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Ranking Coding agents

The 22 best coding agents with a free tier (2026)

The best coding agents with a free tier in October 2026 are Kilo Code, goose and Junie. Kilo Code is the pick for developers who want to switch models freely, local ones included, with no lock-in. We read the price of all 22 on their own sites.

The Agents Index EditorialUpdated Prices read 2 Sep to 1 NovAI answers 13 Oct
Compare all 22 picksMarkdown
Coding agents with a free tier, first paid plan, October 2026 All 16 agents that publish a monthly price start under $100 a month. The median first paid plan is $18.
  1. Under $251313 of 16
  2. $25 to $9933 of 16
  3. $100 to $29900 of 16
  4. $300 or more00 of 16
22
ranked
$18
median first paid plan
19
of the 22 have a free plan

theagentsindex.com · First paid plan from each agent's own pricing page, read 2 September–1 November 2026.

How we check

On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. Pick by what you need
  3. All 22 picks at a glance
  4. The ranking
  5. Questions buyers ask
  6. Sources and method

The short answer

Kilo Code ranks first. It has a free plan, and paid plans start at $15 a seat a month.

goose ranks second with a free plan, and Junie third with a free plan, then about $11 a seat a month. Zed has a free plan too.

Half of the 16 agents with a monthly paid plan charge $18 a month or less.

19 agents here have a free plan to try before you pay. The highest ranked are Kilo Code, goose and Junie.

Pick by what you need

This ranking

  • 22 agents ranked
  • paid plans $1.25-$25
  • 19 free or freemium
  • verified 27 October 2026
How we check →

All 22 picks at a glance

#AgentBest forStarts at
1Kilo CodeDevelopers who want to switch models freely, local ones included, with no lock-inFree, then $15 a seat a monthits pricing page
2gooseDevs who want an open source coding agent that reuses an existing Claude or ChatGPT planFreeits pricing page
3JunieDevelopers and teams already standardized on a JetBrains IDE who want an agentFree, then about $11 a seat a monthits pricing page
4Muse CodeCost-sensitive teams willing to trade code privacy for Contributor tier's roughly 12x cheaper input and 21x cheaper output, or anyone with a large multi-part refactor that benefits from several sub-agents working in parallel isolated worktrees.From $5 a monthits pricing page
5ZedDevelopers who want a fast, open-source editorFree, then $10 a monthits pricing page
6WarpDevelopers and teams who want one open platform that runs and coordinates multiple coding agentsFree, then $20 a monthits pricing page
7Google Antigravity CLIDevelopers already inside the Google ecosystem (Google AI subscription, GCP billing)Free, then $30 a seat a monthits pricing page
8CodeRabbitEngineering teams, using a coding agent or writing code by hand, that want automaticFrom $30 a seat a monthits pricing page
9LettaDevelopers and researchers who specifically need an agent whose memory, skillsFree, then $20 a monthits pricing page
10BoltFounders, designers and developersFree, then $25 a monthits pricing page
11Codex CLIDevelopers who already pay for a ChatGPT plan and want a terminal-native agent with granularFree, then $8 a monthits pricing page
12OpenCodeDevelopers who want a genuinely free, fully open-source coding agent that worksFree, then $10 a monthits pricing page
13zotDevelopers who want a fast, free, Go-native coding-agent harness with real session-branching controlFreeits pricing page
14JugglerVerified ownerDevelopers who want hands-on visibility into what an AI coding agent is doing to their codebaseFreeits pricing page
15OpenHandsOpen source-minded engineering teams and enterprises that want a self-hostable coding agent platformFree, then $0.10 per 1m input tokensits pricing page
16AiderNo usage cap, bring your own model keyFreeits pricing page
17ClineDevelopers and teams who want a transparent, open-source, model-agnostic agent they fully controlFreeits pricing page
18DevinEngineering teams offloading well-scoped migration tasks without adding headcountFree, then $20 a monthits pricing page
19Devin DesktopDevelopers who want a full, agent-native desktop IDE and the freedom to run several coding agentsFree, then $20 a monthits pricing page
20Replit AgentNon-technical founders who want a chat prompt to become a deployed, database-backed appFrom $20 a monthits pricing page
21CursorProfessional developers who want a powerful AI agent woven into a familiar VS Code-based editorFree, then $8 a monthits pricing page
22GitHub CopilotEnterprise and team developers already in GitHub and mainstream IDEs who want governedFree, then $10 a monthits pricing page

Checked between 2 September 2026 and 1 November 2026. “About” figures are converted at the European Central Bank rate of 30 October 2026.

22 agents, ranked. How we check

About this list

22 of our 32 coding agents are listed with a free tier.

Paid plans run from $1.25 to $25, and 19 have a free or freemium plan.

Last checked 27 October 2026.

"Free tier" means different things across this list: Aider, Cline, OpenCode and Zot are simply free and open-source with no vendor-imposed cap (you pay only for your own model API usage), while Cursor, Devin, Replit Agent, Windsurf and Bolt.new give you a capped free allowance on an otherwise-paid product. Check which kind of "free" you're actually getting.

The ranking

  1. 1

    Kilo Code

    A free plan before you pay

    Best fordevelopers who want to switch models freely, local ones included, with no lock-in

    Price
    Free, then $15 a seat a month · source
    • MCP serverNot stated
    • APIYes
    • Open sourceYes
    • Self-hostYes
    Visit Kilo Code ↗Read the review
  2. 2

    goose

    Devs who want an open source coding agent

    Best forDevs who want an open source coding agent that reuses an existing Claude or ChatGPT plan

    Price
    Free · source
    • MCP serverNot stated
    • APIYes
    • Open sourceYes
    • Self-hostYes
    Visit goose ↗Read the review
  3. 3

    Junie

    Developers and teams already standardized on a JetBrains IDE

    Best forDevelopers and teams already standardized on a JetBrains IDE who want an agent that shares the same debugger, project index, and version control already built into their editor.

    Price
    Free, then about $11 a seat a month · source
    • MCP serverNot stated
    • APIYes
    • Open sourceNot stated
    • Self-hostYes
    Visit Junie ↗Read the review
  4. 4

    Muse Code

    The lowest monthly price we found

    Best forCost-sensitive teams willing to trade code privacy for Contributor tier's roughly 12x cheaper input and 21x cheaper output, or anyone with a large multi-part refactor that benefits from several sub-agents working in parallel isolated worktrees.

    Price
    From $5 a month · source
    • MCP serverNot stated
    • APIYes
    • Open sourceNot stated
    • Self-hostNot stated
    Visit Muse Code ↗Read the review
  5. 5

    Zed

    Developers who want a fast, open-source editor

    Best forDevelopers who want a fast, open-source editor and the freedom to run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or other vendors' own agents natively via the Agent Client Protocol Zed created, instead of being locked into one editor's built-in agent.

    Price
    Free, then $10 a month · source
    • MCP serverNot stated
    • APIYes
    • Open sourceYes
    • Self-hostYes
    Visit Zed ↗Read the review

Questions buyers ask

How much do coding agents with a free tier cost?

The median first paid plan is $18 a month, across the 16 of the 22 that publish a monthly price. They run from $5 to $30.

Which coding agents with a free tier have a free plan?

19 of the 22 have a free plan.

How current are these figures?

The prices were read 2 September–1 November 2026.

Sources and method

Every price here was read on the maker's own pricing page.

Pricing pages 22 read