When AI coding agents first started buzzing around, I was skeptical. I thought, "Cool, another bot to generate ‘Hello World’ in 50 languages." But once I started using one, my perspective completely changed.
I'd compare the experience to moving from endlessly Googling "why am I getting this error" to having a pair-programming partner in your editor, point at the bug, and say, "See that bug on line 42? This is how to fix it."
I began exploring more AI coding agents and rethinking my development workflow when I came across Continue.dev, an open-source AI agent. I wondered how it stacked up against the popular ChatGPT. In this article, I will discuss what distinguishes these two tools.
Tl;dr: Comparison of ChatGPT Vs Continue.
| Feature/Aspect | ChatGPT | Continue |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Browser (web-based) | Inside your IDE (VS Code, JetBrains) |
| Context awareness | None (only what you paste) | Full project view (files, dependencies, structure |
| Customization | Limited (prompt engineering only) | Highly customizable (choose LLM, build actions) |
| Learning curve | Very low (just ask questions) | Medium (requires setup + tinkering) |
ChatGPT: The Generalist
You've probably used it before. ChatGPT is a conversational AI chatbot developed by OpenAI. It uses a large language model (LLM) to understand and generate text in response to user prompts and can be used for a wide range of tasks. ChatGPT is excellent for:
- Brainstorming and Learning: You can ask it to explain a complex algorithm, help you understand a new programming concept, or even draft documentation.
- Quick Answers: You can use it to write a quick script in a language you're not familiar with. Its massive training data makes it easy to tackle a wide variety of tasks.
- Simple Debugging: You can paste in a snippet of code and ask, "Why isn't this working?" and it will usually give you an extensive explanation.
The Downsides of Using ChatGPT for Local Dev
- Lost Context: When you ask a question, it gives an answer. However, it doesn’t know your actual codebase, your project structure, or how different files relate to each other. This results in vague responses to specific prompts that require depth on the project structure.
- Interrupts Your Flow: Developers often struggle to maintain momentum when they have to leave their editor, switch windows, and copy and paste code to find the right prompts. This constant back-and-forth can be a major source of frustration.
- Limited Integration with Real Tools: ChatGPT is a chatbot, not a dev tool. It can’t open files, run your test suite, or suggest direct, in-line changes in your editor.
- Security & Privacy Concerns: For many developers, especially those in enterprise teams, pasting proprietary or sensitive code into a public website is a non-starter. Some companies even ban the use of such tools entirely due to security and privacy policies.
ChatGPT is Best Suited For
- Beginners or students learning new concepts.
- Developers who want a general-purpose AI helper.
- Quick, out-of-context coding or non-coding tasks (docs, brainstorming, etc.).
Continue: An Integrated Coding Assistant
Continue is an AI coding agent that lives right in your IDE (like VS Code or JetBrains) and CLI. It is built to enhance development workflows, be deeply customizable, and continuously learn from development data. With Continue, you can connect to and use any LLM (e.g. OpenAI, Claude, or LLama for Chat) to provide code context and enable auto-completion. Continue shines at:
- Understanding Your Project: Unlike ChatGPT, Continue sees the snippet you're working on and reads the entire project, including all your files, dependencies, and code structure. This means when you ask it for help, it gives you context-aware suggestions.
- Helping you maintain your flow: You don't have to leave your editor. You can use its chat interface to ask a question, and it will give you in-line suggestions, even in the command line.
- Giving you Control: Continue is open-source, which means you get to pick the AI model (GPT-4, Claude, or even local models) and build custom agents that match your team’s coding style.
Where It Falls Short
- Setup Required: Getting it set up requires some configuration before it feels truly seamless in your workflow. However, it has a vibrant community support readily available via GitHub discussions and Discord.
- Learning Curve: To unlock its full power, you'll need to spend a little time learning and configuring it to your specific needs.
Continue is Best Suited For
- Developers who want coding assistance from the comfort of their IDE or use the CLI for quick command-line support.
- Teams that want to avoid being trapped in a single proprietary platform.
- Teams that want to standardize their processes, share custom rules, best practices, and project-specific knowledge for consistency and efficiency.
- Developers who want to take control and customize their own coding environment and workflow.
Key Features of Continue
Continue comes with key features that cover almost everything you’d expect from a coding assistance: Chat, autocomplete, edit, apply, embed, and rerank.
Chat: The most basic but most versatile feature. I used it on a messy debugging session, it didn’t give a generic answer, but also pointed at the actual errors within the context of my project.
Autocomplete: It uses project context to suggest the next snippet of code you’re about to write. You just hit Tab, and the boilerplate code writes itself. This feels especially helpful when writing repetitive tests or setting up configs across multiple files.
Edit: You can select a chunk of code, type “refactor this,” and it will refine it into something clean and readable in seconds.
Apply: You can trigger an action to generate unit tests for a given file or auto-document a function. Instead of chatting back and forth, actions are executed directly.
Embed: It converts your code into a unique numerical representation, allowing the AI to perform a semantic search.
Rerank: It improves search relevance by reordering initial results based on their true semantic meaning, ensuring the most useful information is always at the top.
So, Which One is Right for You?
At the end of the day, these tools aren’t competitors, but they complement each other. The choice between a generalist like ChatGPT and Continue comes down to your priorities.
If you're looking for a versatile tool for learning and getting high-level answers, ChatGPT is a fantastic resource. On the other hand, if your goal is to build, refactor, or debug code in a secure workflow all from within your editor or command line, then Continue is your best bet.
Top comments (1)
Great comparison, Anita! 🔍
I love how you laid out the trade-offs between ChatGPT and Continue, especially around project context and staying in the editor. As someone who depends on clean, secure workflows, Continue looks really promising for maintaining code safety + efficiency.
I’d be curious: how do you manage version control or private repos when using these tools? Do you feel one handles sensitive code better than the other?
Thanks for this write-up — very helpful! 🙌