⌨️ Use case
Best AI tools to aI coding assistant
Short answer: Use Cursor. Leading AI IDE with cloud agents. Free tier: Yes (limited). Paid from $8/mo Plus (Grok models only); $30/mo Premium [official, Oct 14]. Alternatives: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot.
Top pick: Cursor
Leading AI IDE with cloud agents. Official site: https://cursor.com
All options
Cursor
Leading AI IDE with cloud agents
Top pickFree tier$8/mo Plus (Grok models only)Claude Code
Terminal coding agent
Paid only$17/mo annual, $20 monthlyGitHub Copilot
Works in your existing editor
Free tier$10/mo ProWindsurf (now Devin Desktop)
Agent-first desktop IDE
Free tier$20/moTabnine
Private and self-hosted code AI
Paid only$39/user/moGoogle Antigravity
Google's agentic IDE; gets Gemini 4 Argon on Ultra
Amp
Frontier coding agent with Sign in with ChatGPT and voice Puck
Free tier$20/mo IndividualCline
Open-source Plan-and-Act agent for VS Code, CLI, and desktop; BYOK
Free tierFree / pay model providersAider
Terminal pair-programmer with repo map and git auto-commits; BYOK
Free tierFree / pay model providers
Compare
| Role | Tool | Why | Free tier | Paid from | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top pick | Cursor | Leading AI IDE with cloud agents | Yes (limited) | $8/mo Plus (Grok models only); $30/mo Premium [official, Oct 14] | |
| Alt | Claude Code | Terminal coding agent | No (needs paid Claude) | $17/mo annual, $20 monthly [official] | no recorded check yet |
| Alt | GitHub Copilot | Works in your existing editor | Yes | $10/mo Pro | no recorded check yet |
| Alt | Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) | Agent-first desktop IDE | Yes | $20/mo | no recorded check yet |
| Alt | Tabnine | Private and self-hosted code AI | No | $39/user/mo | no recorded check yet |
| Alt | Google Antigravity | Google's agentic IDE; gets Gemini 4 Argon on Ultra | unverified | unverified | no recorded check yet |
| Alt | Amp | Frontier coding agent with Sign in with ChatGPT and voice Puck | Yes (Hobby) | $20/mo Individual [official, Oct 15] | |
| Alt | Cline | Open-source Plan-and-Act agent for VS Code, CLI, and desktop; BYOK | Yes (open source, BYOK) | Free / pay model providers | |
| Alt | Aider | Terminal pair-programmer with repo map and git auto-commits; BYOK | Yes (open source, BYOK) | Free / pay model providers |
Last checked is per tool (see the table). Page updated . Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's site.