Amp vs Codewhale (2026): Which Vibe Coding App Is Better?

Both are popular terminal coding agents. Here is how Amp and Codewhale stack up on price, strengths and weaknesses, and which one we would pick.

Amp

Frontier coding agent for the terminal and editor, from the makers of Sourcegraph

8.2 /10

Pricing: Free plan, paid from $20/mo

Pros

Strong results on hard, multi-step tasks
Shared threads for team review
Subagents and AGENTS.md built in

Cons

Usage-based costs add up on large tasks
Fewer configuration knobs by design

Visit Amp ↗

Codewhale

Rust terminal coding agent that edits files, runs commands, and checks its own work

7.5 /10

Pricing: Open source

Pros

Model-agnostic: works with hosted APIs or fully local models via Ollama/vLLM/SGLang
Ships TUI, web UI and a VS Code extension from one core agent
Genuinely active development history (10k+ commits) rather than inflated-looking stats

Cons

Newer entrant competing in a crowded terminal-agent space with less brand recognition
Full capability (multi-agent, computer use) requires careful approval-mode configuration

Visit Codewhale ↗

Amp vs Codewhale at a glance

	Amp	Codewhale
Editor score	8.2 / 10	7.5 / 10
Pricing model	Freemium	Open source
Starting price	$20/mo	Free
Reader upvotes	0	0
Best for	terminal, agent	rust, terminal-agent, local-models
Agent Skills support	Yes	No
Subagents support	Yes	No
MCP support	Yes	No
AGENTS.md support	Yes	No
Plugins support	Yes	No
Hooks support	No	No
Rules support	No	No
Agent skills in this directory	47	0
Subagents & agents in this directory	9	3
MCP servers in this directory	72	0

Our pick

Amp edges it with a score of 8.2 versus 7.5. Amp is the better fit if you value: strong results on hard, multi-step tasks, shared threads for team review. Choose Codewhale instead if you need: model-agnostic: works with hosted apis or fully local models via ollama/vllm/sglang, ships tui, web ui and a vs code extension from one core agent.