IBM Bob vs. Prime Agent

Feature	IBM Bob	Prime Agent

Tagline	Your AI SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) partner from IBM	Model-agnostic terminal coding agent built on a persistent IPython runtime
Website	https://bob.ibm.com	https://www.primeintellect.ai/blog/prime-agent
Language	javascript	typescript
Release Date	September 2, 2025	May 8, 2026
Last Updated	September 4, 2026	September 4, 2026
Provider Type	AI Lab	AI Lab
MCP Support	Yes	Yes
Multi-Agent Support	Yes	Yes
Git Integration	deep	basic
Multi-File Editing	Yes	Yes
Auto Test Running	Yes	No
Sandbox / Permissions	Yes	No
Image / Multimodal Input	Yes	Yes
Voice Mode	No	No
IDE Integration	Bob IDE	Zed, VS Code (via ACP)
Hooks / Extensions	Yes	Yes
Web Search	Yes	No
Local Model Support	No	Yes
Context Window	Model-dependent	Model-dependent
Supported Models	Multi-provider (IBM-managed)	20+ providers: Claude, GPT, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, Cerebras, xAI, DeepSeek, MiniMax, Xiaomi MiMo, Bedrock, Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio
Supported Subscriptions	—	ChatGPT Claude Code GitHub Copilot
Pricing Model	Freemium	Free, Subscription, BYOK
Free Tier	Yes	Yes
Price Range	Free / $20-200/mo	Free (BYOK)
Source Code Availability	Proprietary Software	Open Source (MIT)
Source Code	https://github.com/IBM/ibm-bob	https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent
Development State	active	active