Grok BuildvsRovo Dev
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Grok Build
xAI · Terminal agent
#82MCP
Panel
6.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.2
- Usefulness
- 6.8
- Cost
- 5.8
- Longevity
- 6.2
“The old coding model's name now survives only as an alias, which is the software equivalent of a forwarding address.”
Rovo Dev
Atlassian · Terminal agent
#70MCP
Panel
6.10 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.7
- Usefulness
- 6.2
- Cost
- 5.5
- Longevity
- 7.0
“The first step to agentic coding at Atlassian is brew tap atlassian/homebrew-acli, which is also where some people stop.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Grok Build | Rovo Dev |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local, sandbox | local, cloud |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | 500k tokens on grok-4.6, 256k on grok-build-0.1 | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | No | No |
| Sandboxed execution | NoSandboxing uses OS primitives, Landlock on Linux and Seatbelt on macOS, rather than containers; it is off by default and must be enabled, and network blocking is enforced on Linux only. | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | YesBuilt-in general-purpose, explore and plan subagents run as independent child sessions. | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | YesThrough the -p flag with streaming JSON output. | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Grok | Claude, GPT, Gemini |
| Bring your own model | YesCustom model entries can be added in ~/.grok/config.toml, but a self-hosted or local base URL is not documented. | No |
| Local models | No | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | usage | seat |
| Starts at | n/a | $20/mo |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Bring your own key | Yes | No |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | No | No |
| License | proprietary | proprietary |
| GitHub stars | n/a | n/a |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Grok Build | Rovo Dev | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 6.3 | 6.5 | Rovo Dev — Pick Rovo Dev if your tickets live in Jira and your code in Bitbucket, because the agent plans the work item and reviews the pull request; pick Claude Code if the terminal is your whole workflow. |
| El Crítico | 6.3 | 5.8 | Grok Build — Sandboxing is off until you turn it on, and the network half of it is enforced on Linux only, so a macOS session has weaker containment than the docs suggest at a glance. |
| El Profesor | 7.0 | 6.3 | Grok Build — Two structural choices carry the design: subagents run as independent child sessions with their own context, and the agent embeds in other editors over the Agent Client Protocol. |
| La Inversora | 6.8 | 7.3 | Rovo Dev — Atlassian owns the ticket and the repo, and it is rolling free Rovo Dev credits into Jira Cloud plans, which is distribution being used as a weapon. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 7.0 | Rovo Dev — Sixty Standard seats is $1,200 a month before overage, the models run under zero-data-retention terms, and there is a 30-day trial, which is the right shape for a pilot. |
| El Hacker | 5.5 | 3.8 | Grok Build — Proprietary, my own API key, and custom model entries in ~/.grok/config.toml, though nothing documents pointing it at a base URL of my own. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.