How we score
Last reviewed: September 2026
updated 2026-10-18Each tool gets an editorial score from 0 to 10 on seven criteria, weighted toward what makes agents work as a team: agent-to-agent handoff (25%) and multi-vendor support (20%) first. Scores come from vendor documentation, pricing pages and public product material reviewed in September 2026. BAND for desktop currently scores highest at 8.3.
What are we measuring?
This site ranks tools for one job: getting more than one coding agent to work on the same codebase as a team. We are not ranking which model writes the best code. A tool can host an excellent agent and still score low here if every agent works alone and you do the merging. Buzz is reviewed but not scored until its handoff behaviour is documented.
Which criteria do we use, and how are they weighted?
| Criterion | Weight | 10 means | 0 means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent-to-agent handoff | 25% | Documented mechanism for agents to pass tasks and context to each other | Agents are fully isolated |
| Multi-vendor agents | 20% | Agents from several providers take part as peers | One vendor's agent only (scored 0) |
| Local execution | 15% | Coding sessions run on your machine | Cloud only (scored 0) |
| Shared visibility | 15% | One board or view shows every agent's work and blockers | No overview beyond separate sessions |
| Human intervention | 10% | Humans answer, approve or redirect in place | Stop and re-prompt only |
| Setup effort | 8% | Install and go | Flags, extra tools, accounts and manual config |
| Price | 7% | Usable free tier and low entry price | High entry price, no free tier |
Overall = sum(weight x criterion score), shown to one decimal. Totals are computed from the per-criterion scores; ties at one decimal are ordered by the unrounded total.
What do we check?
- Vendor documentation for multi-agent features, read in September 2026, with links on every review.
- Pricing pages on the same date. When a price did not render or sources conflict, we say so instead of guessing.
- Release and deprecation notices for tools that have shut down or been renamed.
- Public discussion (for example Hacker News threads) as context for common complaints. We present these as user reports, not facts, and never as ratings.
What do we not do?
We do not publish user ratings, star counts or testimonials. We do not claim test hours or benchmarks. Scores are editorial judgements; two reasonable reviewers could differ by half a point on any criterion, which is why the per-criterion scores are public on the rankings page.
Is there a disclosure?
Yes. BAND is a client of the agency that publishes this site. Scores follow the rubric and weights on this page, and every per-criterion score is public on the rankings page.
How often are scores updated?
Last reviewed: September 2026. We update scores when a vendor ships a material change to multi-agent features or pricing. Corrections: editors@collaborativecodingagents.com.
Questions about how we score
Why weight handoff so heavily?
Because it is the difference between a team and a set of parallel terminals, and it is the capability most tools lack.
Does a high score mean the tool writes better code?
No. We score coordination, not model quality.
Why are cloud-only tools scored low on local execution?
Many teams need agents to use local files, toolchains and credentials. If you do not, discount that criterion.