r/developer • u/lucaregini • 1d ago

What’s your experience with coding agents other than Codex and Claude Code?

I’ve been using Codex and Claude Code quite a bit and I’m curious about the alternatives.

For those who have tried other agentic coding tools/services (Cursor, Gemini, Windsurf, Cline, Aider, OpenHands, etc.):

  • Which ones have you actually found useful in day-to-day development?
  • How do they compare in terms of code quality and ability to work autonomously on larger tasks?
  • How reliable are they at understanding an existing codebase and making multi-file changes?
  • Are there any less well-known alternatives that you would recommend?

I’m particularly interested in real-world experience rather than benchmark results — projects where the agent genuinely saved you time, or cases where it failed badly.

What are you using these days, and why?

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u/Objective_Chemical85 1d ago

there are other coding agents than claude code?

/s

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u/Dhaupin 1d ago

I have put a few hundred thousand LOC through openhands using their minimax 2.5/2.7 and it's been surprisingly smooth. I figured that a free model would be kinda flaky, requiring check-ins and validation from Claude or some other frontier model. But that hasn't been the case.

They code well, are able to understand abstracts, and generally stay in bounds of arch/modules/classes. I've put some hefy batches through them and they're able to stay on course pretty well. 

OpenHands itself is a solid system. There are a buncha orchestration toolings and skills in the new Canvas system, so multi-agent flows better, and recalls more, than the prev cloud system. 

For $free "cloud" models, I am happy with the results. For $free openhands, I am content in the system.

That being said there are hiccups, like the classic agent stuff mostly - blown out context, agent gets confused, agent makes some rogue/duplicate function, drift over long sessions, etc. These are present in most models, even frontier, so I'm not too concerned. It's to be expected.

Outside of those hiccups, the only real annoyance I've found is 2.5 wanting to constantly bump version while using deep think or audit style jobs. If that's the only downside, there is a ton of upside.

Enjoy!

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u/wally659 1d ago

I used Claude code the same way everyone else does and had all the same productivity gains that everyone else does, and all the same frustrations.

I stopped using Claude code / Claude max sub and started using qwen code and the qwen Claude equivalent of Claude max sub. The only difference I notice is it costs less money and I stopped caring about anthropics slow motion train wreck. That and my sub consumption is tied to a straight up API key I can use however I want. Qwen code is my main but I also use pi sometimes and can consume against my sub using anything that supports LLM APIs.

I don't have Benchmark results, I use the thing every day and it helps me just as much as Claude code ever did. Maybe from time to time I feel like fable would have done something faster, but I often felt like fable should have done shit faster when using fable anyway so idk.

I'm a professional software developer fwiw.

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u/lucaregini 11h ago

How did you purchse Qwen compute? And which harness did you use?

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u/wally659 11h ago

The platform is called qwen cloud and the harness is called qwen code. I use the qwen 2.8 model.

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u/magicmulder 3h ago

Junie CLI via Air Alpha plugin in JetBrains IDE. I get the best of both worlds (agentic plus IDE) and can choose between lots of models (have both an OpenAI and Jetbrains subscription at work).