Rating certificate · AW/26-09/16326 Sept 2026
73of 100
The Register / Coding agents / Claude Code
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
Claude Code
Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent. It reads and edits code, runs shell commands and works across a repository from the CLI, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, the Claude desktop app, the web and mobile, and it is available as the Claude Agent SDK. Since August 2026 its default permission mode on most plans is auto mode, where a classifier model reviews actions instead of prompting the user; an OS-level Bash sandbox is available but opt-in. It is included in Claude Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans and can also run on API billing.
What reviewers and users praise
- Widely treated by practitioners as a reference coding agent and daily driver (Simon Willison; HN comments)
- Deep configurability through CLAUDE.md, skills and hooks rewards investment (Composio 100+ hour comparison)
- Explains its own changes well enough to support review workflows (Every / Kieran Klaassen)
What they criticise
- Frequent complaints about usage limits and token burn on subscription plans (HN, r/ClaudeCode)
- Long record of security advisories in the CLI (about 30 GHSA/CVE entries in 24 months) plus a March 2026 source-map leak
- Auto mode default relies on a classifier that has been bypassed in published research (Johann Rehberger via Simon Willison)
- Terminal UI performance complaints such as freezing and memory use (Douglas Mendes; HN)
Experts vs the crowdcrowd cooler by 22
Experts68
Crowd46
| Price | From $20 |
|---|---|
| Use it via | CLI, IDE extension, Desktop app, Web app, Mobile app, API |
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows, web |
| Licence | proprietary |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Coding agents: adoption 35%, experts 40%, crowd 25%. Pillars without enough evidence are left out and the others re-weighted. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 35% | 97 | GitHub stars 148k → 96 · npm weekly downloads 12M → 100 · VS Code / Open VSX installs 26M → 93 · 75 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | 68 | 8 independent reviews (4 positive · 4 mixed · 0 negative), averaged toward 50 for small samples. Benchmarks, shown not scored: Terminal-Bench 2.0 No. 31 of 43 (Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.6) |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | 46 | 17 dated posts from hackernews, reddit: 6 positive · 3 mixed · 8 negative (positive + ½ mixed) ÷ n, averaged toward 50 for small samples |
| Rating | 73 | high confidence (3 of 3 pillars, 17 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 2 GitHub issues not counted as sentiment. 2 posts over the three-per-thread limit not counted. 1 item could not be checked at the source (the page could not be fetched, or the quote is from a comment under the linked post); kept and marked “unverified”. How evidence is checked.
Editorial adjustment. One reviewer counts once: Simon Willison has two reviews; the later one (2026-08-08) is kept. HN 49852725 is excluded: a joke ("…text comes down from the top of the screen, in green, like The Matrix?"), not sentiment.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
C
Permission model
Since v2.1.283 auto mode is the built-in starting permission mode for interactive terminal and VS Code sessions (earlier: default on Pro, Max and Team from 2026-08-14). In auto mode a classifier model approves actions instead of the user. Manual mode, deny/ask rules and an OS-level Bash sandbox exist, but the sandbox is opt-in via /sandbox. Graded C literally: auto-executes by default with a classifier guard; controls are opt-in. source
A
Data access scope
In Manual mode writes are limited to the start folder and subfolders; reads outside it prompt; additional directories are explicitly configured; sandbox denyRead rules available. source
B
Data storage
Runs locally but prompts and outputs are sent to Anthropic (or Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry); cloud sessions store transcripts; documented retention, deletion of sessions, encryption at rest and ZDR for eligible Enterprise accounts. Local transcripts kept 30 days by default. source
C
Data retention & training
Consumer (Free/Pro/Max): Anthropic trains on data when the user's model-improvement setting is on (user choice); retention 5 years if on, 30 days if off. Commercial (Team/Enterprise/API): no training, 30-day retention, ZDR available. Graded on the consumer default, where training is controlled by an opt-out-style setting. source
C
Incident history (24 months)
About 30 GitHub security advisories on the Claude Code repo between 2025-06 and 2026-09, most rated high (approval-prompt bypasses, sandbox escapes, trust-dialog bypasses, privilege escalation); each fixed and disclosed. Separately, the full CLI source was exposed via a source map in the npm package on 2026-03-31. Regraded from D: Revision 2: serious issues that were each fixed and publicly disclosed grade C; D is kept for unresolved issues or slow or undisclosed fixes. source
A
Compliance
Claude Code security docs point to the Anthropic Trust Center for the SOC 2 Type 2 report and ISO 27001 certificate. source
B
Transparency
Closed source (repo holds issues, plugins and a detailed CHANGELOG.md); extensive public docs; frequent GitHub releases. source
The experts
8 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- mixed
I absolutely buy that auto mode is a better solution than asking humans to constantly approve actions
Simon Willison · 8 Aug 2026 · simonwillison.net - positive
I asked Claude Code to investigate and fix it. By morning, the fix had touched 27 files, and more than 1,000 lines of code had changed.
