Devika vs OpenHands
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Open-source experimental AI agent that tries to plan, research, and write software from a plain-language goal.
Open source · MIT
A self-hosted control panel that runs AI coding agents on your machine, in Docker, or in the cloud.
The short answer
Choose Devika if you need…
- Developers curious about how autonomous coding agents work and who want to experiment with one
- Hobbyists who want to try an agent on small, low-stakes coding tasks
- Contributors who want to help build an early-stage agent project
- People who already have API keys for supported models and want a self-hosted option
Choose OpenHands if you need…
- Developers who want coding agents running on a server while their laptop is off
- Teams that want a shared agent server for tasks like code review or dependency updates
- People who want to connect agents to Slack, GitHub, or Linear through automations
- Users who want to choose their own LLM provider
Side-by-side
| Devika | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | AI model / agent | App |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 19.6k | 92.5k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Python | TypeScript |
| Last code update | 14 months ago | 4 days ago |
What each one is
Devika
Devika is an experimental AI software engineer. You give it a high-level task in a chat interface, and it tries to break the task into steps, search the web for information, and write code. It works with several large language models, including Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, and local models via Ollama. The project is modeled after Devin by Cognition AI and is an open-source attempt at a similar idea.
OpenHands
Agent Canvas is a self-hosted control center for AI coding agents. You start conversations with agents and set up automations, such as generating reports that publish to Slack or breaking GitHub issues into tasks. It runs on your own machine by default and can also connect to agents running in Docker, on virtual machines, or on OpenHands Cloud or Enterprise infrastructure. It can run the open source OpenHands agent or third-party agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI.
Best for
Devika
- Developers curious about how autonomous coding agents work and who want to experiment with one
- Hobbyists who want to try an agent on small, low-stakes coding tasks
- Contributors who want to help build an early-stage agent project
- People who already have API keys for supported models and want a self-hosted option
OpenHands
- Developers who want coding agents running on a server while their laptop is off
- Teams that want a shared agent server for tasks like code review or dependency updates
- People who want to connect agents to Slack, GitHub, or Linear through automations
- Users who want to choose their own LLM provider
Strengths
Devika
- Open source under the MIT License, so the code can be read, modified, and reused
- Supports many model providers, including local models through Ollama
- Active public project with an issue tracker, discussions, and a Discord community
OpenHands
- Self-hosted, so you control where agents run and where your work is stored
- Supports several agents and backends from one frontend
- Released under the MIT license with a large public community (about 92,000 stars)
Not ideal for
Devika
- Anyone needing reliable production code, since the README says the project is in a very early, experimental stage with many unimplemented or broken features
- Non-technical users who cannot set up Python, Node.js, and API keys
- Teams that need a supported product with documentation and guarantees, since no release is listed
OpenHands
- People who need strong isolation by default: the quickstart without a sandbox gives the agent full access to your filesystem
- Non-technical users who are not comfortable with Node.js, npm, Docker, or the command line
- Anyone who needs a fully hosted service with no setup, since the README centers on self-hosting
Trade-offs
Devika
- The README states it is very early and experimental with many unimplemented or broken features
- Web research requires search API keys such as Bing or Google, adding setup work
- Setup involves several tools (uv, bun, Playwright, Python 3.10 or 3.11, Node.js 18+) and separate frontend and backend processes
OpenHands
- Running without a sandbox gives the agent full access to your filesystem, so the Docker options need careful setup
- Multiple features depend on configuring backends, LLM keys, and integrations, which takes effort
- The README is truncated and does not fully document security hardening or every integration; see the linked docs
Getting started
Devika
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/stitionai/devika.gitEnter the project directory
cd devikaOpenHands
Install globally with npm (no sandbox)
npm install -g @openhands/agent-canvasStart the full local stack
agent-canvasFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Devika and OpenHands?
Devika: Open-source experimental AI agent that tries to plan, research, and write software from a plain-language goal. OpenHands: A self-hosted control panel that runs AI coding agents on your machine, in Docker, or in the cloud. Devika suits developers curious about how autonomous coding agents work and who want to experiment with one, while OpenHands suits developers who want coding agents running on a server while their laptop is off.
Are Devika and OpenHands free?
Devika: Free and open source. OpenHands: Free and open source.
Is Devika or OpenHands more popular?
OpenHands has more GitHub stars (92.5k) than Devika (19.6k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Devika and OpenHands?
Other options people compare them with include SWE-agent, One API, LlamaGPT, codex-chatgpt-web, wechat-bot.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.