Free tiers of AI coding tools compared (Oct 2026)
13 of the 18 AI coding tools we track have a permanent free plan. Here is exactly what each one gives you for $0, quoted from the vendor.
Free AI coding tools
| Tool | Upgrade | Free | Status | What you get for $0 & source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plans | ||||
| Cheapest upgrade Pro · $10/mo | $0 | Free tier Allowance stated |
Free $0: 2,000 completions per month; 'limited chat and agent usage'; Haiku 4.5, GPT-5 mini and more; Copilot CLI. No credit card. Verified students get a free Copilot Student plan; verified teachers and popular OSS maintainers may get Pro free. Source: github.com · checked 2026-10-16 | |
02Bolt.new |
Cheapest upgrade Pro · $25/mo | $0 | Free tier Allowance stated |
Free: 300K tokens daily limit, 1M tokens per month; Bolt branding; 10MB uploads; hosting up to 333k web requests; unlimited databases. Source: bolt.new · checked 2026-10-16 |
03v0 |
Cheapest upgrade Plus · $30/mo | $0 | Free tier Allowance stated |
Free: $5 in one-time credits for new users; 7 message/day limit; deploy to Vercel; Design Mode; GitHub sync. Source: v0.app · checked 2026-10-16 |
| Cheapest upgrade AI Pro · $10/mo | $0 | Free tier Allowance stated |
AI Free: unlimited AI code completion in JetBrains IDEs; 3 monthly AI credits (1 credit = $1 USD). Source: jetbrains.com · checked 2026-10-16 | |
05Kiro |
Cheapest upgrade Pro · $20/mo | $0 | Free tier Allowance stated |
Kiro Free (perpetual): 50 credits per month. Social-login/Builder ID free users get Claude Sonnet 4.5 and open-weight models. $20 credit on first upgrade. Source: kiro.dev · checked 2026-10-16 |
06Cursor |
Cheapest upgrade Plus · $8/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free plan $0/month: 'Limited agent requests', 'Limited Chat requests'. No third-party models (Claude/GPT/Gemini) on Free. Exact request counts not published. Source: cursor.com · checked 2026-10-16 |
07Codex |
Cheapest upgrade Go · $8/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free $0: GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, 'subject to rollout'. No image generation on Free. Source: developers.openai.com · checked 2026-10-16 |
08Windsurf |
Cheapest upgrade Pro · $20/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free $0: 'Light quota to code with agents', limited model availability, unlimited inline edits and Tab completions. Quota size not published. Source: devin.ai · checked 2026-10-17 |
09Lovable |
Cheapest upgrade Pro · $25/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free plan: no credit card; 'Free grants'; workspace-private projects; unlimited collaborators; 5 lovable.app domains; Cloud. Free credit amount not stated on the pricing page. Source: lovable.dev · checked 2026-10-16 |
10Zed |
Cheapest upgrade Pro · $10/mo | $0 | Free tier | Personal: editor free forever; unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents (Claude Agent, Codex CLI). Pro has a 14-day free trial with $5 of GPT-6 Luna usage, no credit card. Source: zed.dev · checked 2026-10-16 |
11Warp |
Cheapest upgrade Build · $20/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free $0: limited cloud agents access, limited Warp Drive/collaboration, limited cloud conversation storage. Agent quota not published. Source: warp.dev · checked 2026-10-16 |
12Amp |
Cheapest upgrade Individual (Megawatt) · $20/mo | $0 | Free tier | Hobby: Free; all product features; pay-as-you-go for 'orbs' or use your own runners free; use ChatGPT/Claude subscriptions or BYOK; 'No Amp token fees or limits'. Source: ampcode.com · checked 2026-10-16 |
| Cheapest upgrade Kilo Pass · $19/mo | $0 | Free tier | Free & open source for individuals: free models via 'Auto Free', local models or BYOK; no hosted credit required. Source: kilo.ai · checked 2026-10-17 | |
| Trial only | ||||
—Qodo |
Cheapest upgrade Price not published | — | Trial only | Pro Team: free 14-day trial, no credit card. No permanent free tier shown. Source: qodo.ai · checked 2026-10-16 |
| No free plan listed | ||||
