See ai coding tools priced beside 609 other tools and services, in one list →
| Price/mo ▲ | Tool | Free tier | Type | Models | Agent | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continue | IDE plugin, Any (BYO key), Open-source, bring your own model | Visit → | |||||
| Aider | Terminal agent, Any (via API), Open-source terminal pair-programmer | Visit → | |||||
| Zed | Native editor, Multi (BYO key), Blazing-fast editor with built-in AI | Visit → | |||||
| Sourcegraph Cody | IDE plugin, Multi, Best whole-codebase context | Visit → | |||||
| Tabnine | IDE plugin, Own + frontier, Privacy-first, self-hostable | Visit → | |||||
| GitHub Copilot | IDE plugin, GPT / Claude / Gemini, Cheapest, works in every major IDE | Visit → | |||||
| JetBrains AI (Junie) | JetBrains IDE, Multi, Native in IntelliJ / PyCharm | Visit → | |||||
| Claude Code | Terminal agent, Claude, Top terminal agent for heavy lifting | Visit → | |||||
| Amazon Q Developer | IDE plugin, Amazon / Claude, Generous free tier, AWS-native | Visit → | |||||
| Cursor | AI-first IDE, Frontier (Claude/GPT/Gemini), Best all-round AI IDE | Visit → | |||||
| Windsurf | AI-first IDE, Multi, Clean agentic IDE, strong free tier | Visit → | |||||
| Replit Agent | Cloud IDE, Multi, Build and deploy apps in the browser | Visit → | |||||
| OpenAI Codex | Cloud / terminal agent, GPT / Codex, OpenAI cloud coding agent (in ChatGPT) | Visit → | |||||
| Augment Code | IDE plugin, Multi, Strong on very large codebases | Visit → |
Indicative individual-plan pricing as last reviewed 31 July 2026 . This space changes fast and several tools moved to usage-based billing in 2026, confirm current plans and limits before subscribing.
Best AI coding assistant?
No single winner. Copilot is cheapest and everywhere; Cursor/Windsurf lead the AI-first editors; Claude Code/Codex lead the terminal agents. Many pair an IDE assistant with a terminal agent. Sort and filter above for your workflow.
Which are free?
Copilot, Windsurf, Amazon Q, Cody, Tabnine and JetBrains AI have free tiers; Continue, Aider and Zed are open-source (pay only for API usage). Filter for "Has free tier".
IDE assistant vs terminal agent?
IDE assistants help as you type in your editor; terminal agents run from the command line and can autonomously plan and edit across many files. The best 2026 workflow usually pairs both.
Running a coding model locally
Every assistant above bills per month or per token. Local models cost nothing to run once the card is paid for, and the card is the entire decision.
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