ToolRankBest free AI coding tools (no subscription)
Updated 16 Oct 2026 · Prices from vendor pages only · How we rank →
The short answer
For AI coding with no subscription, Cline is our top pick. It's an open-source agent for VS Code and the CLI, and you pay only for model usage, with your own keys or at cost. Zed is free forever with your own API keys or external agents. Amp's Hobby plan is free with all features and bring-your-own keys. OpenHands is free to run locally, and its cloud tier allows 10 conversations a day. Aider is free, open-source terminal software. The catch: unless you run a local model, you still pay a model provider. If you want usage included at $0, see the free-tier list.
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
- 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
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 | 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 |
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 if you want an agent inside VS Code and full control of spend. Pick Zed if you want a fast free editor and already have API keys or an external agent. Pick Amp if you want to reuse your ChatGPT or Claude subscriptions in an agent. Pick OpenHands if you want an autonomous agent you can self-host and audit. Pick Aider if you live in the terminal and want clean git commits. Continue is listed last for transparency: it's frozen after Cursor acquired it, so only use it if you accept no updates.
FAQ
Are these AI coding tools really free?
The software is free, but most of them call a paid model API with your key or the vendor's provider at cost. Cline, Aider and OpenHands say this on their own pages. A local model avoids API bills.
Which free tool works inside VS Code?
Cline runs in VS Code and the CLI. Its JetBrains extension is listed under Enterprise (cline.bot/pricing, checked 16 Oct 2026). Continue also ran in VS Code but is no longer maintained.
What's the difference between this list and the free-tier list?
This list covers tools with no subscription, where you bring your own model. The free-tier list covers paid products whose free plan includes some hosted usage, such as GitHub Copilot Free or Cursor Free.
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
- 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
Related comparisons
Profiles: Cline · Zed · Amp · OpenHands · Aider · Continue
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