VT CodevsZero
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
VT Code
vinhnx · Terminal agent
#60OSSMCP
Panel
7.00 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.5
- Usefulness
- 6.7
- Cost
- 8.8
- Longevity
- 6.2
“It supports skills and a plugin system, so you can extend it in two ways and later discover which one is maintained.”
Zero
Gitlawb · Terminal agent
#6OSSMCP
Panel
7.04 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.7
- Usefulness
- 7.0
- Cost
- 8.2
- Longevity
- 6.2
“It accepts image input in a terminal, a sentence that would have ended a career in 2019.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | VT Code | Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local, sandbox |
| Platforms | macos, linux | 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 | YesOnly through the opt-in WebMCP browser bridge. | YesBrowser and terminal control helpers ship with the npm and release builds; source builds need those helper binaries on PATH or configured in local-control settings. |
| Sandboxed execution | No | NoZero ships a native Linux sandbox helper using seccomp rather than Docker; source builds must build the `zero-linux-sandbox` helper separately. |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | No | Yes`zero exec` returns exit codes and has a documented GitHub Action recipe. |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | OpenAI, Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Mistral, xAI, Qwen, Kimi, GitHub Models, Fireworks, MiniMax, Ollama, LM Studio |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | Yes | 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 | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 860 | 1,688 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | VT Code | Zero | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 7.3 | VT Code — Pick it if you want one agent that answers in the terminal and inside Zed; pick an editor-native tool if you never leave the editor. |
| El Crítico | 6.8 | 6.8 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 7.3 | 7.3 | no preference |
| La Inversora | 6.5 | 5.5 | VT Code — 832 stars, one maintainer, no company and nothing hosted: a good tool in a category where good tools are the commodity. |
| La Jefa | 6.0 | 6.8 | Zero — Nothing to license for sixty, and it is the rare tool that returns meaningful exit codes with a documented continuous integration recipe, so it can gate a build. |
| El Hacker | 8.3 | 8.5 | Zero — MIT, twenty-five providers with Ollama and LM Studio among them, and it works as an MCP server as well as a client, so my tools go both ways. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.