Claude Code vs Crush
A side-by-side comparison of Claude Code and Crush, two IDE tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Claude Code | Crush |
|---|---|---|
| Category | IDE | IDE |
| Pricing (differs) | FREEMIUM | BYO KEY |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Deployment | Local | Local |
| Platforms (differs) | macOS, Windows, Linux, CLI, VS Code extension, Web | CLI, macOS, Linux, Windows |
| Model support (differs) | Single model (proprietary) | BYO key / model |
| Vendor (differs) | Anthropic | Charm |
The honest brief
Claude Code
Ships the same agent across CLI, IDE, desktop, and web — reads the spec, writes the diff, runs tests, opens the PR.
- Strong autonomous multi-step coding
- MCP and subagents support
- Runs on API key or Pro/Max plan
- Anthropic models only
- Token usage can get expensive
- Terminal-first learning curve
Crush
Charm's signature TUI polish over a model-agnostic terminal agent: switch providers mid-session and keep code, keys, and data on your own machine.
- Polished, keyboard-driven terminal UI
- BYO keys for many providers
- LSP-aware code context
- Runs locally; you control keys and data
- Requires your own model API keys
- Beta — some features still missing
- FSL license is not OSI open-source yet