ToolRankBest AI coding tools that use your own API keys
Updated 16 Oct 2026 · Prices from vendor pages only · How we rank →
The short answer
Each of these tools lets you bring your own model API keys. Cline comes first: free, open-source (Apache-2.0) agent with no subscription or seat fees: you pay for inference only, at cost or with your own keys, from many providers. The cheapest verified paid plan here is Zed Pro ($10/month). 9 of the 10 have a free plan we could confirm. Every price below is from the vendor’s own page, checked 16 Oct 2026.
Ranked shortlist
- Cline: Free, open-source (Apache-2.0) agent with no subscription or seat fees: you pay for inference only, at cost or with your own keys, from many providers. Plan: Open Source: Free
VS Code, CLI, MCP - Zed: A very fast native editor that's free forever with your own keys or external agents like Claude Agent and Codex CLI. Pro is a low $10/month. Plan: Personal: $0
Own keys or external agents - Amp: A frontier coding agent that is free to start with your own keys or subscriptions, and has no Amp token fees on BYOK. It became an independent company after spinning out of Sourcegraph in Dec 2025. Plan: Hobby: Free
Pay-as-you-go orbs or own runners - OpenHands: MIT-licensed, model-agnostic agent with a web GUI, CLI and SDK. It runs free locally with unlimited conversations, there's a free cloud Individual tier, and the GitHub community is large (about 91K stars). Plan: Local (open source): Free
Unlimited conversations - Aider: Free and open source (Apache-2.0). Works with almost any LLM, including local ones, maps your whole codebase and commits each change to git so it's easy to undo. Plan: Free, open source: you pay only your LLM provider
- JetBrains AI (Junie): Built into IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs. JetBrains Air runs Junie, Claude Agent, Codex and other agents, and lets you bring your own keys. Plan: Not yet verified
- Kilo Code: Open-source coding agent for VS Code and JetBrains. Plan: Free & Open Source: Free
- Warp: Agentic terminal and development environment. Plan: Free: $0/month
- Continue: Ranked low because it is discontinued. Continue was acquired by Cursor, its repo is read-only, and 2.0.0 was the last release. The open-source extension still runs with your own keys or local models. Plan: Open-source extension (Apache-2.0), self-run with your own model keys
- Roo Code: Ranked last because it's discontinued: the extension shut down on 15 May 2026 and the GitHub repo is archived. The project itself points users to Cline or the community fork ZooCode. Plan: Was free and open source (Apache-2.0); no longer maintained
Order follows ToolRank’s editorial ranking in Coding & App Building, filtered to tools that fit this page. Anything we couldn’t confirm on a vendor page says “Not yet verified”.
Side by side
| Rank | Tool | Relevant plan | Starting price | Free plan | Best for | Main limitation | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Cline | Open Source: Free VS Code, CLI, MCP | Not yet verified | Free for individuals: pay only for AI inference (BYOK or at cost) | Developers who want a transparent, model-agnostic agent in VS Code and control over spend | Costs scale directly with tokens, so long agent runs on frontier models get expensive. The JetBrains extension is listed under Enterprise. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #2 | Zed | Personal: $0 Own keys or external agents | $10/month (Pro) | Personal: free forever, unlimited with your own API keys or external agents | Developers who want a fast native editor and a choice of AI (Zed-hosted, own keys or external agents) | Hosted AI beyond Pro's $5 of included tokens is billed at API list price plus 10%. SSO/SAML isn't available yet on Business. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #3 | Amp | Hobby: Free Pay-as-you-go orbs or own runners | $20/month (Individual) | Hobby: free, all features, BYOK, pay-as-you-go orb runtime | Developers who want a cutting-edge agent and to reuse existing ChatGPT/Claude subscriptions | Cloud 'orb' runtime is pay-as-you-go on the free tier, and the pricing model is unusual, so read the orb-minute details. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #4 | OpenHands | Local (open source): Free Unlimited conversations | Not yet verified | Open source: free, unlimited local use. Cloud Individual: free, 10 conversations/day, BYOK or at-cost models | Teams that want an autonomous agent they can self-host and audit | The free cloud tier caps you at 10 conversations a day, and you pay your own LLM costs (BYOK, or OpenHands' provider at cost). | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #5 | Aider | Free, open source: you pay only your LLM provider | Not yet verified | Free, open source: you pay only your LLM provider | Terminal users who want a free, model-agnostic pair programmer with clean git history | You bring and pay for your own model API, and there's no GUI. The GitHub repo had its last push on 22 May 2026, so check the release cadence before you rely on it. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #6 | JetBrains AI (Junie) | Not yet verified | $10/month (AI Pro, personal) | Not yet verified | Developers already living in JetBrains IDEs | The product line is in flux: Junie is now part of JetBrains Air and cloud runs are rolling out gradually. We could not verify free-tier limits. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #7 | Kilo Code | Free & Open Source: Free | $15/user/month (Teams) | Free and open source; AI usage billed separately | Open-source coding agent with any model | Model usage costs extra | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #8 | Warp | Free: $0/month | $20/month (Build) | Free: $0/month, bring your own AI | An AI terminal and agent | Agent usage beyond the included amount is billed | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #9 | Continue | Open-source extension (Apache-2.0), self-run with your own model keys | Not yet verified | Open-source extension (Apache-2.0), self-run with your own model keys | Existing users who want a frozen, self-run open-source assistant with their own models | Discontinued: no further updates or fixes and the hosted services are gone. Treat it as frozen software. | 16 Oct 2026 |
| #10 | Roo Code | Was free and open source (Apache-2.0); no longer maintained | Not yet verified | Was free and open source (Apache-2.0); no longer maintained | Nobody new. Existing users should migrate | Shut down: no updates, no support, archived repository. | 16 Oct 2026 |
Prices as listed by each vendor on the last-checked date, USD, before tax. Plans and limits change, so follow the sources below.