| Cheapest upgrade Via Claude Pro · $20/mo | — | No free tier | Not included in the Free Claude plan (pricing table: Claude Code 'No' on Free). Can alternatively be used pay-as-you-go with API credits via a Console account. Source: claude.com · checked 2026-10-16 | |
| Cheapest upgrade Core · $20/mo | — | Free tier unclear | The pricing page (Oct 2026) shows only Core, Pro and Enterprise; no free plan is listed there. 'Free Mode' usage is a feature of paid plans. Source: replit.com · checked 2026-10-16 | |
| Cheapest upgrade Price not published | — | Free tier unclear | tabnine.com/pricing now redirects to Tricentis's 'Contact us' form (Tricentis acquired Tabnine on 30 Jul 2026); no free tier or price is published. Source: tabnine.com · checked 2026-10-17 | |
| Cheapest upgrade Standard · $20/mo | — | Free tier unclear | No free plan listed on the pricing page; trials are mentioned (community support only) without terms. Source: augmentcode.com · checked 2026-10-16 | |
How this list is ranked
Free plans that put a number on the allowance (credits, minutes, images, messages) rank first, because you can plan around a number; free plans with unpublished allowances follow. Within each group, order follows our main price table. Trials and paid-only tools are listed after the ranking so you know they were checked.
We never rank on reviews, affiliate deals or sponsorship. Facts are vendor-stated; "not published" means the vendor doesn't say.
Recent changes in this list
-
plan restructureCursor moves into The X Subscription: new Plus $8 / Premium $30 / Super $100 / Ultra $200 plans with a weekly pool
New customers now buy Cursor as part of The X Subscription (Grok + Cursor + X). Usage moves from two monthly pools to one weekly pool shared with Grok; third-party models (Claude, GPT, Gemini) are no longer included and bill at API list price on Premium and above. Legacy Pro ($20), Pro+ ($60), Ultra ($200) continue for existing subscribers.
-
billing modelGitHub Copilot switches to usage-based GitHub AI Credits; Max plan ($100) launches
Premium requests replaced by AI Credits billed at model API rates. Pro $10 includes $15 total ($10 base + $5 flex), Pro+ $39 includes $70, new Max $100 includes $200. Flex allotments may change over time.
-
billing modelWindsurf drops credits for daily/weekly quotas; adds $200 Max plan
Effective March 19, 2026 (announced March 18): Free/Pro/Teams get auto-refreshing daily and weekly quotas instead of credits; Pro $20, Teams $40/seat, new Max $200.
-
limit changeCursor Pro switches from 500 requests/month to $20 of frontier-model usage at API rates
Cursor later apologized (July 4, 2025) for the unclear rollout and offered refunds for unexpected charges between June 16 and July 4.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest AI coding tool?
Cursor: Cursor Plus costs $8/mo. Next cheapest: Codex ($8/mo), GitHub Copilot ($10/mo), Zed ($10/mo). Prices checked 2026-10-16.
Which AI coding tools have a free plan?
Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Lovable, Bolt.new, v0, Zed, JetBrains AI, Kiro, Warp, Amp, Kilo Code. Not free: Claude Code (no free plan), Replit (none listed), Tabnine (none listed), Augment Code (none listed), Qodo (trial only).
Which free AI coding tool tells you exactly what you get?
GitHub Copilot: Free $0: 2,000 completions per month; 'limited chat and agent usage'; Haiku 4.5, GPT-5 mini and more; Copilot CLI. No credit card. Verified students get a free Copilot Student plan; verified teachers and popular OSS maintainers may get Pro free.; Bolt.new: Free: 300K tokens daily limit, 1M tokens per month; Bolt branding; 10MB uploads; hosting up to 333k web requests; unlimited databases.; v0: Free: $5 in one-time credits for new users; 7 message/day limit; deploy to Vercel; Design Mode; GitHub sync.; JetBrains AI: AI Free: unlimited AI code completion in JetBrains IDEs; 3 monthly AI credits (1 credit = $1 USD).
How current is this ranking?
It is rebuilt from our data every time prices are checked; the last check was 2026-10-16. Every price links to the vendor page it came from.