We track 11 AI coding tools — Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, Zed, Cline, Aider, Tabnine, Cody, Amazon Q, and JetBrains AI — re-checking every price against the vendor's own pricing page. This is the current state of the landscape, including two things our own guide had wrong until we re-verified it today.
The four categories
AI-enhanced editors — the AI is fundamental, not a plugin.
- Cursor ($20/mo) — best-in-class autocomplete, mature multi-file agent (Composer), VS Code-familiar. 4.7/5.
- Zed (Free) — sub-second cold starts, GPU rendering, bring-your-own-agent via the Agent Client Protocol (ACP). 4.0/5.
IDE plugins & extensions — AI added to editors you already use.
- GitHub Copilot ($10/mo) — best value, GitHub-native. 4.4/5.
- Cline (Free, OSS) — best free VS Code agent, BYOK for API costs. 4.1/5.
- Cody (Enterprise only) — deep code search, no individual tier.
- Tabnine ($39/user/mo) — privacy-first, self-hostable.
Terminal agents — live in the terminal, execute tasks across your codebase autonomously.
- Claude Code ($20/mo via Pro) — most capable autonomous agent. 4.6/5.
- Aider (Free, OSS) — git-native pairing. 4.0/5.
Agentic IDEs — built around "describe a task, watch the agent execute."
- Windsurf ($20/mo) — fully agent-first workflow. 4.2/5.
Pricing, current as of today
| Tool | Entry Price | Free Tier? | Heavy Use Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | $10/mo | Yes (limited) | $39/mo (Pro+), $100/mo (Max) |
| Cursor | $20/mo | Yes (Hobby) | $60–$200/mo |
| Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) | $20/mo | Yes (daily quota) | $200/mo |
| Claude Code | $20/mo (via Pro) | No | $100–$200/mo (Max) |
| JetBrains AI | $10/mo (Pro) | Yes | $30/mo (Ultimate) |
| Tabnine | $39/user/mo | No | $59/user/mo (Agentic) |
| Amazon Q | Closed to new signups | — | Existing users only, support ends 2027-04-30 |
| Cline | Free (OSS) | Yes | LLM API costs (+ optional $9.99/mo ClinePass for discounted model access) |
| Aider | Free (OSS) | Yes | LLM API costs |
| Cody | Enterprise only | No | ~$16K/yr contract minimum |
| Zed | Free | Yes | $10/mo (Pro) |
The two corrections
We re-verify pricing regularly, and re-checking this guide against current vendor pages today turned up two things that had gone stale:
JetBrains AI Assistant now has a free tier. Our guide previously described it as a two-tier Personal $10 / Commercial $20 licence split with no free option. JetBrains restructured this to four tiers — Free, Pro ($10/mo), Ultimate ($30/mo), and Enterprise — and we'd missed the change. If you dismissed JetBrains AI because you thought there was no way to try it for free, that's no longer true.
Cody is not "entirely free." We'd written that Cody was one of the free, fully-featured options alongside Zed. It isn't — Sourcegraph discontinued Cody's individual Free and Pro tiers back in mid-2025, and it has been enterprise-only since, starting around $16K/year. If you're an individual developer or a small team looking for a free code-search-heavy assistant, Cody is no longer an option; Cline or Aider are the closer fit.
Quick decision framework
- Where do you code? VS Code → Cursor (best experience) or Copilot (best value). JetBrains → JetBrains AI (native) or Copilot (cross-IDE). Terminal → Claude Code or Aider.
- Budget? Under $10/mo → Copilot Pro or free tools. $20/mo → Cursor Pro or Windsurf. No ceiling → Claude Code Max ($100–$200/mo).
- Autocomplete or agent? Autocomplete + chat → Cursor, Copilot, Zed. Autonomous multi-file agent → Claude Code, Cline, Aider, Windsurf.
- Privacy-sensitive code? Tabnine (self-hosted, air-gapped) or Cline/Aider with local models via Ollama.
- Buying for a team? Copilot Business ($19/user/mo) for the safe default, Tabnine Enterprise for regulated industries.
Bottom line
Cursor is still the best all-around pick for most developers. Claude Code remains the most capable pure agent. Copilot is still the best value. Cline and Aider are genuinely capable free options — Cody no longer is, and JetBrains AI is more accessible than we'd been giving it credit for.
Full guide, kept current, with sourcing for every price: devtoolsreview.com/best-for/ai-coding-tools-complete-guide-2026
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