Last month I was paying $20/month for Cursor. Before that, $10/month for GitHub Copilot. Before that, I was burning through API credits on ChatGPT for code generation.
Then a friend asked me: "Why are you paying for AI coding when there are free tools that do the same thing?"
He was right. I switched to MonkeyCode — an open-source, self-hosted vibe coding platform — and I am never going back.
Here is why.
The Problem With Paid AI Coding Tools
Let me be clear: Cursor is great. Copilot is great. They work well. But they all have the same issues:
Your code leaves your machine. Every time you accept a suggestion, your code context is sent to a cloud server. For personal projects, maybe that is fine. For work? For clients? That is a problem.
The free tiers are a joke. Cursor gives you 50 premium requests. Copilot has a limited free tier. After that, you are paying $10-20/month. Per seat. For a team of 5, that is $100/month.
You are locked in. Switch from Cursor to Copilot? Your workflows break. Your keybindings change. Your muscle memory is wrong.
Enter MonkeyCode
MonkeyCode is built by Chaintin, a Chinese security company with 3,700+ GitHub stars. It is a self-hosted AI coding platform that works with VS Code and JetBrains IDEs.
But here is the part that made me switch: the free quota is enormous.
I have been using it daily for a month. Code completions, chat, code review, refactoring — all of it. I have not hit any limits. Not once.
Compare that to Cursor's 50 requests or Copilot's $10/month.
What It Actually Does
MonkeyCode is not a toy. It is a full-featured coding assistant:
Code Completion — Just like Copilot. Type code, get suggestions. It supports Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, and most popular languages. The suggestions are fast and accurate.
Code Chat — Ask questions about your code, get explanations, request refactors. Works like Cursor's chat feature.
Code Review — Before you commit, MonkeyCode reviews your diff and catches bugs. This has saved me from shipping broken code multiple times.
Multi-Model Support — This is the killer feature. You can use:
- MiMo (Xiaomi's open-source model)
- GPT-4o or GPT-5
- Claude
- Local models via Ollama
- Any OpenAI-compatible API
Switch models based on your task. Fast model for completions, powerful model for complex refactoring.
The Setup
I will not lie — setting up MonkeyCode takes a few more minutes than installing Cursor. But it is not hard:
git clone https://github.com/chaitin/MonkeyCode.git
cd MonkeyCode
# Docker deployment
For local models (free forever):
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:7b
Total cost: $0.
What I Miss (And What I Do Not)
I do not miss:
- Monthly subscription fees
- "You have 5 remaining requests" notifications
- Worrying about code privacy
- Being locked to one AI provider
I do miss (a little):
- Cursor's polished UI
- The massive ecosystem of extensions
- English documentation (MonkeyCode docs are mostly Chinese)
The Bigger Picture
The AI coding tool market is exploding. Every week there is a new tool, a new pricing model, a new "game-changing" feature.
But here is what most people miss: the core technology is commoditizing fast. The models are getting smaller, faster, and cheaper. Open-source models are catching up to closed-source ones.
The real value is not in the model — it is in the tooling around it. And MonkeyCode has nailed the tooling.
Is It Perfect?
No. The English documentation could be better. The community is smaller than Cursor's. Some features are still in beta.
But for $0, with unlimited usage, self-hosted, with multi-model support? It is hard to complain.
Try It
If you are paying for AI coding tools right now, ask yourself: why?
I am curious: how much are you spending on AI coding tools per month? And would you switch to a free, self-hosted alternative? Let me know in the comments.
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