The subscription question decides most of this
Many older “Claude Code vs OpenCode” articles assume you can log in to OpenCode with your Claude subscription and get the best of both. You can’t anymore.
OpenCode’s provider documentation says plugins exist that let you use Claude Pro/Max in OpenCode, but “Anthropic explicitly prohibits this”. OpenCode stopped bundling those plugins as of version 1.3.0.
The same page lists the subscriptions that do work in OpenCode with no extra setup:
- ChatGPT Plus / Pro (OpenAI models)
- GitHub Copilot
- GitLab Duo
So the practical choice looks like this:
- You want Claude and pay a subscription: Claude Code is Anthropic’s own coding agent and the sanctioned way to use that subscription for agentic coding.
- You want Claude in OpenCode: use an Anthropic API key and pay per token.
- You pay for ChatGPT or Copilot, or want local or open-weight models: OpenCode lets you use what you already have.
The key difference
Both are terminal-first coding agents that read your repository, edit files and run commands.
- Openness. OpenCode is MIT-licensed, with one of the largest followings of any coding agent on GitHub (live star count in the table above). Claude Code is closed source.
- Models. Claude Code runs Claude only. OpenCode works with 75+ providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Vertex AI, DeepSeek, xAI and OpenRouter, plus local models through Ollama, LM Studio and llama.cpp.
- Who tunes it. Anthropic builds Claude Code around its own models. OpenCode has to work well across many models, so how good it is depends partly on which model you pick.
- Surfaces. Claude Code runs in the terminal, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, a desktop app and the browser. OpenCode has a terminal UI, a desktop app (beta) and IDE integration for VS Code-based editors and Zed.
Pricing in practice
| You use… | Claude Code | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|
| A Claude subscription | Pro $20/month ($17 billed yearly), Max 5x $100, Max 20x $200 | Not allowed: use an Anthropic API key instead |
| An Anthropic API key | Pay per token | Pay per token |
| ChatGPT Plus/Pro or GitHub Copilot | Not supported | Works out of the box |
| Local models | Not officially supported | Free (your hardware) |
| OpenCode’s own plans | — | Go $10/month or Go Plus $40/month for curated open coding models; pay-as-you-go hosted gateway |
| The tool itself | Requires a paid Claude plan or API key | Free (MIT) |
Prices are from the official Claude pricing page and OpenCode’s documentation, checked October 22, 2026.
Features side by side
| Claude Code | OpenCode | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Proprietary | MIT |
| Models | Claude | 75+ providers and local models |
| Subscriptions you can reuse | Claude Pro/Max | ChatGPT Plus/Pro, GitHub Copilot, GitLab Duo |
| MCP | Yes | Yes |
| Interfaces | CLI, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, desktop app, browser | Terminal UI, desktop app (beta), IDE integration |
| Enterprise deployment | Claude through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry | Enterprise plan with your own LLM gateway |
Who should pick which
Choose Claude Code if:
- you want Claude and prefer a flat subscription over per-token billing
- you want the agent Anthropic builds and tunes for its own models
- you want the same agent in your terminal, IDE, desktop app and browser
Choose OpenCode if:
- you want open source you can audit or fork
- you already pay for ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot and want a terminal agent that uses it
- you want to switch models per task, or run local and open-weight models
Use both if: you have a Claude subscription for Claude Code and use OpenCode with other models, for example a cheaper open-weight model for routine tasks or a second opinion from GPT.
Hands-on test
We haven’t run a hands-on test of this pair yet. This comparison is based on each project’s documentation, pricing pages and repositories, linked on the Claude Code and OpenCode pages. When we add a test, this page will name the task, the tool and model versions, and the date it was run.
