Who should choose what?
Devin is a candidate for teams that want a managed autonomous workspace and visible work logs. OpenHands is a candidate for engineering groups that need open-source control, multiple models, or self-hosting and can operate the infrastructure.
Managed convenience favours Devin; deployment and model control favour OpenHands. Both need carefully scoped tickets and human review.
Decision criteria
- Managed cloud workspace versus operating your own environment
- Long-running task observability and pull-request flow
- Model, agent, and integration flexibility
- Security boundary, compute ownership, and governance
Workflow fit
Use a non-critical issue with a clear definition of done. Require a branch and pull request, inspect the work log and command trail, run tests independently, and record compute, retry, and review effort.
Tradeoffs
Devin's profile highlights autonomous tasks, browser use, cloud workspace, and pull requests, while noting enterprise focus and the need for careful scoping. OpenHands lists sandbox execution, multiple agents/models, integrations, and self-hosting, with technical setup and compute cost as tradeoffs.
Privacy and control
A managed cloud workspace and a self-hosted deployment create different trust boundaries. Validate repository access, secret isolation, retention, network egress, and enterprise controls in official documentation before allowing real tickets.
At a glance
| Dimension | Devin | OpenHands |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Managed long-running tasks | Open platform and self-hosting |
| Review | Visible work log and pull requests | Sandbox execution and transparent workflow |
| Catalog caution | Enterprise-focused; human review | Technical setup; compute can be expensive |
Relevant tool profiles
Related guidance
Sources
These are the official URLs listed in the directory profiles. Confirm changing prices and policies there.
Frequently asked questions
Can either agent ship without review?
No. Treat generated changes as a pull request from an automated contributor and retain tests, review, and deployment gates.
Is self-hosting automatically private?
No. It changes where the service runs, but models, logs, integrations, and network access still need review.