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Shortlist

# Which coding agent to shortlist

Claude Code and Cursor lead this shortlist. Claude Code is the commercial terminal agent, with a run-rate above $2.5 billion stated by Anthropic in February 2026. Cursor is the editor with agents built in, with a run-rate above $4 billion reported by Forbes in June 2026. Codex CLI is the main open-source alternative, with more than 5 million weekly users reported by OpenAI in June 2026.

## Quick pick

-   Top pick for the terminal
    
    [Claude Code](#pick-claude-code)
    
    Anthropic's command-line agent. It works inside your repo.
    
-   Top pick for an IDE
    
    [Cursor](#pick-cursor)
    
    Cursor 3’s Agents Window runs many agents at once, local or cloud.
    
-   Best open-source option
    
    [OpenAI Codex](#pick-codex)
    
    OpenAI's open-source command-line agent, with a cloud version.
    

## At a glance

Figures checked Nov 9, 2026. Updated Nov 11, 2026.

[How we rank](https://www.agentlist.io/methodology)

### How sure we are

-   Verified
-   Reported
-   Estimated
-   Stale
-   GitHub

### On this page

-   [Quick pick](#quick-pick)
-   [Ordered shortlist](#ordered-shortlist)
-   [Compare on](#compare-on)
-   [Cloud and background agents](#cloud-agents)
-   [Code review](#code-review)
-   [How we picked](#how-picked)
-   [Questions](#buyer-faq)
-   [Runners-up](#runners)

### Neighbours

-   [Cloud agents](#cloud-agents)
    
    Hosted and background agents are a section on this page until they have their own page.
    
-   [Code review](#code-review)
    
    This page does not rank code-review tools. The survey does not support a separate scored shortlist here.
    
-   [App builders](https://www.agentlist.io/app-builders)
    
    Lovable and other app builders are a different job.
    
-   [Customer support](https://www.agentlist.io/customer-support)
    
    Resolving a company’s customers is a different job from writing code.
    

## Ordered shortlist

1.  01
    
    [Claude Code](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/claude-code)
    
    Commercial
    
    Coding agents
    
    Anthropic's command-line coding agent.
    
    $2.5B+ annual run-rateVerifiedAs of Feb 12, 2026[Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-raises-30-billion-series-g-funding-380-billion-post-money-valuation)
    
    Company-wide run-rate about $81 billionVerified As of Oct 31, 2026
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Verified, primary.
    -   Terminal agent. The run-rate is reported, not a fetched company filing.
    -   Anthropic says it more than doubled since January 1, and enterprise is over half of it. Anthropic’s whole-company run-rate was $81 billion at the end of October (CNBC, 2026-11-10, citing its updated IPO filing).
    -   Company-wide run-rate about $81 billion. From Anthropic’s amended IPO filing, up $10 billion from September. It covers all of Anthropic, not Claude Code alone, and the filing says the figure is not independently verified.
    -   155,099 GitHub stars. GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
    -   155,099 GitHub stars. GitHub snapshot. As of 2026-11-09.
    
2.  02
    
    [Cursor](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/cursor)
    
    Commercial
    
    Agentic development environments
    
    An editor with an agents-first window and a command line.
    
    $4B+ annual run-rateReportedAs of Jun 8, 2026[Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardnieva/2026/06/08/cursor-4-billion-annualized-revenue/)
    
    About $60B implied equity valueReported As of Nov 9, 2026
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Reported.
    -   Editor with agents. The run-rate and the equity figure are separate.
    -   From a person familiar with the matter, up from $3 billion in late April (Bloomberg) and $2 billion in February. Cursor told Forbes about 75% comes from businesses. Cursor itself confirmed above $1 billion in November 2025.
    -   About $60 billion implied equity. TechCrunch reported talks at $50 billion on 2026-04-17. That is an earlier, separate figure.
    
3.  03
    
    [OpenAI Codex](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/codex-cli)
    
    Open source
    
    Coding agents
    
    OpenAI's open-source command-line agent, with a cloud version.
    
    5M+ weekly usersVerifiedAs of Jun 2, 2026[OpenAI](https://openai.com/index/codex-for-knowledge-work/)
    
    40M weekly users, combined with ChatGPT WorkReported As of Oct 7, 2026
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Verified, primary.
    -   Open-source CLI and a cloud product. One user figure for both.
    -   Codex alone, per OpenAI. About 20% are knowledge workers. OpenAI has not published a Codex-only count since the July merge with ChatGPT Work, and does not break out Codex revenue.
    -   40 million weekly users, Codex and ChatGPT Work combined. A combined figure for two products, not a Codex count.
    -   134,441 GitHub stars. GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
    -   134,441 GitHub stars. GitHub snapshot. As of 2026-11-09.
    
4.  04
    
    [GitHub Copilot](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/copilot)
    
    Commercial
    
    Agentic development environments
    
    GitHub's coding agent inside your IDE.
    
