AI coding tools pricing 2026
AI coding tools pricing for 7 tools, side by side: the free tier, the cheapest paid plan, the higher tiers, team seats and how each one counts usage. On our check, the cheapest paid plans ran from $8 to $20 a month, and the top individual plans from $10 (Zed Pro, its only paid individual plan) to $500 (the highest ChatGPT Pro tier, which includes Codex). Each tool meters usage differently, so the table says how.
Prices and limits checked on against each vendor's own pricing page, linked in the table. Prices are at the time of writing, in US dollars, before tax.
Cheapest paid plan, lowest first
Checked
CursorPlus$8/mo- OpenAI CodexChatGPT Go$8/mo
- GitHub CopilotPro$10/mo
- ZedPro$10/mo
- JetBrains AIAI Pro$10/mo
- Claude CodeClaude Pro$20/mo
- Google AntigravityNot listed
AI coding tools pricing compared
| Tool | Free tier | Cheapest paid plan | Higher plans | Teams | How usage is counted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | Limited agent and chat requests; no number published; no third-party models | Plus, $8 a month (Grok models only) | Premium $30, Super $100, Ultra $200 a month | $30, $100 or $200 per seat a month | Weekly allowance shared with Grok; Claude, GPT and Gemini billed at API list price from Premium | Cursor pricingCursor models and pricing docs |
| Claude Code | Not included on the Free Claude plan | Claude Pro, $20 a month ($17 billed yearly) | Max $100, Ultra $200 a month | Team $25 standard or $125 premium seat a month; Enterprise $20 a seat plus API usage | 5-hour session limit and weekly limit shared with Claude; or pay per token on the API | Claude pricingClaude Code costs docs |
| GitHub Copilot | 2,000 completions a month, entry level models, limited chat and agent use | Pro, $10 a month with $15 of AI credits | Pro+ $39, Max $100 a month | Business $19, Enterprise $39 per seat a month | Monthly GitHub AI Credits at $0.01 each for chat and agents; completions unlimited on paid plans | GitHub Copilot plansGitHub Copilot plans docs |
| OpenAI Codex | Included in ChatGPT Free for quick coding tasks; no limit published | ChatGPT Go, $8 a month | Plus $20; Pro $100, $200 or $500 a month | Business $25 a user a month, or $20 billed yearly (2 users or more) | Limits per five-hour period on Plus; Pro has no five-hour limit; or API pricing with an API key | Codex pricing |
| Zed | Personal plan, free forever with your own API keys or external agents | Pro, $10 a month with $5 of tokens and unlimited edit predictions | None listed | Business, $30 a seat a month | Tokens above the included $5 billed at API list price plus 10%; 14 day Pro trial | Zed pricing |
| JetBrains AI | AI Free: unlimited completion, 3 AI credits every 30 days; not in IntelliJ IDEA without Ultimate, PyCharm without Pro, or Android Studio | AI Pro, $10 a month ($100 a year), 10 credits a month | AI Ultimate, $30 a month ($300 a year), 35 credits a month | Organizations buy credits in any amount | 1 AI credit equals $1 of AI use; credits do not roll over; top-ups at API rates. JetBrains says prices are approximate | JetBrains AI plans |
| Google Antigravity | Individuals $0: uncapped tab completions, basic weekly rate limits on agents | Through Google AI Pro or Ultra (prices not on the Antigravity page) | Google AI Ultra: higher limits and an AI credit pool | Business through Google Cloud, from $30 a seat a month | Weekly rate limits; no numbers published | Antigravity pricing |
- Windsurf: windsurf.com/pricing now redirects to devin.ai/pricing, which does not mention Windsurf, so we could not verify Windsurf's plans or free tier.
Head to head comparisons
FAQ
Which AI coding tool has the best free tier?
It depends on what you need. GitHub Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month. JetBrains AI Free gives unlimited completion in supported IDEs plus 3 AI credits every 30 days. Zed is free forever if you bring your own API keys. Cursor's Free plan is limited, with no published number, and Claude Code is not included on the Free Claude plan.
What is the cheapest paid AI coding plan?
On our check, Cursor Plus and ChatGPT Go (which includes Codex) were $8 a month, but Cursor Plus is limited to Grok models. GitHub Copilot Pro, Zed Pro and JetBrains AI Pro were $10 a month. Claude Pro, which includes Claude Code, was $20 a month or $17 billed yearly.
How do these tools limit usage?
Each one meters differently. Copilot spends monthly AI credits at $0.01 each, Cursor uses a weekly allowance, Claude Code has a 5-hour session limit and a weekly limit, JetBrains AI uses credits worth $1 each, and Zed bills tokens above the included $5 at API list price plus 10%.
Is Claude Code cheaper on the API or on a plan?
It depends on how much you use it. Anthropic's docs say enterprise API deployments average about $13 per developer per active day and $150 to $250 per developer a month, while Claude Pro is $20 a month and Max $100 with fixed usage limits.