Cursor moved to credit-based pricing in 2025. Compare free AI coding alternatives: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cline, Aider, Windsurf, Augment Code, Amazon Q Developer, Gemini CLI. Verified 2026 limits.

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Cursor Alternatives

Cursor — the AI-powered code editor built on VS Code — shifted to credit-based pricing in mid-2025, plus a new $200/month Ultra tier. The free tier still exists (limited Agent requests, no published figure), but the credit model makes costs less predictable for heavy users. Developers are actively evaluating alternatives.

The AI coding tool landscape has exploded in 2026. Terminal-based agents (Claude Code, Aider, Gemini CLI), IDE extensions (GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Augment Code), and open-source autonomous agents (Cline) each offer different trade-offs between cost, flexibility, and capability.

Below are the best free alternatives to Cursor, compared by what you actually get for free — exact limits, open-source status, and what each tool is best at.

Pricing Restructured

Moved from flat monthly subscription to credit-based pricing model with new $200/month Ultra tier Source ↗

Before: Pro plan $20/month with 500 fast requests
After: Pro plan $20/month (credit-based), Business $40/seat/month, Ultra $200/month (higher credit limits)

Top Alternatives

Claude Code Paid

Agentic coding tool by Anthropic — terminal-based AI coding agent that reads/writes files, runs commands, and manages git workflows. Available to Claude Pro ($20/mo), Team ($25/seat/mo), and Max ($100-200/mo) subscribers. Uses Claude Sonnet/Opus models. Also available via Anthropic API with usage-based pricing. Free tier via Claude.ai (limited Sonnet usage, Projects, Artifacts). April 2026 changes: (1) Third-party tool restrictions — external tools like OpenClaw now billed separately on pay-as-you-go basis, can no longer apply standard usage limits. (2) Extra usage option — all paid plans (Pro, Max 5x, Max 20x) now have pay-as-you-go overage at standard API rates beyond included usage. (3) Peak-hour throttling — 5-hour session limits reduced during weekdays 5 AM–11 AM Pacific.

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GitHub Copilot Free caution discovered 2026-08-28 restructured

AI coding assistant by GitHub/Microsoft. Works in VS Code/JetBrains/GitHub.com. Copilot Free: 2,000 completions/month, an allowance of GitHub AI Credits, limited agents, auto model selection only. Copilot Student is free to verified students. Pro $10/mo (base 1,000 AI credits), Pro+ $39/mo (3,900), Max $100/mo (10,000), Business $19/granted seat/mo (1,900 per user), Enterprise $39/granted seat/mo (3,900 per user). Usage beyond the allowance is billed at $0.01/AI credit; code completions and next edit suggestions are unlimited on paid plans and not billed in credits. The April 2026 pause on new Pro, Pro+ and Student signups has been lifted — all individual plans accept new signups today. New self-serve purchase of Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise remains paused (2026-04-22), with GitHub saying sign-ups reopen soon for card and PayPal customers.

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Amazon Q Developer Free stable

AI coding assistant by AWS. Free tier: inline code suggestions, chat, 1,000 lines code transformation/month, 50 agentic requests/month, access to latest Claude models. Supports VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, and AWS Console. Pro plan $19/user/month (higher limits, admin controls, IP indemnity)

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Cline Open Source

Open-source autonomous AI coding agent for VS Code. Fully free — users provide their own API keys (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.). Supports file editing, terminal commands, browser interaction. No usage limits beyond API provider costs. MIT licensed.

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Aider Open Source

Open-source AI pair programming CLI tool. Fully free — users provide their own LLM API keys (supports GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Ollama local models). Git-aware editing, multi-file changes, voice coding, in-chat image support. Apache 2.0 licensed.

