the cheapest ai coding agent: every plan from $0, ranked by what you get
updated · prices checked
quick answer: the cheapest proper setup is OpenCode at $0: free, open source, ships with free models, and it's #3 on our board. the cheapest paid plan worth having is GitHub Copilot Pro at $10/mo. the cheapest way into our #1, Claude Code, is Claude Pro at $20/mo ($17 if you pay for the year). Muse Code's $5 plan is the lowest sticker price going, but it's Meta's models only.
cheap and good aren't the same list, so this sorts the 13 coding agents we rank by what you pay, then says which bits of each price tier are worth your money. every price comes from our rankings data, checked against each vendor's own pricing page.
the price ladder
| you pay | what you get | our rank |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | OpenCode: open source, free models (200 requests a day), or bring your own key | #3, 8.5/10 |
| $0 + tokens | Cline: free extension and CLI, you pay the model provider at cost | #5, 8.0/10 |
| $0 | Google Antigravity individual: unlimited Tab and Command, basic weekly agent limits | #7, 7.5/10 |
| $0 | GitHub Copilot Free: limited chat and agent usage | #4, 8.0/10 |
| $0 | OpenAI Codex in ChatGPT Free: desktop app only, limited | #6, 8.0/10 |
| $5/mo | Muse Code Everyday Usage: 10 to 50 prompts every 5 hours, Meta's models | #10, 7.0/10 |
| $8/mo | Cursor Plus: Grok models only | #2, 8.5/10 |
| $8/mo | OpenAI Codex in ChatGPT Go: desktop app only, GPT-6 Luna | #6, 8.0/10 |
| $8/mo | Grok Build in the X Subscription Plus | #11, 6.5/10 |
| $10/mo | GitHub Copilot Pro: $15 of GitHub AI Credits a month, unlimited completions | #4, 8.0/10 |
| $10/mo | OpenCode Go: a curated set of coding models with proper limits, usable from any agent | #3, 8.5/10 |
| $20/mo | Claude Code with Claude Pro ($17/mo billed annually) | #1, 9.0/10 |
| $20/mo | OpenAI Codex with ChatGPT Plus: CLI, IDE, web and the full Codex | #6, 8.0/10 |
| $20/mo | Kiro Pro (1,000 credits) or Devin Desktop Pro | #9 and #8 |
Cursor, Devin Desktop and Kiro also have free plans (Kiro's is 50 credits a month), but they're tasters rather than somewhere to do a week's work.
the cheap ones worth paying for
1. $0: OpenCode. our #3 costs nothing. the free models cover 200 requests a day, and when you outgrow them you plug in any provider's API key (75+ of them, local models included) or log in with a GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan you already pay for. the catch: the free models are partly whatever's on promotion at the time, and a pay-as-you-go key can cost more than a subscription if you leave it running all day.
2. $10: GitHub Copilot Pro. the cheapest paid plan we'd actually point a working dev at. $10 buys $15 of GitHub AI Credits a month plus unlimited completions, in the editor you already use. watch the credits: heavy agent sessions eat them, so keep an eye on the meter.
3. $10: OpenCode Go. if you like OpenCode and want limits you can rely on, Go is $10 for a curated lineup of coding models, and it works from other agents too. Go Plus is $40 for higher limits.
4. $20: Claude Code on Claude Pro. not cheap, but it's the cheapest way into the agent we rank #1, and you hit session limits rather than surprise bills. full breakdown: Claude Code pricing.
the cheap ones with a catch
- Cursor Plus ($8): Grok models only at fixed settings. fine for light work; Claude, GPT and Gemini need Premium at $30. Cursor pricing
- ChatGPT Go ($8) for Codex: desktop app only, on GPT-6 Luna. the CLI, IDE extension and web come with Plus at $20, or an API key at API rates. Codex pricing
- Muse Code ($5): the lowest sticker price, but you're on Meta's models and it's #10 of 13 for a reason
- Cline ($0 + tokens): the software's free; the bill is whatever your model charges. cheap with a cheap model, not cheap with a frontier one
- Gemini CLI: no free plan for individuals since june 18, 2026. it's an API key or a Code Assist licence now
bring your own key: how cheap can it go?
OpenCode and Cline both run on a key you bring, so the agent is free and you pay per token. a few of the cheapest models we track, per million tokens in / out:
- Claude Haiku 5.5: $0.10 / $0.50 (prompts up to 100K tokens), from the Claude API
- GPT-6 Luna: $0.10 / $0.50, from the OpenAI API
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash: $0.15 / $0.60, from the MiniMax API
- deepseek-flash: $0.30 / $1.20 at peak, $0.15 / $0.60 off-peak, from the DeepSeek API
- Gemini 3.8 Flash: $0.75 / $3.75, doubling on january 1, 2027. see Gemini API pricing
small models are cheap for small jobs. for the big multi-file stuff, a subscription is usually the cheaper way to buy a frontier model.
