Best AI coding agents for Free Plans (2026)
For free plans, Amp is our pick: What the free plan allows is the deciding factor, and here the two are far apart. Developers who want real agent work without paying yet: what a free tier actually allows (requests, models, a daily allowance, or nothing until you bring your own key) rather than whether a free badge exists. Below is the full ranking and the tradeoffs, or read how we score.
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Reviewed by vsref Editorialfacts verified Oct 3, 2026Methodology →
AmpWINNER
What matters for free plans
Weight ×5 = decisive, ×1 = relevant| Fact | Amp | Command Code | Freebuff | Letta Code | Mistral Vibe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What the free plan allows×5 | Hobby (Free): all product featuresOct 2 | n/a | 100 Freebucks every dayOct 2 | $0: 'Limited agents' (3 stateful agents)Oct 2 | Limited messages and web searches; $10/mo in API creditsOct 2 |
| Bring your own API key×4 | true - bypasses plan limitsOct 2 | YesOct 2 | NoOct 2 | YesOct 2 | YesOct 2 |
| Cheapest paid plan (monthly)×3 | $20Oct 2 | $1Oct 2 | $8Oct 2 | $20Oct 2 | $14.99Oct 2 |
| Runs local models×2 | n/a | ✓ YesOct 2 | n/a | ✓ YesOct 2 | ✓ YesOct 2 |
The ranking, tool by tool
What the free plan allows is the deciding factor, and here the two are far apart. Full Amp vs Claude Code verdict →
Neither has a confirmed free plan: Claude Code is not included on the Free plan, and Command Code does not publish one. Full Command Code vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan allows is the deciding factor. Full Freebuff vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this. Full Letta Code vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this, and the gap is wide. Full Mistral Vibe vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan actually allows decides this. Full OpenHands vs Devin verdict →
Neither tool has a free plan: Claude Code is not included on the Free plan, and Qwen Code's free tier was discontinued on 2026-04-15. Full Qwen Code vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this. Full Zed vs Cursor verdict →
What the free tier actually allows is the deciding factor here. Full Google Antigravity vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan actually allows matters most here. Full Google Antigravity vs Cursor verdict →
This one is decided by what the free plan actually allows. Full Google Antigravity vs Gemini CLI verdict →
What the free plan allows is the deciding factor. Full OpenCode vs Claude Code verdict →
Both are open to start without paying: Kilo Code is free and open source in VS Code, and OpenCode offers its agent at no charge. Full OpenCode vs Kilo Code verdict →
What the free plan allows matters most: OpenCode's free plan includes the agent itself, while Crush does not publish a free plan for the agent. Full OpenCode vs Crush verdict →
What the free plan actually allows decides this one. Full GitHub Copilot vs Cursor verdict →
For free use, GitHub Copilot is the only real option. Full GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free tier actually allows decides this. Full GitHub Copilot vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this, and GitHub Copilot's is far roomier at 2,000 code completions a month. Full GitHub Copilot vs JetBrains Junie verdict →
What a free plan actually allows decides this one. Full GitHub Copilot vs Tabnine verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this. Full GitHub Copilot vs GitLab Duo Agent Platform verdict →
What a free plan actually allows is the deciding factor. Full GitHub Copilot vs Tabby verdict →
What a free plan actually allows is the deciding factor here. Full OpenAI Codex vs Claude Code verdict →
Both free plans allow real work: Cursor Hobby gives limited Agent requests and access to Composer, while OpenAI Codex Free at $0 offers GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app. Full OpenAI Codex vs Cursor verdict →
For real agent work without paying, OpenAI Codex Free at $0 offers GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, while GitHub Copilot Free is framed around 2,000 code completions a month. Full OpenAI Codex vs GitHub Copilot verdict →
What you get without paying decides this. Full Aider vs Claude Code verdict →
Aider's whole tool is free and open source, with no plan limits; you bring your own API key, which it requires. Full Aider vs OpenAI Codex verdict →
What the free plan allows decides this. Full Cline vs Cursor verdict →
Neither tool publishes a free plan allowance, so this comes down to how you start without paying. Full DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Claude Code verdict →
