An open-source software development agent platform built by All Hands AI. Inspired by the autonomous AI engineer Devin, it was first released in March 2024 as OpenDevin and later renamed OpenHands. It offers a browser-based GUI, a terminal-native CLI, and an SDK for embedding agents into your own tools, so tasks such as code fixes, reviews, and migrations can be delegated to an agent. The GitHub repository is published under the MIT license and has over 85,000 stars. Its defining traits are that you can run it on your own infrastructure — locally or in the cloud — and that it is model-agnostic rather than tied to a single LLM.
Key Features
- Three entry points: GUI, CLI, and SDK: A browser-based conversation view lets you follow the agent’s work and give instructions, while the CLI keeps everything in the terminal and the SDK embeds agent capabilities into your own products. The same foundation serves all three use cases
- Open source, built for self-hosting: All code is published under the MIT license and can be started locally from a Docker image or an npm package. That makes it approachable for teams that would rather not hand their source code to an external service
- Model-agnostic (BYOK): You choose the LLM and bring your own API key. Because you are not locked to one vendor’s model, you can switch as costs and capabilities change
- A control center for multiple coding agents: Beyond its own OpenHands agent, it is designed as a management surface for external coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini across local, remote, and cloud backends
- Integration with development workflows: Git integration is built in, and the cloud edition adds Jira and Slack integrations plus an API for automation
- Enterprise deployment options: Available as SaaS or self-hosted inside your own VPC, with SAML/SSO, an SDK for large codebases, and support from a named engineer
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What’s included |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source (local) | Free | 1 user, runs locally; GUI / terminal UI / CLI, Git integration, community support, bring your own model |
| Individual (cloud) | Free | Everything above plus hosted access (desktop and mobile), an API for automation, and Jira / Slack integrations. 1 user, up to 10 conversations per day |
| Enterprise (SaaS / self-hosted) | Custom pricing | Unlimited users and concurrent conversations, deployment in your own VPC, SAML/SSO, SDK for large codebases, priority support |
BYOK — using your own LLM key — is available on every plan. On the Individual plan you can instead use OpenHands’ own models at cost with no markup, though you still pay usage-based charges for whichever model you choose.
Pricing is current as of August 2026. Check the official site for the latest information.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Open source under the MIT license, so you can run it in your own environment free and indefinitely
- Model-agnostic, letting you swap the underlying LLM as prices and capabilities shift
- Can be configured so source code never leaves your infrastructure, which suits confidential projects
- GUI, CLI, and SDK together cover everything from a first trial to embedding agents in your own tooling
- Actively developed, with a community of more than 85,000 stars producing plenty of shared know-how
⚠️ Cons
- Self-hosting requires setting up Docker, Node.js, and similar runtimes yourself, which adds an initial hurdle
- LLM usage is billed separately from the plan, so costs accumulate the longer you let an agent run
- The free cloud tier is limited to 10 conversations a day, so serious use implies either an enterprise contract or self-hosting
- Development moves quickly, and configuration or recommended steps can change between versions
- Agent output is not guaranteed to be correct; code review and testing remain essential
Comparison with Similar Services
| Criteria | OpenHands | Devin | Claude Code | Aider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | All Hands AI | Cognition | Anthropic | Open-source community |
| License | Open source (MIT) | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open source |
| Primary interface | GUI, CLI, SDK | Cloud-hosted autonomous agent | Terminal delegation | Terminal delegation |
| Model choice | Free choice (BYOK) | Set by the provider | Claude | Free choice (BYOK) |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Free usage | Yes (unlimited when self-hosted) | No | Limited, within Claude’s free tier | Yes (LLM costs separate) |
Who Is It For
- Teams that cannot hand source code to an external service and want coding agents running inside their own infrastructure
- Developers who want to pick their own LLM, or to compare several models in production use
- Individual developers who want to keep subscription costs down and pay only for actual LLM usage
- Engineering teams that want to embed agent capabilities into their own tools and control them at the SDK level
- Engineers who want to read, learn from, or modify the internals of a coding agent
Summary
The value of OpenHands lies in treating coding agents as a foundation you assemble and run yourself, rather than a black box hosted by someone else. Being MIT-licensed open source, being model-agnostic, and offering three entry points — GUI, CLI, and SDK — are the main differences from commercial agent services. A practical path is to try the free cloud tier or a local Docker run first, then set up a self-hosted configuration once ongoing use looks likely.