Open-source / BYOK coding agents tier list

Bring your own key, own your workflow.

Preliminary: testing in progress. No tool has been ranked yet. The tiers stay empty until our standardized test is run and the receipts are published. The pool below is unranked and in no particular order.

Tiers

S
Awaiting test results
A
Awaiting test results
B
Awaiting test results
C
Awaiting test results

Unranked pool (candidates, no particular order)

What is the best open-source AI coding agent?

We haven't picked one yet. Testing is in progress. The candidates we're testing are Cline, Aider, OpenCode, Roo Code, Gemini CLI. The tiers stay empty until every tool has run the same standardized test and the receipts are published.

How will VibeTierList rank each open-source coding agent?

Every tool gets the same task: Same task as coding agents, with the underlying model held constant. The prompt, budget, time limit and scoring sheet are identical for every tool.

Can a open-source coding agent pay to rank higher?

No. Payment never buys rank on VibeTierList. Sponsored content, if any, is always labeled and kept separate from the tiers.

The standardized test

Same task as coding agents, with the underlying model held constant.

Same prompt, budget, time limit and scoring sheet for every tool. Read the methodology