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Windsurf Free caution 2026-04-13 restructured

AI-powered IDE by Codeium (formerly Codeium Editor). Free tier: limited daily quotas for Cascade AI flows, code completions, AI chat (credit system replaced by quotas Mar 2026). Pro $20/mo, Teams $40/mo, Max $200/mo. SWE-1.5 Fast Agent model for faster iteration. Grandfathered Pro subscribers keep $15/mo indefinitely. All tiers include premium models

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Augment Code Retired

AI coding assistant with deep codebase understanding. No free tier. Standard $20/month flat and Business $100/month flat, each covering up to 50 seats with $20 and $100 of included monthly usage respectively across LLM, Context Engine and compute; top-ups are pay-as-you-go. Enterprise is custom-priced. Flat team pricing with no per-seat charge. Supports VS Code, JetBrains and CLI. SOC 2 Type II certified

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Gemini CLI Free stable

Open-source terminal AI coding agent by Google. Free tier with personal Google account: 60 requests/minute, 1,000 requests/day, 1M token context window. Powered by Gemini 3. Supports MCP tools, shell commands, file editing. Apache 2.0 licensed

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Amazon Kiro Free caution discovered 2026-09-03 restructured

Superseded: As of 2026-09-03, kiro.dev/pricing reads: KIRO FREE $0 per month 50 credits. KIRO PRO $20 per user / month 1,000 credits. KIRO PRO+ $40 per user / month 2,000 credits. KIRO PRO MAX $100 per user / month 5,000 credits. KIRO POWER $200 per user / month 10,000 credits. Add-on credits are $0.04/credit. $20 credit towards first paid plan upgrade. We are not publishing our stored Amazon Kiro terms beside it — our own pricing change record, discovered 2026-09-03, names them as the previous ones. Read what we recorded ↓

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Free Tier Comparison

What you actually get for free on each AI coding tool. Open-source tools (Cline, Aider) have no vendor limits — you pay only for the LLM API you choose.

Tool Free Tier Type Open Source Key Strength
Cursor Limited Agent requests IDE (VS Code fork) — Inline editing + chat in one IDE
Claude Code Free during beta Terminal agent — Deep agentic coding — reads/writes files, runs commands
GitHub Copilot 2,000 completions/mo, 50 chat msgs/mo IDE extension — Widest IDE support (VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Xcode)
Cline Free (bring your own API key) VS Code extension ✅ Apache-2.0 Autonomous agent — no vendor lock-in
Aider Free (bring your own API key) Terminal CLI ✅ Apache-2.0 AI pair programming — multi-file edits, git integration
Windsurf Limited Cascade AI access IDE (VS Code fork) — AI Flow — multi-step autonomous workflows
Augment Code Free for individuals (limited) IDE extension — Deep codebase understanding — large repo context
Amazon Q Developer Unlimited completions, 50 agent/mo IDE extension + CLI — AWS integration — code transformation, security scans
Gemini CLI 1,000 req/day (personal account) Terminal CLI ✅ Apache-2.0 1M token context window — massive codebase analysis

Cline and Aider are fully free — you pay only for the LLM API calls (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.). Claude Code is free during beta (expected to become paid). Gemini CLI free tier is generous: 60 req/min, 1,000 req/day with a personal Google account.

Quick Comparison

Tool Free Tier Details Stability
Claude Code Paid Agentic coding tool by Anthropic — terminal-based AI coding agent that reads/writes files, runs commands, and manages gi... —
GitHub Copilot Free AI coding assistant by GitHub/Microsoft. Works in VS Code/JetBrains/GitHub.com. Copilot Free: 2,000 completions/month, a... caution
discovered 2026-08-28 restructured
Amazon Q Developer Free AI coding assistant by AWS. Free tier: inline code suggestions, chat, 1,000 lines code transformation/month, 50 agentic ... stable
Cline Open Source Open-source autonomous AI coding agent for VS Code. Fully free — users provide their own API keys (OpenRouter, Anthropic... —
Aider Open Source Open-source AI pair programming CLI tool. Fully free — users provide their own LLM API keys (supports GPT-4o, Claude, Ge... —
Windsurf Free AI-powered IDE by Codeium (formerly Codeium Editor). Free tier: limited daily quotas for Cascade AI flows, code completi... caution
2026-04-13 restructured
Augment Code Retired AI coding assistant with deep codebase understanding. No free tier. Standard $20/month flat and Business $100/month flat... —
Gemini CLI Free Open-source terminal AI coding agent by Google. Free tier with personal Google account: 60 requests/minute, 1,000 reques... stable
Amazon Kiro Free As of 2026-09-03, kiro.dev/pricing reads: KIRO FREE $0 per month 50 credits. KIRO PRO $20 per user / month 1,000 credits… Our stored Amazon Kiro terms are superseded and withheld. caution
discovered 2026-09-03 restructured

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claude mcp add agentdeals -- npx -y agentdeals

Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf → Full setup guide