Coding & IDE agents

For a builder who wants one editor open all day, Cursor is the first install: agent, chat, and the repo are in the same product, and the free plan is enough to try it.

Best for: Daily work in an AI-native editor.

When the task is a multi-file change and you already want Claude, this is the official agent. You stay in the repo and review the diff instead of switching editors.

Best for: Handing a repo-sized task to Claude.

If the work already lives on GitHub, Copilot is the pick that does not ask you to change editors. Pro is the cheapest paid seat in this ranking.

Best for: Teams that want AI inside GitHub and the IDE they already use.

If you already pay for ChatGPT, Codex is the coding agent on that account, including cloud tasks, instead of a second IDE subscription.

Best for: ChatGPT subscribers who want a coding agent.

Pick this when you want an editor and a board of agents, including a handoff to Devin in the cloud, rather than a single chat in the sidebar.

Best for: Running several agents and reviewing their pull requests from one app.

It is the open client in this list: you choose the model, you can see the spend, and you can require approval before a command runs.

Best for: Builders who want model choice and a per-token bill.

For terminal-first work, Aider is the small, git-native option with no vendor seat between you and the model.

Best for: Terminal edits when you already pay an API.