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

Both are popular terminal coding agents. Here is how Amp and Goose 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 ↗

Goose

Open-source, extensible AI agent, now stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation

7.6 /10

Pricing: Open source

Pros

MCP-first design with a built-in extension browser
Desktop app and CLI
Any model provider, free and open source

Cons

Less specialised for large refactors than coding-only agents
Quality depends heavily on the model you choose

Visit Goose ↗

Amp vs Goose at a glance

	Amp	Goose
Editor score	8.2 / 10	7.6 / 10
Pricing model	Freemium	Open source
Starting price	$20/mo	Free
Reader upvotes	0	0
Best for	terminal, agent	agent, open source, mcp
Agent Skills support	Yes	Yes
Subagents support	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes
AGENTS.md support	Yes	Yes
Plugins support	Yes	No
Hooks support	No	No
Rules support	No	No
Agent skills in this directory	47	46
Subagents & agents in this directory	9	6
MCP servers in this directory	72	73

Our pick

Amp edges it with a score of 8.2 versus 7.6. Amp is the better fit if you value: strong results on hard, multi-step tasks, shared threads for team review. Choose Goose instead if you need: mcp-first design with a built-in extension browser, desktop app and cli.