Rating certificate · AW/26-09/20626 Sept 2026
70of 100
Kilo Code
Kilo Code, Inc. (acquired by Anaconda, July 2026) · Coding agents
ProvisionalTrust AOpen source
The Register / Coding agents / Kilo Code
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
Kilo Code
Kilo Code is an open-source (MIT) coding agent available as a VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin and CLI, plus cloud agents, automated code review, a Slack integration and an Agent Manager for parallel worktree sessions. Its CLI is a fork of OpenCode and the VS Code extension was rebuilt on the same server core in 2026. Users bring their own keys, run local models, or buy inference through the Kilo Gateway at provider rates; Teams costs $15 per user per month. Anaconda acquired the company in July 2026.
Acquired. Anaconda announced its acquisition of Kilo Code on 15 July 2026; the product continues under the Kilo brand with no announced changes to products or plans ('Kilo remains available today with no changes to existing products, plans, or support for current users').
What reviewers and users praise
- Model-agnostic with local-model support and no inference markup (PromptQuorum, anooptube, HN users running DeepSeek cheaply)
- Codebase indexing praised against terminal agents that read whole files (HN)
- GUI diffs and session history in VS Code for users who prefer an editor over a TUI (HN)
What they criticise
- The v7 rebuild (April 2026) was widely criticised as rushed, more complicated and missing features (r/kilocode)
- Needs active management of models, indexing, permissions and usage billing (diyai.io)
- Context compaction complaints on long sessions (HN)
Experts vs the crowdneeds both scores
Experts67
Crowd—
| Price | Free, paid from $15 |
|---|---|
| Use it via | IDE extension, CLI, Web app, Chat apps, API |
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows, web |
| Licence | MIT |
| 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% | 73 | GitHub stars 27k → 74 · npm weekly downloads 28k → 39 · VS Code / Open VSX installs 1.6M → 59 · Reported users 5M → 73 · 64 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | 67 | 3 independent reviews (2 positive · 1 mixed · 0 negative), averaged toward 50 for small samples. |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | — | Community sample from a single platform |
| Rating | 70 | Provisional: low confidence (2 of 3 pillars, 7 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 1 GitHub issue not counted as sentiment. 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.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: A.
B
Permission model
Per-tool allow/ask/deny permission rules with pattern maps, configurable globally (kilo.jsonc) or per agent. An OS-level sandbox exists on macOS/Linux but 'The sandbox is disabled by default' and is unavailable on Windows. source
A
Data access scope
Permission rules support path/command pattern allowlists (e.g. read '*.md' allow, '*' deny); .kilocodeignore documented. Sandbox, when enabled, restricts writes but not reads. source
A
Data storage
Extension and CLI run locally with BYOK/local models; cloud agents, cloud session history and Kilo Deploy are optional features. source
n/e
Data retention & training
Security page: 'No data retention for AI prompts and outputs on paid plans'. Privacy policy retains account data while the account is active; no statement on model training found on the security page or privacy policy. Free-tier retention and training not established. source
A
Incident history (24 months)
No GitHub security advisories published on Kilo-Org/kilocode and no incidents found in searches (checked 2026-09-26; news coverage search was limited). source
B
Compliance
Security page says SOC 2 documentation is available through the Trust Center; a search result states Kilo is SOC 2 Type I (not Type II). No ISO 27001 found. source
A
Transparency
MIT-licensed source on GitHub with public release notes. source
The experts
3 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- positive
Not a standalone downloadable app — it requires VS Code, a JetBrains IDE, or a terminal/Node or Homebrew environment to install into
Hans Kuepper (PromptQuorum) · 12 Sept 2026 · promptquorum.com - mixed
Kilo Code is one of the more credible open-source alternatives to proprietary AI coding environments.
Steven Jones (diyai.io) · 13 Jul 2026 · diyai.io - positive
is not a nice-to-have for security teams; it's a procurement requirement.
anooptube (blog) · 16 Aug 2026 · anooptube.in
The crowd
7 coded posts from hackernews.
4 positive2 mixed1 negative
- mixed
I've setup VSCode + Kilo Code + Open Router. It works but it's rough.
ChatGPT outage – Resolved · 3 Sept 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
If you can explain how to make compaction not suck in opencode or Kilo Code, I would love to know how.
Our decision on Cursor following its acquisition by SpaceX · 29 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I've been using Kilo Code (with MiniMax M3) with auto approve (similar to dangerously skip permissions) and I haven't had a single incident.
Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code · 10 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Kilo is better than both, as it uses indexing.
Claude Code sends 33k tokens before reading the prompt; OpenCode sends 7k · 12 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
In VSCode: Cline or KiloCode are both good.
GLM 5.2 and the coming AI margin collapse · 7 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I've been using Kilo and I'm pretty happy about it.
Ask HN: What tools are you using for AI-assisted code review? · 23 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
KiloCode is essentially the above, but for VSC derived editors: https://kilo.ai/ (I personally liked RooCode more, but that got retired)
Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? · 5 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
The v7 vision is (kind of) fine, but this release feels rushed with several features broken or missing.
r/kilocode — 'The new Kilocode v7 is awful.' (108 upvotes; posted about April 2026, exact date not retrieved) · — · search snippet · unverified · reddit.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free & Open Source | Free | VS Code, JetBrains and CLI; any model; BYOK, local models or free models. |
| Kilo Gateway | Free | Pay-as-you-go inference at provider rates. |
| Kilo Pass | $19 / monthly | Starting price; prepaid credits with up to 50% bonus. |
| Teams | $15 / monthly | Per user. Team management, usage analytics, shared BYOK, data privacy controls. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom. Model/provider limits, private gateway, audit logs, SSO/OIDC/SCIM, SLA. |
Recent changes
- 2 Apr 2026
Rebuilt VS Code extension (v7, on the OpenCode server core) reached GA, adding parallel tool calls, subagents and Agent Manager (date per morphllm comparison, search snippet). source
- 15 Jul 2026
Anaconda announced it acquired Kilo Code; no changes to existing products or plans announced. source
- 25 Sept 2026
v7.8.1 released (VS Code/CLI) and JetBrains plugin v7.1.8. source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Coding agents.
OpenCodeAnomaly75
Claude CodeAnthropic73
Zed (Agent Panel)Zed Industries73
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft)72
Codex (CLI and app)OpenAI71
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.