Practical guides
Choosing a coding agent by budget: free, $20 a month or enterprise
What Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin Desktop, Junie, Zed, Qoder, OpenCode, Cline and Aider offer at $0, around $20 a month and on team plans, according to their pricing pages.
Coding agents are sold in three ways: a subscription that includes a usage allowance, per-token billing through an API key, or a free tool that lets you pay the model provider. This guide sorts the offers by price tier, using the OrigoTech directory's tool pages and the official pricing pages, verified on 2026-10-20. It does not rank the tools: included allowances differ from one plan to the next and do not compare directly. Prices in US dollars, as displayed by the vendors.
Free ($0)
- Codex: included in ChatGPT Free, with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app (gradual rollout) (OpenAI).
- GitHub Copilot Free: 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests per month (GitHub).
- Cursor Free: limited AI usage (Cursor).
- Devin Desktop Free: light quota, limited models (Devin).
- Junie Free to Start: the free Junie Lite model, or your own API keys at the provider's price (JetBrains).
- Zed Personal: unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents (Zed).
- Qoder Free, with a two-week Pro trial (Qoder).
- Open-source tools, model at your expense: OpenCode (MIT license), Cline (free for individuals, pay-as-you-go inference) and Aider are free; you pay the provider of the model you choose, or nothing with a local model (see our Ollama guide).
Claude Code has no free tier: Claude's free plan does not include it (Anthropic). On Google's side, Gemini CLI has no longer served free accounts since June 18, 2026; see Moving from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI.
Around $20 a month
- Claude Pro (Claude Code included): $17/month billed annually ($200 up front), $20 monthly (Anthropic).
- ChatGPT Plus (Codex on web, CLI, IDE extension and iOS, with GPT-6.1 Sol): $20/month; the Go plan, at $8, targets lighter tasks (OpenAI).
- Copilot Pro: $10/month, with $15 of AI credits per month; Pro+: $39/month, $70 of credits (GitHub).
- Cursor Plus: $8/month, limited to Grok models; Premium: $30/month, 4x Plus usage (Cursor).
- Devin Desktop Pro: $20/month (Devin).
- Qoder Pro: $20/month (Qoder).
- Zed Pro: $10/month, with $5 of tokens included, then API list price plus 10% (Zed).
- JetBrains AI Pro (Junie): $8.33 per user per month billed annually, 10 AI credits per 30 days (JetBrains).
Heavy use ($100 a month and up)
- Claude Max: from $100/month, 5x or 20x Pro usage.
- ChatGPT Pro: $100, $200 or $500/month.
- Copilot Max: $100/month, $200 of AI credits.
- Cursor Super: $100/month; Ultra: $200/month.
- Devin Desktop Max: $200/month.
- Qoder: Pro+ at $60, Ultra at $200/month.
- JetBrains AI Ultimate: $25 per user per month billed annually, 35 AI credits per 30 days.
Teams and enterprises
- Claude Team: $20 per seat per month billed annually ($25 monthly), Premium seat at $100 ($125 monthly), 2 to 150 people. Enterprise: $20 per seat per month billed annually plus usage at API rates, 20-seat minimum (Anthropic).
- ChatGPT Business (Codex): $20 per user per month billed annually ($25 monthly), two-user minimum (OpenAI).
- Cursor Teams: from $30 per user per month, centralised billing and SSO.
- Devin Desktop Teams: $80/month plus $40/month per full seat, up to 200 users; Enterprise on quote.
- Zed Business: $30 per seat per month.
- Cline Enterprise: on quote, with JetBrains extension, SSO and SLA (Cline).
GitHub Copilot's Business and Enterprise plans are not on our tool page yet; see the plans page.
Pay as you go with an API key
Codex, Claude Code (Console account), Cline, OpenCode, Aider, Junie and Zed accept per-token billing, directly with the model provider. Cost then depends on the model and volume. Anthropic gives a ballpark for Claude Code across its enterprise deployments: around $13 per developer per active day, $150-250 per month, below $30 per active day for 90% of users (Anthropic). Per-million-token prices for 30 models, from $0.10 to $10 for input, are gathered in the model comparison.
To compare in detail
- Written comparisons: Claude Code, Codex or GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin Desktop or Copilot, OpenCode, Aider and Cline.
- Head-to-heads: Claude Code vs Codex, Codex vs GitHub Copilot, Cursor vs Devin Desktop, Cursor vs Zed, Cline vs OpenCode.
- Every plan in detail: the tool directory and the Comparisons page.
Sources
- Anthropic: Claude pricing, verified 2026-10-20
- Claude Code Docs: Manage costs effectively, verified 2026-10-20
- OpenAI: Codex pricing, verified 2026-10-20
- GitHub: Copilot plans, verified 2026-10-20
- Cursor: pricing, verified 2026-10-20
- Devin: pricing, verified 2026-10-20
- Zed: pricing, verified 2026-10-20
- JetBrains: Junie, verified 2026-10-20
- Qoder: pricing and Cline: pricing, as recorded on the directory tool pages updated 2026-10-20
Key takeaway: most agents have a limited free tier and a first paid plan between $8 and $20 a month; Claude Code is the exception with no free tier, and open-source tools shift the cost to the model provider.
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