Free AI Coding Tools
You do not need a paid subscription to get a capable AI coding assistant. This page lists options that have a genuinely usable free tier or are fully open source. Pricing and limits change frequently, so treat specifics as a starting point and check the vendor's site.
- Privacy. Free tiers often train on or retain your code. On research or proprietary code, check the data-use policy before enabling a tool. Many vendors offer a "privacy mode" that disables training.
- Bring-your-own-key. Several open-source tools are free software but call a paid model API. They become "free" only if you also use a free model endpoint (e.g. a local model). Otherwise you pay per token.
Cursor (free tier)
Cursor (opens in a new tab) is a VS Code fork with AI built in (see the IDEs page). Its Hobby/free plan includes a limited number of AI completions and agent requests per month, enough to try it out and handle light use. Heavier use needs the Pro plan.
- Best if you want a polished, GUI-first experience.
- Your existing VS Code extensions carry over.
Google Antigravity
Antigravity (opens in a new tab) is Google's agentic development platform, built around agents that can plan and edit across your project (and drive a browser). It launched with free access to Gemini models during its public preview, subject to rate limits.
- Best if you want an agent-centric IDE and want to use Gemini models at no cost while the preview lasts.
opencode
opencode (opens in a new tab) is a fully open-source, terminal-based coding agent (think "an agent in your shell", similar in spirit to Claude Code). The software itself is free; you point it at a model provider.
- It is model-agnostic, so you can connect it to a paid API or to free/local models (e.g. via Ollama (opens in a new tab)) to run at no cost.
- Best if you like working in the terminal, want to avoid vendor lock-in, or want everything running locally.
Other options worth knowing
- GitHub Copilot Free is a free tier with a monthly cap on completions and chat messages. It is free for verified students and maintainers of popular open-source projects.
- Codeium / Windsurf has offered a free tier for autocomplete and chat.
- Continue.dev is an open-source VS Code/JetBrains extension. It is free software; bring your own model (including local models via Ollama).
- Cline / Roo Code are open-source VS Code agent extensions. Bring your own key or a local model.
- Local models are open-weight models (Llama, Qwen, DeepSeek, etc.) that you run entirely on your own hardware with Ollama (opens in a new tab) or llama.cpp (opens in a new tab). Free and private, but quality and speed depend heavily on your GPU/RAM.
How to choose
| You want… | Try |
|---|---|
| A GUI editor, minimal setup | Cursor free tier |
| An agentic IDE with free Gemini access | Google Antigravity |
| A terminal agent, no lock-in | opencode |
| Autocomplete inside VS Code, free | Copilot Free / Continue |
| Fully private / offline | Local models via Ollama |