# Aider Review

> Aider review: Original git-native terminal pair programmer; BYO key only, no paid tier; publishes its own polyglot LLM leaderboard (also oss_self_hosted).

Original git-native terminal pair programmer; BYO key only, no paid tier; publishes its own polyglot LLM leaderboard (also oss_self_hosted)

See pricing · Open source · facts verified Oct 2, 2026

## What we know about Aider

Aider sits in the ai coding agents category, where it is original git-native terminal pair programmer; BYO key only, no paid tier; publishes its own polyglot LLM leaderboard (also oss_self_hosted). We keep this Aider profile grounded in primary sources, each fact dated to when we last confirmed it.

Aider does not publish a public per-minute rate we have been able to verify, so the price figure here stays blank until we can confirm one. We would rather show nothing than a guessed number; if you have a current Aider quote, it is the fastest way for us to close that gap.

On capabilities, Aider covers pick the model per task, runs local models, self-hosted / vpc deployment, autonomous multi-file edits, runs terminal commands, and codebase indexing. Each of those is verified against Aider's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

In total we track 19 verified facts for Aider today, each linking the primary source it came from so you can check our work - and vendor claims we have not measured ourselves are labeled as such on the Aider fact sheet below.

## Fact sheet

### Pricing

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| How usage is metered | Own API key | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/) |
| What the free plan allows | Entire tool free/OSS | Oct 2 | [source](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider) |
| Bring your own API key | true (required) | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html) |

### Capabilities

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pick the model per task | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/usage/modes.html) |
| Runs local models | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html) |
| Published benchmark | Aider polyglot benchmark | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/leaderboards/) |

### Compliance & trust

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Trains on your code? | Analytics strictly opt-in | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/more/analytics.html) |
| Self-hosted / VPC deployment | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/) |

### Build experience

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Where it runs | CLI/terminal, IDE via watch-mode code comments +1 more | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/) |
| Autonomous multi-file edits | ✓  true | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/) |
| Runs terminal commands | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/usage/commands.html) |
| Codebase indexing | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/faq.html) |
| Project rules files | CONVENTIONS.md (any markdown) loaded via --read / /read... | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/usage/conventions.html) |
| Checkpoints / rollback | ✓  Yes | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/usage/commands.html) |

### Commercial

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Oct 2 | [source](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider) |
| GitHub stars | ~49,300 | Oct 2 | [source](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider) |
| Last release | 0.86.2 (PyPI), 2026-02-12 | Oct 2 | [source](https://pypi.org/project/aider-chat/0.86.2/) |
| Supported model providers | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, LM Studio, xAI +9 more | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html) |
| Hosted / paid option | false: no paid or hosted offering found | Oct 2 | [source](https://aider.chat/) |

## Aider head-to-head

| Comparison | Record | Per use case |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Aider vs Claude Code](https://www.versusref.com/coding-agents/aider-vs-claude-code/) | won 3 · lost 4 · tied 0 | Beginners: lost; Enterprise: lost; Free Plans: won; Local Models: won; Open Source: won; Terminal Workflows: lost; VS Code: lost |
| [Aider vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.versusref.com/coding-agents/aider-vs-openai-codex/) | won 4 · lost 3 · tied 0 | Beginners: lost; Enterprise: lost; Free Plans: won; Local Models: won; Open Source: won; Terminal Workflows: won; VS Code: lost |
| [Aider vs gptme](https://www.versusref.com/coding-agents/aider-vs-gptme/) | won 5 · lost 1 · tied 1 | Beginners: won; Enterprise: won; Free Plans: tie; Local Models: won; Open Source: won; Terminal Workflows: lost; VS Code: won |

Source: https://www.versusref.com/coding-agents/tools/aider/