goosevsmini-SWE-agent
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
goose
Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Terminal agent
#14OSSMCP
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.”
mini-SWE-agent
SWE-agent (Princeton and Stanford) · Terminal agent
#8OSS
Panel
6.90 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.3
- Usefulness
- 5.5
- Cost
- 8.8
- Longevity
- 7.0
“One hundred lines of Python, which is fewer than most competitors spend on their pricing page.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | goose | mini-SWE-agent |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local, sandbox |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux |
| 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 | 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. | No |
| Sandboxed execution | Yes`goose session|run --container <id>` executes extensions inside an existing Docker container; goose itself runs unsandboxed on the host otherwise. | Yes |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | No |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama (local), OpenRouter, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock | any via litellm |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 55,174 | 8,410 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | goose | mini-SWE-agent | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.3 | 6.8 | goose — A free, open, local agent under the Linux Foundation that talks to any model and any MCP server; you will spend a weekend tuning it and then own it. |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 6.5 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 8.0 | mini-SWE-agent — The reference harness for the SWE-bench bash-only leaderboard: one bash action per turn via subprocess.run, a linear history, no tool-calling API, and Gemini 3 Pro reported above 74% on Verified. |
| La Inversora | 5.3 | 6.8 | mini-SWE-agent — No company, a Princeton and Stanford lab with 6,938 stars; the funding is grants and the exit is a paper, which is more stable than half the cap tables on this board. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 5.0 | goose — Free, local, Apache-2.0, with a foundation instead of a vendor; the security questionnaire has nobody to send it to, and sixty engineers get sixty keys. |
| El Hacker | 9.3 | 8.5 | 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.