Crush Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

Crush is a Go terminal coding agent made by Charmbracelet, the company behind Bubble Tea and other terminal tools. The repository was created in May 2025 and has grown to more than 28,000 stars on GitHub. It runs on macOS, Linux, Windows through PowerShell or WSL, Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. The application is free to install, but it does not include unlimited model inference. Charm lists Hyper as its official subscription provider, while users can connect hosted APIs or local models. That split matters for budgeting because Crush is the client, while the selected provider normally bills model usage. The project uses the FSL-1.1-MIT license, with each version converting to MIT on its second anniversary.

The normal workflow begins in a project directory, where Crush opens an interactive terminal interface and asks for a model or API key. Users can maintain multiple sessions and preserve context while switching models. Language Server Protocol integration supplies code intelligence, while Model Context Protocol support adds tools through HTTP, stdio, or SSE servers. The agent can inspect files, propose edits, and run commands, with configuration controlling permissions. Crush supports OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible custom providers, alongside Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex AI, and Groq. Its security documentation says crushrc is trusted shell code and warns that shell substitutions in crush.json run during configuration loading. Configuration review therefore belongs in the normal deployment process.

Crush is provider-agnostic rather than tied to one model family. The README says users can choose from many large language models, add compatible APIs, and use local models. Charm's Catwalk project supplies an automatically updated provider and model listing. The releases page lists v0.98.1 in October 2026 and a nightly build dated October 22, 2026. The v0.98.1 release note says it fixes support for new GPT-6 models through Copilot. Release availability can change after publication, especially for nightly builds. The project is not ordinary open source under its initial license: FSL-1.1-MIT permits defined uses and converts to MIT on each version's second anniversary. That schedule matters to companies planning redistribution or competing services.

There is no charge for the Crush binary. Practical costs come from provider inference, a Hyper subscription, or local hardware. Charm describes Hyper as subscription-based, with a free tier, zero data retention, and GDPR-oriented design. Crush's README documents API-key setup for numerous providers and local models. The client records pseudonymous usage metrics tied to a device hash, but says prompts and responses are never collected. CRUSH_DISABLE_METRICS and DO_NOT_TRACK provide opt-out paths. Hyper's current allowance and rate card should be checked before purchase because the client and hosted inference are separate products. A free download therefore does not guarantee free model usage. API vendors can charge for tokens, while local deployment replaces service fees with hardware and administration costs.

Crush combines LSP context, MCP extensibility, sessions, local-model support, and broad operating-system coverage in one terminal client. Its cost and model quality depend on external providers, while its FSL license restricts some competing commercial redistribution before conversion. Configuration can execute shell code, so teams need permission discipline and repository review. Aider focuses on repository editing with an open-source license, Claude Code is Anthropic's first-party coding agent, and GitHub Copilot CLI is more closely tied to GitHub accounts and Copilot plans. Those products offer clearer single-vendor operating models. Pick Crush if endpoint flexibility, local inference, and terminal portability matter more than one bundled subscription or conventional open-source licensing.