Kieran Klaassen (Every) · 23 Jan 2026 · every.to - mixed
it feels like a big step up in capabilities and quality. But it did not fit my workflow
Douglas Mendes (DEV Community) · 27 Feb 2026 · dev.to - mixed
Write a good CLAUDE.md, build out a skills folder, and you'll be rewarded.
Prathit Joshi (Composio blog) · 18 Aug 2026 · composio.dev - mixed
Claude Code is expensive for what most solo developers need
Romain Cochard (Hack'celeration) · 1 Jan 2026 · hackceleration.com - positive
It doesn’t just suggest code; it acts as a collaborator that runs tests, reads terminal output, and fixes its own bugs in a tight loop
Parth Shah (XDA Developers) · 12 Apr 2026 · xda-developers.com - positive
For a developer who codes most days, Claude Code is an easy yes at $20, and close to automatic if you already pay for Claude Pro
Louis Corneloup (Techpresso AI Academy) · 23 Jul 2026 · academy.techpresso.co - positive
Forty-seven days in, it’s the first AI coding tool that’s changed the actual shape of my workday rather than just speeding up the typing part of it.
Ayeshha (Medium) · 18 Sept 2026 · unverified · medium.com
The crowd
17 coded posts from hackernews, reddit.
6 positive3 mixed8 negative
- positive
But after using Claude Code myself, and seeing how our best engineers build with it, I changed my mind.
HN comment · 30 Oct 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
It's just wrong to have such a key tool in your development toolchain obfuscated.
HN comment · 30 Oct 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Claude Code is widely regarded to be the best coding agent tool right now and it uses search, not embeddings.
HN comment · 29 Nov 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Claude became my co-founder.
r/ClaudeCode · 31 Dec 2025 · reddit.com - mixed
anything I say even related to system design, it will mostly be in affirmative.
HN comment · 29 Mar 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
Claude Code itself is complete trash. They had a massive headstart and now are routinely lapped by open source harnesses
HN comment · 28 Apr 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
Now i get why in the last days claude code limits were lasting few prompts ...
HN comment · 28 May 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
I got banned after creating a new account for a new employer.
HN comment · 27 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (see notes) | Claude Free plan does not include Claude Code. |
| Pro | $20 / monthly | $17/month when billed annually ($200/year). Includes Claude Code. |
| Max 5x | $100 / monthly | Includes Claude Code with higher usage limits. |
| Max 20x | Custom | Pricing page fetch rendered this tier as variable/'$100+'; exact figure not captured. |
| Team Standard seat | $25 / monthly | $20/seat/month billed annually; includes Claude Code. |
| Team Premium seat | $125 / monthly | $100/seat/month billed annually. |
| Enterprise / API | Custom | Enterprise by contact; API usage billed per token. |
Recent changes
- 25 Sept 2026
v2.1.283: auto mode becomes the built-in starting permission mode for interactive terminal and VS Code sessions on all plans. source
- 18 Sept 2026
AGENTS.md support noted in Claude Code (Simon Willison link post). source
- 14 Aug 2026
Auto mode made the default for new sessions on most Claude Code plans. source
- 27 Aug 2026
Published research (Johann Rehberger) shows an auto-mode bypass succeeding about 80% of the time via a confused-environment attack. source
- 31 Mar 2026
Source code exposed via npm source map in v2.1.88. source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Coding agents.
OpenCodeAnomaly75
Zed (Agent Panel)Zed Industries73
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft)72
Codex (CLI and app)OpenAI71
Grok BuildSpaceXAI (formerly xAI)68
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.