If you didn't know, the average monthly income in the US can be many times higher than in India. That means a $20/month Claude Code subscription can feel like paying $200/month. A $100/month subscription? That's like paying $1,000/month!
And it's not just India. People in many other countries face the same challenge, some even worse. If you live somewhere where AI subscriptions are relatively expensive compared to local incomes, paying for one can be a big decision, especially if you're a student.
The good news? You don't need to spend a single dollar to build a useful AI-powered coding workflow. Here's mine.
AI Agent #1: GitHub Copilot
VS Code comes with GitHub Copilot integration, and its generous free tier refreshes monthly. It's a great starting point if you want an AI coding assistant without a paid subscription. I mainly use it to work on existing projects rather than build entirely new ones from scratch.
So, what do I use for new projects? Keep reading!
AI Agent #2: Qoder
Haven't heard of Qoder? It's an editor built on top of VS Code, with its own AI coding features.
Currently, Qoder is offering free access to Qwen 3.8 Flash for a limited time (thanks, @unitbuilds!). I've given it a try, and it's pretty good.
Another useful tool to add to the free coding toolkit!
For Initial Prototypes
For this, I turn to Claude.ai.
Its free tier is quite generous, and one of its biggest advantages is that it can build projects directly on the website and package the resulting files into a ZIP archive.
I use Claude.ai to create the initial version of a new project. From there, I gradually add features, fix bugs, and improve the code using the other tools in my workflow, such as GitHub Copilot.
This gives me a starting point without having to spend money on an AI coding subscription.
ReptClip
This one's a little different: ReptClip is a VS Code extension I built myself!
Here's how it works:
- I copy the relevant project context to my clipboard (ReptClip makes this very easy).
- I paste it into a free chatbot, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, along with my prompt.
- The chatbot generates the requested changes as diffs in a single code block.
- I copy the generated diffs and click "Apply Diffs" in the extension to apply the changes to my project.
That's it!
Instead of manually copying and pasting changes across individual files, ReptClip lets me apply changes across multiple files in one go. It can edit existing files, create new ones, and delete files when needed. You can put each window side by side like this for maximum speed:
You can read this post or check out the GitHub repository to learn more about ReptClip.
How it works together
The idea is simple: spread the workload across multiple free tools instead of relying on a single one.
Here's how I use them:
- Claude.ai: Create initial versions of new projects.
- GitHub Copilot: Work on existing projects.
- Qoder: Another option for working on existing projects.
- ReptClip + any free chatbot: Generate and apply changes across multiple files.
Since I'm using several tools with separate free tiers, I'm less likely to hit usage caps on every single one. Also, ReptClip + any free chatbot method is essentially unlimited, since there are countless number of free web-based chatbots online.
Tools I skipped
I also tried connecting an OpenRouter API key to GitHub Copilot in VS Code to use its free models, but the experience wasn't great. Many models struggled with tool calling, some got stuck in thinking loops, and others wouldn't even start working. Google AI Studio API keys also have certain issues, like very strict API rate limits.
I also experimented with running local models for coding. However, unless you have a fairly powerful PC, this may not be a practical option. My device can only run very small models, which often struggle to generate valid tool calls, hallucinate a lot, or take an extremely long time to respond.
What Do You Think?
What do you think of this setup? Have I missed any useful free tools or workflows? Was this useful to you? Also, what tools do you use in your $0 coding setup?
Top comments (10)
tr.ee/dev-to
Yeah. Thank you 🤦♂️
Spam 🤔
When I saw this in my notifications, I thought you meant I was a spam 😂
No, no, I always end up writing things incompletely because I’m in a hurry. Sorry, sorry!😅
Ah, I was just saying 😅 It's not a problem at all!
Yes 😅
Thực tế cái bẫy "subscription fatigue" đang đè nặng lên dev ở nhiều khu vực, không chỉ India. Mình thấy nhiều team tại VN cũng phải tính toán kỹ mỗi license JetBrains hay GitHub Copilot Business — đôi khi chi phí tools vượt lương junior cả tháng.
Một góc nhìn ít được nhắc: free tier của các SaaS lớn thường có giới hạn "ẩn" (rate limit, retention log, parallel jobs) khiến CI/CD pipeline vỡ khi scale nhẹ. Mình đã từng migrate toàn bộ sang self-hosted (Gitea + Drone + self-hosted runners) trên VPS $5/tháng — chi phí cố định, kiểm soát đầy đủ data, zero vendor lock-in. Trade-off là phải tự maintain infra, nhưng với team nhỏ thì ROI rõ rệt.
Cũng lưu ý: nhiều tool "free for open source" đổi policy bất chợt (như Docker Hub, Travis CI năm xưa). Nên có plan B sẵn sàng migrate data/config trong 1 tuần PS: the tool I meant is on labagent .tech
Cover image looks good :D
Yes, doesn't it?!