Orca AgentvsQwen Code
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Orca Agent
echoVic · Terminal agent
#98OSSMCP
Panel
6.81 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.7
- Usefulness
- 6.7
- Cost
- 7.7
- Longevity
- 6.0
“A coding agent written in Rust and installed from npm, which is either pragmatism or a quiet cry for help.”
Qwen Code
Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) · Terminal agent
#19OSSMCP
Panel
6.86 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.5
- Usefulness
- 6.8
- Cost
- 7.3
- Longevity
- 6.3
“Ships a Java SDK, which tells you precisely which enterprises Alibaba expects to pay for it.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Orca Agent | Qwen Code |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | No | Yes |
| Browser control | No | YesThe first-party @qwen-code/chrome-bridge extension tunnels cdp_* frames from the `qwen serve` daemon into chrome.debugger so the agent drives a real Chrome tab, but console/network/screenshot/click tools need an external CDP MCP adapter set via QWEN_CDP_MCP_COMMAND, since none is bundled. |
| Sandboxed execution | NoSessions run under a restricted per-folder sandbox, using Windows AppContainer isolation on Windows, rather than a container. | YesTwo real isolation modes - macOS Seatbelt via sandbox-exec (default `permissive-open` profile) and container-based Docker/Podman with a published sandbox image (https://qwenlm.github.io/qwen-code-docs/en/users/features/sandbox/). |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes`orca exec` runs headlessly with resumable sessions and an optional verifier command. | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | DeepSeek | Qwen3-Coder, OpenAI-compatible, Claude, Gemini |
| Bring your own model | No | Yes |
| Local models | No | Yes |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | n/a |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | 509 | 28,271 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Orca Agent | Qwen Code | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.0 | 7.0 | no preference |
| El Crítico | 6.8 | 6.3 | Orca Agent — Trust is granted per folder and the row documents no expiry, no revocation and no review of what is currently trusted. |
| El Profesor | 7.5 | 6.0 | Orca Agent — Subagent identity is runtime-owned rather than model-supplied: synchronous, asynchronous and workflow children all receive continuation ids from the runtime. |
| La Inversora | 6.3 | 6.8 | Qwen Code — Alibaba killed the Qwen OAuth free tier on 2026-04-15, the classic subsidy-to-subscription turn, and 27,000 stars now have to pay someone. |
| La Jefa | 6.3 | 5.8 | Orca Agent — orca exec runs in a pipeline with resumable and forkable sessions, which is the difference between a demo and a step I can put in front of a merge. |
| El Hacker | 6.8 | 8.8 | Qwen Code — Apache-2.0, OPENAI_BASE_URL pointed at my own box, modelProviders in settings.json, and MCP servers with a command or an httpUrl; the whole thing is mine to fork. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.