ccusage vs Claude Squad in 2026

Q: How do you install ccusage and Claude Squad?

ccusage can be run directly without a global installation . Claude Squad can be installed via Homebrew with brew install claude-squad , or with a manual curl command that puts the cs binary in ~/.local/bin . Both install it as the command cs . Its prerequisites are tmux and gh .

Q: Is AgentHydra free to use?

AgentHydra is free, with no account or subscription . It is open source under the MIT License . The sources here do not state any paid tier, so the only price they give is free . Check the project's own pages if you need more detail on future plans.

ccusage and Claude Squad compared on what each does, what each costs, how each is installed and what to check before you pick one for your coding agents.

By SupaKeeper · 2026-10-16

SupaKeeper is published by LunarWerx, which makes some of the tools compared here.

ccusage and Claude Squad compared on what each does, what each costs, how each is installed and what to check before you pick one for your coding agents.

Option	Free to use	Paid plan	Install	License
ccusage	Its page does not state a dollar price, so it is not published here ^[1]	No paid price is stated in its sources ^[1]	Run directly, no global installation ^[1]	MIT ^[1]
Claude Squad	No price is stated in the facts given here ^[2]	Not published	brew install claude-squad ^[2]	Not stated
AgentHydra	Free, with no account or subscription ^[3]	No paid tier is stated ^[3]	One-line PowerShell on Windows, or from source with Bun ^[3]	MIT License ^[3]

The short answer

ccusage reads local usage data from coding agent CLIs ^[1]. Claude Squad is a terminal app that manages multiple AI agents, like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and other local agents including Aider, in separate workspaces ^[2]. AgentHydra is made by the team that publishes this site.

ccusage reads local usage data from coding agent CLIs and turns it into daily, weekly, monthly, and session reports ^[1]. Its examples cover Claude Code and Codex ^[1].

ccusage offers a 5-hour blocks report that tracks usage within Claude's billing windows with active block monitoring ^[1]. It tracks and displays cache creation and cache read tokens separately ^[1]. It runs directly without a global installation ^[1].

What ccusage, Claude Squad is built for

ccusage reads that data and turns it into daily, weekly, monthly, and session reports ^[1]. It reads usage from Claude Code and Codex ^[1]. It offers a 5-hour blocks report that tracks usage within Claude's billing windows ^[1]. It has an offline mode that uses pre-cached pricing data without network connectivity ^[1]. It allows overriding token pricing per raw model name in ccusage.json ^[1]. It tracks and displays cache creation and cache read tokens separately ^[1].

Claude Squad is a terminal app that manages multiple AI agents in separate workspaces ^[2]. It allows working on multiple tasks simultaneously ^[2]. It can complete tasks in the background in a yolo or auto-accept mode ^[2]. Each task gets its own isolated git workspace, so there are no conflicts ^[2]. It uses tmux to create isolated terminal sessions for each agent ^[2]. It uses git worktrees to isolate codebases so each session works on its own branch ^[2]. Its default program is claude ^[2]. It stores its configuration in ~/.claude-squad/config.json ^[2].

What AgentHydra is built for

AgentHydra is made by the team that publishes this site.

It shows Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode sessions on your machine in one searchable list, updated live while they run ^[3]. You can type a reply into a Claude session's own desktop chat, or send one message to several sessions ^[3]. It moves a Claude chat, history included, to another of your accounts ^[3].

It splits a task's pieces across Claude Code CLI sessions on your accounts, and moves a worker to another account when one nears its limit ^[3]. It shows cost at API list prices by day, model, project and account ^[3]. It pairs each failed shell command with the command that fixed it, and can copy those pairs out as a rules file for your agents ^[3].

It lists each Claude and Codex account with its plan and 5-hour and weekly quota, and can open, focus, quit, create and delete Claude Desktop instances ^[3]. It exposes its features as MCP tools, including whoami and usage checks so an agent knows which account it is on and how much quota is left ^[3]. It packs a task and its repository into a Markdown file, leaving out common secret files, then copies a prompt and opens ChatGPT for you to send yourself ^[3]. It prints the same cost numbers as JSON from the command line ^[3]. It is free, with no account or subscription ^[3].

