OpenCode vs Crush: what developers actually say
Based on 806 opinions on Hacker News from developers who discussed these two, most of them first-hand users.
OpenCode comes out ahead on the strength of the evidence: 780 opinions, positive cost comments at 113 to 24, customization at 83 to 8, and usage limits at 35 to 8. Its weak spot is reliability, where negative comments outnumber positive ones 83 to 39. Crush has higher approval, 77% against 66%, and won the explicit head-to-head 2 to 1, but those numbers rest on only 26 opinions from 18 authors. Pick Crush for a lean single-binary setup with little configuration; pick OpenCode when a larger track record, cost control, and customization matter more.
When developers explicitly said they prefer one or switched: 1 picked OpenCode, 2 picked Crush.
Choose OpenCode if
- Want the larger evidence base
- Care most about cost and customization
- Can accept weaker reliability reports
Choose Crush if
- Want a single Go binary
- Prefer minimal configuration
- Value a higher approval rate on a small sample
Where each one wins and loses
Why developers switched
Picked OpenCode
Picked Crush
Summaries are paraphrased. Each links to the original comment.