Kilo Code
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 18 AI coding agents by recommenders
Open-source VS Code extension for switching between many AI models and providers, a model-agnostic alternative to Cursor. Critics mainly flag background npm package downloads.
Open-source VS Code extension for switching between many AI models and providers, a model-agnostic alternative to Cursor. Critics mainly flag background npm package downloads.
58 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 46
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 46 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong alternative to Cline and RooCode
“found Cline/RooCode/KiloCode in VSC to be pretty good, while letting me preserve my existing setup”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “We Might All Be AI Engineers Now” “KiloCode/RooCode/Cline in VSC which are nice, but might miss out on some more specific tools”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “GPT-5.2” “be it with OpenCode or Copilot or Cline/RooCode/KiloCode”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Anthropic bans use of API in OpenCode CLI tool” - Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “I switched from VSCode to Zed”
- Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: RowboatX – open-source Claude Code for everyday automations”
- Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “GLM-4.7-Flash”
- Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Sweep, Open-weights 1.5B model for next-edit autocomplete”
Works with many models and providers
“RooCode and KiloCode also have an Orchestrator mode that can create sub-tasks and you can specify which model to use for what”
Comment from 22 Dec 2025 in “A guide to local coding models” “Using openrouter+kilocode I can simply switch between different providers' models and not miss out on anything.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “OpenClaw, OpenAI and the Future” “You also have model-agnostic agents like Cursor and Kilo Code (disclaimer: I work at Kilo)”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: How can I get better at using AI for programming?” - Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News
- Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Claude.ai and API Unavailable”
Credits roll over, free models
“It's basically a fixed subscription and your credits roll over each month, and you get free extra credits too”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “GPT-5.3-Codex” “I have had very good results and compared to others it just costs pennies.”
Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “OpenAI mulls slashing prices as it competes with Anthropic for users” “Kilocode with options of free models has been very nice so far.”
Comment from 20 Dec 2025 in “Graphite is joining Cursor” - Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing”
Open source, Cursor-like without lock-in
“Similar to Cursor, open source, based on open code, compatible with claude code configuration and works with all providers.”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “SpaceX and Cursor partnership. Right to acquire Cursor later this year” “does most of what I liked in Cursor without tying me to their particular subscription”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “SpaceX and Cursor partnership. Right to acquire Cursor later this year” “vscode extension as well but open source and based on OpenCode”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “SpaceX Strikes Deal With Cursor for $60 Billion”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Installs npm packages in background silently
“popular AI coding harness (e.g. OpenCode/KiloCode) will just download random npm packages in the background without you knowing”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “NPM packages from RedHat have been compromised” “popular AI coding harness (OpenCode/KiloCode) will just download random npm packages in the background without you knowing”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “NPM packages from RedHat have been compromised” “popular harness (OpenCode/KiloCode) just random downloads npm packages in the background and didn't tell you”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “1-Click GitHub Token Stealing via a VSCode Bug” - Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “NPM packages from RedHat have been compromised”
Output quality often weaker than alternatives
“OpenCode and Kilocode and others are great, but not as good”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Why 157,000 developers are hedging against Anthropic with OpenCode” “I tried Kilo Code and CoPilot and JetBrain's agent and others direct against Sonnet 4 and the output was ... not good”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “How I use every Claude Code feature” Recent versions feel worse
“it's a noticeable regression when I hit a limit and move to kilocode”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “OpenAI's latest repo has Claude as the third top contributor” “most recent Kilocode is streamlined into mediocrity”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)”
Other AI coding agents people recommend
The four most recommended other AI coding agents, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | 4,522 | 3,788 | 54% | 13 | 6 mo417 owners | — |
| OpenAI Codex | 2,474 | 1,289 | 66% | 13 | 3 mo165 owners | — |
| OpenCode | 1,060 | 572 | 65% | 13 | 2 mo41 owners | — |
| Gemini CLI | 172 | 321 | 35% | 12 | 3 mo9 owners | — |
| Kilo CodeThis page | 46 | 12 | 79% | 12 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 83 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If I want to see the code I just run kilo code in VS locally.”
“let you work with local models much like you would with cloud based solutions”
“Yeah maybe Claude/OpenCode/KiloCode/Hermes/whatever are not as minimal as Pi but they also work right now.”
“This is exactly how many great products start—solving your own problem first.”
“It is also model-independent but not terminal based.”
“I have had very good results and compared to others it just costs pennies.”
“Kilocode with Chinese models can do a pretty complicated piece of software for me”
“most recent Kilocode is streamlined into mediocrity”
“KiloCode is essentially the above, but for VSC derived editors”
“popular harness (OpenCode/KiloCode) just random downloads npm packages in the background and didn't tell you”
“popular AI coding harness (e.g. OpenCode/KiloCode) will just download random npm packages in the background without you knowing”
“downloads random npm packages in the background without you knowing”
“popular AI coding harness (OpenCode/KiloCode) will just download random npm packages in the background without you knowing”
“OpenCode and Kilocode and others are great, but not as good”
“Claude amp, cline, kilo etc plugins all work great with it”
“allows you to switch between models mid session!”
“allows you to keep your credits at the end of the month”
“vscode extension as well but open source and based on OpenCode”
“Similar to Cursor, open source, based on open code, compatible with claude code configuration and works with all providers.”
“does most of what I liked in Cursor without tying me to their particular subscription”
“it's a noticeable regression when I hit a limit and move to kilocode”
“Great way to learn more about terminal modes and write some raw C”
“found Cline/RooCode/KiloCode in VSC to be pretty good, while letting me preserve my existing setup”
“Using openrouter+kilocode I can simply switch between different providers' models and not miss out on anything.”
“We saw this play out beautifully with amp, kilo, roo, cline, continue”
“It's basically a fixed subscription and your credits roll over each month, and you get free extra credits too”
“It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code”
“KiloCode and others are really nice IDE plugins”
“I've heard great things about Roo/Cline/KiloCode”
“be it with OpenCode or Copilot or Cline/RooCode/KiloCode”
“For most other stuff I prefer Cline/RooCode/KiloCode”
“RooCode and KiloCode also have an Orchestrator mode that can create sub-tasks and you can specify which model to use for what”
“Kilocode with options of free models has been very nice so far.”
“You also have model-agnostic agents like Cursor and Kilo Code (disclaimer: I work at Kilo)”
“KiloCode/RooCode/Cline in VSC which are nice, but might miss out on some more specific tools”
“KiloCode/RooCode/Cline are unable to give a model enough helpful instructions”
“Kilocode and Cline for user friendly alternatives”
“they all seem to integrate everything from tab-completion to complete UI agentic take-over very well”
“building the fastest-evolving open-source AI coding agent to make programming accessible to developers everywhere”
“I tried Kilo Code and CoPilot and JetBrain's agent and others direct against Sonnet 4 and the output was ... not good”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.