    50 million total usersReportedAs of July 2026[AI Business](https://aibusiness.vc/b2b/github-copilot-2b-arr)
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Reported.
    -   Default IDE agent. The 50 million user figure is a third-party estimate.
    -   Placed by judgment, above its survey rank. An ARR estimate on the source page was not used.
    -   Survey notes also record 4.7 million paid subscribers as of January 2026. The stored source page is an ARR article. An ARR dollar estimate on that page was not used.
    
5.  05
    
    [Devin](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/devin)
    
    Commercial
    
    Coding agents
    
    A hosted agent that takes a task and works in the cloud.
    
    $48B post-money, almost $900M run-rateVerifiedAs of Nov 9, 2026[Cognition blog](https://cognition.com/blog/series-e)
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Verified, primary.
    -   Hosted agent from Cognition. $48 billion post-money and a run-rate near $900 million, both on its Series E post.
    -   The survey fetched this page. The post date was not copied onto the card. Named customers on the survey row: NVIDIA, GE Aerospace, Citi, Mercedes-Benz, and Modal. Talk of a $70–80 billion valuation was not used.
    
6.  06
    
    [Factory](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/factory)
    
    Commercial
    
    Coding agents
    
    Droid agents on desktop, terminal and cloud, with any model.
    
    $5B valuationReportedAs of Sep 15, 2026[Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/ai-coding-agent-startup-factory-triples-valuation-to-5-billion-latest-funding-round-2026-09-15/)
    
    About $60 million annualized revenue, March 2026Estimated As of 2026-03
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: Reported.
    -   Droid runs on desktop, terminal and cloud with any model. $5 billion valuation (Reuters, Sep 2026). Plans from $20 a month.
    -   Reuters reported that Factory tripled its valuation.
    -   About $60 million annualized revenue, March 2026. Sacra’s estimate, up from $5 million at the end of 2025.
    
7.  07
    
    [OpenCode](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/opencode)
    
    Open source
    
    Coding agents
    
    An open-source command-line coding agent.
    
    225,683 GitHub starsGitHubAs of Nov 9, 2026[GitHub repository](https://github.com/anomalyco/opencode)
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: GitHub snapshot.
    -   Open-source CLI. Stars are the scale signal.
    -   GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
    
8.  08
    
    [OpenHands](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/openhands)
    
    Open source
    
    Coding agents
    
    Open-source control center for running several coding agents yourself.
    
    93,250 GitHub starsGitHubAs of Nov 11, 2026[GitHub repository](https://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands)
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: GitHub snapshot.
    -   Open-source control center that runs Claude Code, Codex and other agents on your own machine. 93,250 stars.
    -   GitHub star count on Nov 11, 2026. Stars show interest, not users.
    
9.  09
    
    [Gemini CLI](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/gemini-cli)
    
    Open source
    
    Coding agents
    
    Google's open-source command-line coding agent.
    
    108,746 GitHub starsGitHubAs of Nov 9, 2026[GitHub repository](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli)
    
    Evidence notes
    
    -   Evidence level: GitHub snapshot.
    -   Open-source CLI. Antigravity is the commercial successor surface.
    -   GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
    
10.  10
     
     [Cline](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/cline)
     
     Open source
     
     Coding agents
     
     An open-source coding agent that runs inside your IDE.
     
     71,467 GitHub starsGitHubAs of Nov 9, 2026[GitHub repository](https://github.com/cline/cline)
     
     About $5M ARREstimated As of August 2025
     
     Evidence notes
     
     -   Evidence level: GitHub snapshot.
     -   IDE extension. Stars lead. The ARR estimate stays secondary.
     -   GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
     -   About $5 million ARR. Third-party estimate, low confidence.
     
11.  11
     
     [Aider](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/aider)
     
     Open source
     
     Coding agents
     
     An open-source command-line pair programmer.
     
     50,042 GitHub starsGitHubAs of Nov 9, 2026[GitHub repository](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider)
     
     Evidence notes
     
     -   Evidence level: GitHub snapshot.
     -   Open-source CLI. Stars are the scale signal.
     -   GitHub star count from the 2026-11-09 snapshot.
     
12.  12
     
     [Google Antigravity](https://www.agentlist.io/systems/antigravity)
     
     Commercial
     
     Agentic development environments
     
     Google’s agent-first app, free for individuals.
     
     2.4M+ weekly active usersReportedAs of Jul 23, 2026[Kalkine](https://kalkine.com/news/artificial-intelligence/google-antigravity-reaches-24-million-weekly-users-as-alphabet-expands-ai-coding-subscription-strategy)
     
     Evidence notes
     
     -   Evidence level: Reported.
     -   Commercial IDE with no sourced dollar figure.
     -   Placed by judgment. Listed because Google’s catalog treats it as the successor to Gemini Code Assist surfaces.
     -   As reported by Kalkine; the page could not be opened, so the figure is carried as reported. At Google I/O in May 2026 Google said millions of developers use Antigravity.
     