Pricing and fees

The facts here do not state a dollar price for ccusage, so its price is not published here ^[1]. Claude Squad's page asks you to install it and does not list a price. The facts here do not state whether Claude Squad is free, costs money, or how much, so no price is published ^[2].

AgentHydra is free, with no account or subscription ^[3]. It is open source under the MIT License ^[3]. AgentHydra's sources state no paid tier price ^[3].

Setting it up and daily use

ccusage can be run directly without a global installation ^[1]. It outputs reports in structured JSON format with the --json flag ^[1]. It can hide cost columns and JSON cost fields with the --no-cost flag ^[1]. It has an offline mode that uses pre-cached pricing data without network connectivity, started with --offline ^[1]. It supports custom pricing overrides per raw model name set in ccusage.json without rebuilding ^[1]. The facts here say nothing more about its daily routine.

Claude Squad can be installed via Homebrew with the command brew install claude-squad ^[2], or manually with a curl command that puts the cs binary in ~/.local/bin ^[2]. Both ways install it as the command cs ^[2]. Its prerequisites are tmux and gh ^[2]. It stores its configuration in ~/.claude-squad/config.json ^[2]. It uses tmux to create isolated terminal sessions for each agent ^[2]. The default program Claude Squad runs is claude ^[2].

Things to check before you choose

Ask what you need the tool to give you: usage reports from command-line tools, or a way to run several coding agents at once. ccusage focuses on usage reports ^[1], while Claude Squad manages multiple AI agents in separate workspaces for simultaneous tasks ^[2].

Check your operating system and tools. ccusage can be run directly without a global installation via npm or other package runners ^[1]. Claude Squad needs tmux and gh ^[2]. Both Homebrew and manual installation install it as the command cs ^[2].

Check what features you cannot live without. The facts here do not state whether Claude Squad reports costs, so check its pages if cost reporting matters. The facts here do not state whether ccusage manages agents, so check its pages if that matters.

Check the price. Neither tool's sources here state a dollar price, so check each project's own pages before you commit.

How to choose

If you want to analyze token usage and costs from local data and get daily, weekly, monthly and session reports, ccusage's page describes that ^[1].

If you want detailed usage data, including separate cache tokens ^[1] and reports in JSON ^[1], ccusage's page describes that.

If you want to work on multiple AI tasks simultaneously, Claude Squad's page describes that ^[2]. If you want each task in its own isolated git workspace, its page describes that ^[2].

If you want tasks completed in the background, including a yolo or auto-accept mode, Claude Squad's page describes that ^[2].

If you want control over your coding agent sessions, AgentHydra shows Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode sessions on your machine in one searchable list, updated live while they run ^[3].

If you want a free tool, AgentHydra's claims say it is free, with no account or subscription ^[3].

Frequently asked questions

What does ccusage do with coding agent data?

ccusage reads local usage data from coding agent CLIs and turns it into daily, weekly, monthly, and session reports ^[1]. It also tracks and displays cache creation and cache read tokens separately ^[1]. The facts here say nothing further about its data handling.

What does Claude Squad manage?

Claude Squad is a terminal app that manages multiple AI agents, like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and other local agents including Aider, in separate workspaces ^[2]. It allows working on multiple tasks simultaneously ^[2] and can complete tasks in the background in a yolo or auto-accept mode ^[2]. Each task gets its own isolated git workspace ^[2].

How do you install ccusage and Claude Squad?

ccusage can be run directly without a global installation ^[1]. Claude Squad can be installed via Homebrew with brew install claude-squad ^[2], or with a manual curl command that puts the cs binary in ~/.local/bin ^[2]. Both install it as the command cs ^[2]. Its prerequisites are tmux and gh ^[2].

Does ccusage work offline?

ccusage has an offline mode that uses pre-cached pricing data without network connectivity, started with the --offline flag ^[1]. It can run directly without a global installation ^[1]. It also allows overriding token pricing per raw model name in ccusage.json without rebuilding ^[1]. The facts here do not state the pricing data's exact contents.

Is AgentHydra free to use?

AgentHydra is free, with no account or subscription ^[3]. It is open source under the MIT License ^[3]. The sources here do not state any paid tier, so the only price they give is free ^[3]. Check the project's own pages if you need more detail on future plans.

Free, with no account or subscription. ^[3]

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