Who should pick which
Pick Cline for developers who want a transparent, model-agnostic agent in VS Code and control over spend (Open Source: Free); think twice if you want one flat monthly price. Pick Zed for developers who want a fast native editor and a choice of AI (Zed-hosted, own keys or external agents) (Personal: $0); think twice if you depend on the VS Code or JetBrains extension ecosystems. Pick Amp for developers who want a cutting-edge agent and to reuse existing ChatGPT/Claude subscriptions (Hobby: Free); think twice if you need a conventional IDE assistant with autocomplete. Pick OpenHands for teams that want an autonomous agent they can self-host and audit (Local: open source) (Free); think twice if you want an inline autocomplete assistant inside your editor. Pick Aider for terminal users who want a free, model-agnostic pair programmer with clean git history (free plan: Free, open source: you pay only your LLM provider); think twice if you want a polished IDE, a hosted service, or one bundled subscription. Pick JetBrains AI (Junie) for developers already living in JetBrains IDEs ($10/month (AI Pro, personal)); think twice if you don't use JetBrains IDEs. Pick Kilo Code for open-source coding agent with any model (Free & Open Source: Free). Watch out: model usage costs extra.
FAQ
Which of these is cheapest?
Zed Pro ($10/month) is the lowest paid price we verified on this list (https://zed.dev/pricing, checked 16 Oct 2026). Check the vendor page for tax, billing period and usage limits.
Which of these have a free plan?
Cline: Free for individuals: pay only for AI inference (BYOK or at cost); Zed: Personal: free forever, unlimited with your own API keys or external agents; Amp: Hobby: free, all features, BYOK, pay-as-you-go orb runtime; OpenHands: Open source: free, unlimited local use. Cloud Individual: free, 10 conversations/day, BYOK or at-cost models; Aider: Free, open source: you pay only your LLM provider; Kilo Code: Free and open source; AI usage billed separately; Warp: Free: $0/month, bring your own AI; Continue: Open-source extension (Apache-2.0), self-run with your own model keys; Roo Code: Was free and open source (Apache-2.0); no longer maintained.
How were these tools chosen?
They are the tools in ToolRank's rankings with bring-your-own-key support stated by the vendor, confirmed on the vendor's own website on 16 Oct 2026. Tools we could not verify are left out rather than guessed, and anything unconfirmed is marked Not yet verified.
Sources
- Cline: Cline pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- Zed: Zed pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- Amp: Amp pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- Amp: Amp: spinning out of Sourcegraph checked 16 Oct 2026
- OpenHands: OpenHands pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- OpenHands: OpenHands GitHub (MIT) checked 16 Oct 2026
- Aider: Aider homepage checked 16 Oct 2026
- Aider: Aider GitHub repository checked 16 Oct 2026
- JetBrains AI (Junie): JetBrains AI plans & pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- JetBrains AI (Junie): JetBrains Air (Junie is now part of Air) checked 16 Oct 2026
- Kilo Code: Kilo Code pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- Warp: Warp pricing checked 16 Oct 2026
- Continue: continue.dev: Continue was acquired by Cursor checked 16 Oct 2026
- Continue: Continue GitHub README (read-only, final 2.0.0 release) checked 16 Oct 2026
- Roo Code: Roo Code GitHub (archived; 'shut down on May 15th') checked 16 Oct 2026
- Roo Code: Roo Code docs shutdown notice checked 16 Oct 2026
Related comparisons
Profiles: Cline · Zed · Amp · OpenHands · Aider · JetBrains AI (Junie) · Kilo Code · Warp · Continue · Roo Code
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