every agent, ranked, with its cheapest way in
| rank | tool | free tier | paid from | numptr score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Claude Code | no free access: Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan (Pro and up) | Pro $20/mo | 9.0/10 |
| #2 | Cursor | limited ai usage | Plus $8/mo, Grok models only | 8.5/10 |
| #3 | OpenCode | free and open source (MIT); free models included, or bring your own key, or log in with GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT Plus/Pro | optional OpenCode Go $10/mo or Go Plus $40/mo | 8.5/10 |
| #4 | GitHub Copilot | limited chat and agent usage | Pro $10/mo | 8.0/10 |
| #5 | Cline | free open-source extension (VS Code + CLI) | no subscription | 8.0/10 |
| #6 | OpenAI Codex | included in ChatGPT Free (limited usage) | included in ChatGPT Go $8/mo, Plus $20/mo, Pro $100, $200 or $500/mo | 8.0/10 |
| #7 | Google Antigravity | individual $0: unlimited Tab and Command requests, basic weekly agent limits | no standalone plan | 7.5/10 |
| #8 | Devin Desktop | light agent quota, unlimited Tab completions and inline edits | Pro $20/mo | 7.0/10 |
| #9 | Kiro | 50 credits/mo (perpetual) | Pro $20/mo | 7.0/10 |
| #10 | Muse Code | no free plan; cheapest is Everyday Usage $5/mo, or pay per token with a Meta Model API key | Everyday Usage $5/mo | 7.0/10 |
| #11 | Grok Build | limited Grok Build use on the Cursor / X Subscription Free plan | included in Cursor / X Subscription Plus $8/mo and up | 6.5/10 |
| #12 | JetBrains Air | Junie Lite runs free for a limited time (JetBrains account required) | bring your own agent subscriptions/API keys, or JetBrains AI... | 6.5/10 |
| #13 | Gemini CLI | no free plan for individuals since june 18, 2026 (free and Google One users were moved to Antigravity CLI) | Gemini API key at API rates | 5.5/10 |
so which is cheapest?
- spend nothing: OpenCode with its free models, or Google Antigravity
- spend only on tokens: OpenCode or Cline with a cheap model's API key
- under $10 a month: GitHub Copilot pro or OpenCode Go
- the best agent for the least: Claude Code on Claude Pro, $20 ($17 annual)
- already paying for ChatGPT: you've got Codex. crack on
every plan side by side is on the ai coding agent price sheet, and the ai coding cost calculator does the sums for a team. if free is the whole brief: best free ai coding agents. if quality is: best ai coding agent 2026.
faq
what is the cheapest ai coding agent?
OpenCode is free and open source and ships with free models, and it's #3 on our coding agents board. the cheapest paid plan we'd recommend is GitHub Copilot Pro at $10/mo. the lowest sticker price is Muse Code Everyday Usage at $5/mo, on Meta's models only.
what is the cheapest ai coding subscription?
Muse Code Everyday Usage at $5/mo, then Cursor Plus, ChatGPT Go (for Codex) and the X Subscription Plus (for Grok Build) at $8/mo, then GitHub Copilot Pro and OpenCode Go at $10/mo.
what is the cheapest way to get Claude Code?
Claude Pro at $20/mo, or $17/mo billed annually. there's no free Claude Code. if you just want Claude models in a coding agent, put a Claude API key into OpenCode or Cline and pay per token instead.
is there a free ai coding agent?
yes. OpenCode and Cline are free and open source (Cline needs your own model key), Google Antigravity has a $0 individual plan, and GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin Desktop, Kiro and Codex (in ChatGPT Free) all have limited free tiers.
is GitHub Copilot or Cursor cheaper?
Cursor Plus is cheaper at $8 vs $10, but it's Grok models only. Copilot Pro at $10 includes $15 of GitHub AI Credits and unlimited completions. for the full head-to-head, see GitHub Copilot vs Cursor.
tools in this guide
- Claude Code
- Cursor
- OpenCode
- GitHub Copilot
- Cline
- OpenAI Codex
- Google Antigravity
- Kiro
- Muse Code
- Grok Build
- Devin Desktop
sources
checked 2026-10-22
- Claude Code pricing: https://claude.com/pricing
- Cursor pricing: https://cursor.com/pricing
- OpenCode pricing: https://opencode.ai/go
- GitHub Copilot pricing: https://github.com/features/copilot/plans
- Cline pricing: https://cline.bot/pricing
- OpenAI Codex pricing: https://developers.openai.com/codex/pricing
- Google Antigravity pricing: https://antigravity.google/pricing/
- Devin Desktop pricing: https://devin.ai/pricing
- Kiro pricing: https://kiro.dev/pricing/
- Muse Code pricing: https://dev.meta.ai/products/muse-code
- Grok Build pricing: https://docs.x.ai/x-subscription/pricing
- JetBrains Air pricing: https://www.jetbrains.com/air/ides/
- Gemini CLI pricing: https://geminicli.com/docs/resources/quota-and-pricing/
- OpenCode free models (200 requests a day) and Go: https://opencode.ai/go
- bring-your-own-key model prices (from our LLM API data, checked daily): https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing ; https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing ; https://platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview ; https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing ; https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing