multiplayer sessions, so several people can now watch the same agent make the same decision in real time.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Devin | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Autonomous SWE | Autonomous SWE |
| Runs | cloud, sandbox, local | sandbox, cloud |
| Platforms | web, macos, linux, windows | linux, web |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | No |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | YesCloud sessions ship a first-party interactive Browser tool alongside the shell and IDE, with saved browser profiles for authenticated sites (https://docs.devin.ai/work-with-devin/browser-auth). | Yes |
| Sandboxed execution | YesCloud sessions run on a dedicated Devin machine built from environment blueprints and snapshots, and the Devin CLI adds OS-level isolation locally (https://docs.devin.ai/cli/sandbox). | Yes |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Undisclosed (Cognition-managed models) | Anthropic Claude, OpenAI Codex, xAI Grok, OpenCode Zen |
| Bring your own model | NoA cross-provider model picker (`--model` / `/model` / config `agent.model`) selects between Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Cognition and open-source models, but every one of them is served by Cognition: the CLI model reference documents no API key, base URL, gateway, Bedrock, Vertex or Azure deployment of your own, matching pricing.byok = false. | Yes |
| Local models | NoNo base URL, gateway or local endpoint setting exists in the Devin CLI config reference (https://docs.devin.ai/cli/reference/configuration/config-file). | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | mixed | byok |
| Starts at | $20/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | NoUsage is billed in Cognition ACUs and no LLM provider key can be supplied; Devin Outposts (https://docs.devin.ai/cloud/outposts/overview) only moves session compute onto your own machines. | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | No | Yes |
| License | proprietary | MIT |
| GitHub stars | n/a | 3,303 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Devin | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 6.3 | 6.8 | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) — Pick Open-Inspect if your backlog is full of well-specified tickets; pick an interactive agent if the work needs a conversation before anyone knows what to build. |
| El Crítico | 5.3 | 6.0 | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) — It is documented as designed for single-tenant deployment inside one trusted organisation, and it can also be started by inbound webhooks and third-party alerts. |
| El Profesor | 5.0 | 7.0 | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) — Pull requests carry commit attribution back to the person who prompted the run, which preserves provenance through the artefact rather than only in a log. |
| La Inversora | 6.8 | 6.3 | Devin — Well funded, acquisitive, and repricing in public; the Windsurf purchase bought distribution, and the April 2026 plan change says the ACU math was not working. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 5.3 | Devin — Teams at $80 plus $40 per full seat with shared credits, and Enterprise by quote; the free flex seats are the part finance will like. |
| El Hacker | 2.5 | 7.3 | Background Agents (Open-Inspect) — MIT and self-hosted end to end, with agents working inside full environments that carry the language runtimes, version control and an editor, and no protocol client anywhere. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.