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Comparison · ai-assistants

opencode vs OpenHands

A side-by-side editorial comparison of opencode and OpenHands — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

opencode vs OpenHands: at a glance

FeatureopencodeOpenHands
Sectorai-assistantsai-assistants
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesai-coding-agent, cli, open-source, release-pipelinecoding-agents, saas, enterprise, agent-canvas
Last editorial update2d ago5d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is opencode?

opencode keeps publishing process-daemon patches on protocol 8.

The newest tags are npm publishes of the process daemon: @opencode/pty reached 0.5.0 on protocol 8 on November 5 and got 0.5.1 and 0.5.2 patches on November 11. Before that came 0.3.x and 0.4.0 on protocol 7, a CI pin and an app animation change. None of these tags describe a change to the agent itself.

Read the full opencode trajectory →

What is OpenHands?

OpenHands' latest releases are security rebuilds of its Agent Canvas

OpenHands ships its hosted Cloud product in small, frequent increments, and the July 1.4x run added Agent Profiles, budget dashboards and SaaS auth around Agent Canvas. The newest entries, two Agent Canvas 1.23.0 rebuilds, only swap in patched dependencies.

Read the full OpenHands trajectory →

opencode vs OpenHands: editorial side-by-side

O
opencode
AI-ASSISTANTS
5.0

opencode keeps publishing process-daemon patches on protocol 8.

◆ Current state

The newest tags are npm publishes of the process daemon: @opencode/pty reached 0.5.0 on protocol 8 on November 5 and got 0.5.1 and 0.5.2 patches on November 11. Before that came 0.3.x and 0.4.0 on protocol 7, a CI pin and an app animation change. None of these tags describe a change to the agent itself.

◆ Where it's heading

The feed shows V2 infrastructure settling into separately versioned components. The protocol bump suggests the terminal layer the agent uses is still changing under the hood.

◆ Prediction

The entries don't show the next user-facing release; a CLI or extension update that adopts protocol 8 is the likely next visible tag.

O
OpenHands
AI-ASSISTANTS
5.0

OpenHands' latest releases are security rebuilds of its Agent Canvas

◆ Current state

OpenHands ships its hosted Cloud product in small, frequent increments, and the July 1.4x run added Agent Profiles, budget dashboards and SaaS auth around Agent Canvas. The newest entries, two Agent Canvas 1.23.0 rebuilds, only swap in patched dependencies.

◆ Where it's heading

The visible work is enterprise hardening of a multi-tenant SaaS: authentication gates, key aliases, usage controls and now dependency patching on Agent Canvas as a separately versioned component. Feature delivery has gone quiet in the feed since July.

◆ Prediction

Further Agent Canvas patch rebuilds are likely; the feed gives no signal on the next Cloud feature release.

Alternatives to opencode and OpenHands

Other ai-assistants products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either opencode or OpenHands.

See all opencode alternatives → · See all OpenHands alternatives →

Recent activity from opencode and OpenHands

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 2d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.5.2 published on protocol 8
  2. 2d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.5.1 patch release
  3. 8d agoOpenHandsTemporary PR evidence upload, not a release
  4. 8d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.5.0 moves to protocol 8
  5. 15d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.4.0 published on protocol 7
  6. 15d agoOpenHandsAgent Canvas 1.23.0-r2: dependency security rebuild
  7. 15d agoOpenHandsAgent Canvas 1.23.0-r3: dependency security rebuild
  8. 15d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.3.3 published on protocol 7
  9. 16d agoopencode@opencode/pty 0.3.2 published on protocol 7
  10. 3mo agoOpenHandsCloud 1.47.1: revert to restore default cloud tools
  11. 3mo agoOpenHandsCloud 1.47.0: Agent Canvas gated behind SaaS auth
  12. 4mo agoOpenHandsCloud 1.46.2: PostHog tracking and DB pool fixes

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between opencode and OpenHands?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. opencode and OpenHands are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is opencode better than OpenHands?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. opencode and OpenHands are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other ai-assistants products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to opencode?

Top opencode alternatives in ai-assistants are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "opencode alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/opencode for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to OpenHands?

Top OpenHands alternatives in ai-assistants are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "OpenHands alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/openhands for the full list with editorial commentary on each.