· Harness/ Head to head

Claude Code vs OpenAI Agents SDK

OpenAI Agents SDK is open source and Claude Code is not, so the question is whether you want source access and the option to fork, or would rather have a vendor accountable for it.

Claude Code

Anthropic's coding agent — terminal, IDE and SDK, with hooks, skills and MCP built in.

Proprietary · paid · hosted service only

Configure via .claude/settings.json; drop reusable procedures in .claude/skills/.

OpenAI Agents SDK

Lightweight loop with handoffs, guardrails and sessions.

Open source · usage based · hosted service only · SDKs for Python and TypeScript

· Side by side/ 5 of 6 differ
Claude CodeOpenAI Agents SDK
LicenceProprietaryOpen source
Pricingpaidusage based
Self-hostableNoNo
LanguagesAny languagePython, TypeScript
Installnpm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-codepip install openai-agents
Keys requiredANTHROPIC_API_KEYOPENAI_API_KEY
· Common questions/ FAQ

What is the difference between Claude Code and OpenAI Agents SDK?

OpenAI Agents SDK is open source and Claude Code is not, so the question is whether you want source access and the option to fork, or would rather have a vendor accountable for it. Claude Code: Anthropic's coding agent — terminal, IDE and SDK, with hooks, skills and MCP built in. OpenAI Agents SDK: Lightweight loop with handoffs, guardrails and sessions.

Can Claude Code and OpenAI Agents SDK be self-hosted?

Claude Code is a hosted service only. OpenAI Agents SDK is a hosted service only.

Are Claude Code and OpenAI Agents SDK open source?

Claude Code is proprietary (paid). OpenAI Agents SDK is open source (usage based).

Build a stack with Claude CodeAll harness options
· For agents/ This page, machine-readable

Every page here answers to Accept: text/markdown and returns the same content at roughly a tenth the tokens. No separate site, no toggle — same URL.

curl -s -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://newagent.build/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-agents-sdk