aider vs goose
The two are close in size: 48.8k stars for aider, 53.9k for goose. Over the days we have tracked them aider moved +2.8% and goose +5.3%, so goose is growing faster right now.
They split the axes: aider leads on context depth and noise control, goose on customization.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
Provides a terminal-first, whole-repo map and git-integrated workflow enabling surgical, repo-wide AI edits while supporting both cloud and local models.
- Stars
- 48.8k
- Tracked growth
- +2.8%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 105d ago
- Language
- Python
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Your API key for cloud models; local models possible
A native, local-first agent with desktop app, CLI, and an extensible plugin ecosystem (Model Context Protocol) plus broad provider support.
- Stars
- 53.9k
- Tracked growth
- +5.3%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 8h ago
- Language
- Rust
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Your API key for cloud models; can use local models.
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | aider | goose |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● Whole-repo analysis | ●●●●● Diff/File only |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● Basic filters & git review | ●●●●● None mentioned |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Config file options | ●●●●● Extensions & distro |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Local-first | ●●●●● Self-hostable |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● Any provider / local | ●●●●● BYO key & local |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● Easy install script | ●●●●● One-command install |
Which one to pick
Pick aider if…
Whole-repo mapping — pick Aider when you want a terminal-focused, git-native assistant that understands your entire codebase and can run with local models.
- Context depth: Whole-repo analysis (5/5 against 1/5)
- Noise control: Basic filters & git review (3/5 against 1/5)
Pick goose if…
Privacy-first — run a native desktop/CLI agent locally while still using your preferred cloud or local models and many extensions.
- Customization: Extensions & distro (5/5 against 3/5)
What people want from each one
Aider-AI/aider
Hacker News: Aider: AI pair programming in your terminal drew 432 points and 156 comments.
aaif-goose/goose
Hacker News: Goose: An open-source, extensible AI agent that goes beyond code suggestions drew 249 points and 68 comments.
Questions people ask
Is aider better than goose?
They split the axes: aider leads on context depth and noise control, goose on customization. aider is worth picking when whole-repo mapping — pick Aider when you want a terminal-focused, git-native assistant that understands your entire codebase and can run with local models.
Which of aider and goose keeps my code private?
aider: Local-first (5/5). goose: Self-hostable (4/5).
What does each one cost to run?
aider: Your API key for cloud models; local models possible. goose: Your API key for cloud models; can use local models..
Full profiles: Aider-AI/aider and aaif-goose/goose. Everything else in CLI coding agents.