Neither tool offers a free plan with agent access: Claude Code is not included on the Free plan, and Goose publishes no plan at all. Full Goose vs Claude Code verdict →
Neither publishes a usable free plan: Claude Code is not included on the Free plan, and Grok Build does not publish a free tier. Full Grok Build vs Claude Code verdict →
Neither tool offers real free agent work. Full Kimi Code vs Claude Code verdict →
Claude Code is not included on the Free plan, so real agent work starts at $20/mo or with your own API key. Full Pi vs Claude Code verdict →
Both free plans are loosely capped. Full Trae vs Cursor verdict →
The free plans are similarly modest. Full Verdent vs Cursor verdict →
Neither tool gives real agent work on a free plan without extra setup. Full Warp vs Claude Code verdict →
What the free plan actually allows matters most here. Full Devin vs Claude Code verdict →
What a free plan actually allows is the deciding factor, and only Devin publishes one: a free plan with limited Devin usage. Full Devin vs Factory verdict →
What a free tier allows matters most here, and only Devin publishes one, though it promises just limited Devin usage. Full Devin vs Cosine verdict →
What the free plan actually allows decides this one. Full Cursor vs Claude Code verdict →
Neither free plan is generous on paper. Full Cursor vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) verdict →
This one is close. Full Cursor vs Kiro verdict →
What a free tier actually allows decides this, and only Cursor publishes one: its Hobby plan includes limited Agent requests and access to Composer. Full Cursor vs Augment Code verdict →
Neither tool publishes a request cap or daily allowance for its free plan. Full Kilo Code vs Cline verdict →
What the free plan actually allows matters most. Full Kiro vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) verdict →
MIT local-first terminal agent; also web UI, desktop app, REST server, MCP/ACP; persistent autonomous-agent template. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Context-engine coding platform for large codebases; now led by Cosmos cloud agents + Auggie CLI (also ide_extension: VS Code, JetBrains, Vim/Neovim chat). Brief seeded it as an IDE extension; the 2026 pricing page leads with "Try Cosmos". Flat team pricing (up to 50 seats, no per-seat charge) with a pooled $ usage balance. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Terminal-first coding agent included in Claude Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise plans or billed via API; also IDE extension, desktop app and cloud sessions (cloud_agent). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
"The Sovereign AI Lab": coding agent + own post-trained Lumen models, pitched at regulated/air-gapped orgs and niche languages (COBOL, Fortran, Verilog). Formerly branded Genie (Genie CLI introduced Q2 2025). Secondary segment: terminal_agent (cos CLI). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Source-available (FSL, converts to MIT after 2 years) BYO-model terminal agent; optional Charm-hosted 'Hyper' inference subscription. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Agentic AI IDE (ex-Windsurf) inside the Devin family; shares plans with Devin Cloud and Devin CLI. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Agent-native dev platform; Droids work locally or as background/cloud agents. Secondary segment: terminal_agent (Droid CLI). Domain moved from factory.ai to factory.com (factory.ai 307-redirects). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Open-source terminal agent (also oss_self_hosted), enterprise/API-key only after consumer users moved to Antigravity CLI. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
DevSecOps-native agents and flows for GitLab Premium/Ultimate; also IDE extensions (VS Code, JetBrains) and a Duo CLI; self-managed and air-gapped self-hosted-model options. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
JetBrains IDE agent, now also a terminal agent (Junie CLI) and runs in JetBrains Air; metered in JetBrains AI Credits ($1 each) with BYOK at provider rates, zero markup. No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Self-hosted completion server + IDE plugins; low activity in 2026 (chat/knowledge features sunset Jan 2026, vendor focus shifted to its Pochi agent). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.
Private, governed enterprise coding agent with self-hosted and air-gapped deployment. Now a Tricentis product (acquired 2026-07-30). Secondary segment: terminal_agent (Tabnine Plugin for OpenCode). No won verdicts for this use case yet; it ranks on ties and near-misses.