## Compare on

| Brand | Type | Surface | License | Headline figure |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Claude Code | Commercial | CLI | Not open source | $2.5B+ annual run-rate · Verified |
| Cursor | Commercial | IDE | Not open source | $4B+ annual run-rate · Reported |
| OpenAI Codex | Open source | CLI | Apache-2.0 | 5M+ weekly users · Verified |
| GitHub Copilot | Commercial | IDE, with CLI and cloud surfaces | Not open source | 50 million total users · Reported |
| Devin | Commercial | Cloud agent and desktop app | Not open source | $48B post-money, almost $900M run-rate · Verified |
| Factory | Commercial | Desktop, CLI and cloud | Not open source | $5B valuation · Reported |
| OpenCode | Open source | CLI | MIT | 225,683 GitHub stars · GitHub |
| OpenHands | Open source | Self-hosted control center for agents | MIT | 93,250 GitHub stars · GitHub |
| Gemini CLI | Open source | CLI | Apache-2.0 | 108,746 GitHub stars · GitHub |
| Cline | Open source | IDE extension | Apache-2.0 | 71,467 GitHub stars · GitHub |
| Aider | Open source | CLI | Apache-2.0 | 50,042 GitHub stars · GitHub |
| Google Antigravity | Commercial | IDE | Not open source | 2.4M+ weekly active users · Reported |

Not recorded in the research: model lock-in, dollar prices, repo-size handling, and enterprise controls.

## Cloud and background agents

These run the job off the laptop. Devin and Factory are ranked in the table above. OpenAI Codex cloud uses the same user figure as Codex CLI and is not counted again.

## Code review

Code review is a neighbour, not a ranked list on this page. The survey does not support a scored code-review shortlist here, so no brands are ordered in this section.

## How we picked

-   Order follows the coding-agents survey, one product per row.
-   GitHub Copilot and Google Antigravity are judgment placements and are labelled. Copilot’s survey rank was lower. Antigravity had no sourced figure.
-   Star counts are the 2026-11-09 GitHub snapshot. The snapshot badge is not a revenue check.
-   Devin and Factory are hosted agents and OpenHands is an open-source control center. All three joined the table in November 2026.

## Questions and answers

**Which AI coding agent is best?**: Our judgmentClaude Code and Cursor lead this shortlist. Claude Code is the terminal agent, with a run-rate above $2.5 billion stated by Anthropic in February 2026. Cursor is the editor with agents built in, with a run-rate above $4 billion reported by Forbes in June 2026. This is an evidence order, not a measured quality rank.

**Which coding agents are free?**: OpenCode (MIT), OpenHands (MIT), Gemini CLI (Apache-2.0), Cline (Apache-2.0), Aider (Apache-2.0), and Codex CLI (Apache-2.0) are open source. That prices the software, not the model. Dollar prices for Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot were not recorded here.

**How do coding agents work?**: The twelve above read a repository and edit code from a CLI, an IDE, or an IDE extension. Devin and Factory run the job off the laptop in the cloud. Interface labels come from the survey subtype.

**Where do coding agents fail?**: Our judgmentThis page has no measured failure study. The weak spot in the evidence is Claude Code’s run-rate, which is a third-party summary of a company statement. A tracker estimate of $15.1 billion was not used.

**How do Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex compare?**: Our judgmentClaude Code and Cursor are the commercial pair, one a CLI and one an IDE. Codex is the open-source CLI plus a cloud product. OpenAI reported more than 5 million weekly users in June 2026. Spec comparisons already exist for Claude Code vs Codex CLI and Claude Code vs Cursor.

## Runners-up

-   Open Interpreter, SWE-agent, Goose, Continue, Qwen Code
    
    Named in the survey. No figure is attached here.
    
-   Zed, Warp, Kiro, Replit Agent, Coder
    
    Named runners. No figure is attached here.
    
-   GitHub Copilot coding agent
    
    Same product as GitHub Copilot in the table above.
    

## Neighbours

-   [Cloud agents](#cloud-agents)
    
    Hosted and background agents are a section on this page until they have their own page.
    
-   [Code review](#code-review)
    
    This page does not rank code-review tools. The survey does not support a separate scored shortlist here.
    
-   [App builders](https://www.agentlist.io/app-builders)
    
    Lovable and other app builders are a different job.
    
-   [Customer support](https://www.agentlist.io/customer-support)
    
    Resolving a company’s customers is a different job from writing code.
    

[Homepage shortlist](https://www.agentlist.io/)[Agentic development environments](https://www.agentlist.io/categories/agentic-development-environments)[Customer support](https://www.agentlist.io/customer-support)[Legal](https://www.agentlist.io/legal)[App builders](https://www.agentlist.io/app-builders)[MCP](https://www.agentlist.io/mcp)[Insurance](https://www.agentlist.io/insurance)

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Source: [Coding agents to shortlist | agentlist.io](https://www.agentlist.io/coding-agents). This is the public page rendered as Markdown; interactive controls require the website.