AI coding agents
Agents that read a codebase, edit files, run commands and open pull requests, ranked on live adoption and activity data.
By weekly package downloads, the leaders are OpenAI Codex (25.6M), Claude Code (14.8M), Pi (5.2M). By VS Code extension installs, the leaders are GitHub Copilot (78.6M), Claude Code (27.1M), OpenAI Codex (15.2M). By GitHub stars, the leaders are OpenCode (212K), Claude Code (150K), OpenAI Codex (128K). The fastest grower over the last 30 days is Oh My Pi, with downloads up 54%. As of Oct 6, 2026.
| # | Agent | Category | Pulse | Downloads 7d | 7d | 30d | VS Code installs | Stars | Latest release | Price | Last 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
OpenAI CodexOpenAI |
Terminal | 82 | 25.6M | up 5.7% | up 21.2% | 15.2M | 128K+153/day | 0.160.1yesterday | Free + $8/mo | |
| 3 |
Claude CodeAnthropic |
Terminal | 80 | 14.8M | up 11.6% | down 36.4% | 27.1M | 150K+161/day | 2.1.290yesterday | $20/mo | |
| 5 |
PiEarendil Inc. (created by Mario Zechner) |
Terminal | 75 | 5.2M | up 29.8% | up 52.1% | — | 113K+378/day | 1.0.4yesterday | Free (OSS) | |
| 7 |
OpenCodeAnomaly (SST team) |
Terminal | 73 | 3.3M | up 22.0% | up 6.1% | 1.2M | 212K+200/day | 1.18.346d ago | Free + $10/mo | |
| 8 |
CursorAnysphere (owned by SpaceX) |
IDEs | 71 | — | — | — | — | 33.3K+3/day | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 9 |
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft) |
IDEs | 70 | — | — | — | 78.6M | — | — | Free + $10/mo | |
| 19 |
ZedZed Industries |
IDEs | 59 | — | — | — | — | 91.3K+54/day | 1.22.06d ago | Free + $10/mo | |
| 24 |
Gemini CLIGoogle |
Terminal | 57 | 453K | up 4.7% | up 1.8% | 1.1M | 107K+24/day | 0.62.07d ago | Varies | |
| 26 |
Oh My PiStencil Labs (Can Bölük) |
Terminal | 56 | 241K | up 11.4% | up 53.9% | — | 34.4K+111/day | 18.6.12d ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 28 |
WarpWarp |
IDEs | 54 | — | — | — | — | 65.4K+25/day | 0.2026.06.03.…4mo ago | Free + $20/mo | |
| 31 |
DevinCognition |
Cloud | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | — | $20/mo | |
| 34 |
ClineCline Bot Inc. |
Terminal | 52 | 95K | up 10.1% | down 37.2% | 5.5M | 69.9K+63/day | 0.0.434d ago | Free + $9.99/mo | |
| 36 |
JunieJetBrains |
IDEs | 51 | 318 | down 58.6% | — | — | 469+1/day | 3651.1yesterday | Free + $10/mo | |
| 40 |
OpenHandsOpenHands (formerly All Hands AI) |
Terminal | 50 | 316K | — | — | — | 90.1K+98/day | 1.25.0today | Free | |
| 44 |
Amazon Q DeveloperAmazon Web Services |
IDEs | 49 | — | — | — | 1.9M | 51 | 2.8.05d ago | Free + $19/mo | |
| 45 |
KiroAmazon Web Services |
IDEs | 48 | — | — | — | — | 4,353+3/day | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 46 |
Google AntigravityGoogle |
IDEs | 48 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $19.99/mo | |
| 48 |
mini-SWE-agentPrinceton University & Stanford University (SWE-agent team) |
Terminal | 47 | 3.4M | up 58.9% | down 26.3% | — | 8,225+23/day | 2.4.62mo ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 51 |
Kilo CodeKilo Code (Anaconda) |
Terminal | 46 | 32.8K | down 32.4% | — | 1.6M | 27.5K+15/day | 7.8.35d ago | Free + $19/mo | |
| 52 |
GitHub Copilot CLIGitHub (Microsoft) |
Terminal | 46 | 1.7M | up 19.1% | down 36.3% | — | 11.2K+5/day | 1.0.92yesterday | Free + $10/mo | |
| 53 |
Grok BuildxAI (SpaceXAI) |
Terminal | 44 | 74.2K | up 14.8% | up 22.7% | — | 27.2K+18/day | — | — | |
| 54 |
TabnineTabnine (Tricentis) |
IDEs | 44 | — | — | — | 9.6M | 1,433 | 3.51.02y ago | Custom | |
| 58 |
GooseBlock (now Agentic AI Foundation) |
Terminal | 43 | — | — | — | 7,358 | 55K+38/day | 1.53.04d ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 65 |
Qwen CodeAlibaba Cloud (Qwen) |
Terminal | 41 | 105K | up 30.8% | up 5.5% | 373K | 28.3K+20/day | 0.25.0yesterday | Bring your key | |
| 77 |
Sourcegraph CodySourcegraph |
IDEs | 36 | 125 | down 55.5% | down 16.6% | 893K | 3,802 | 1.116.014mo ago | Custom | |
| 79 |
TraeByteDance |
IDEs | 36 | — | — | — | — | 916 | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 84 |
AiderAider-AI (Paul Gauthier) |
Terminal | 34 | 61.3K | down 1.5% | down 57.8% | — | 49.4K+23/day | 0.86.014mo ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 86 |
Kimi CodeMoonshot AI |
Terminal | 34 | 43.7K | up 21.9% | down 8.3% | 598K | 7,775+8/day | 2.1.112d ago | — | |
| 88 |
Mistral VibeMistral AI |
Terminal | 34 | 488K | down 30.9% | down 60.1% | 40.8K | 5,050+5/day | 2.25.813d ago | Free + $14.99/mo | |
| 90 |
CrushCharm |
Terminal | 33 | 7,773 | down 10.6% | — | — | 28.5K+25/day | 0.97.17d ago | Free | |
| 92 |
Antigravity CLIGoogle |
Terminal | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free | |
| 96 |
CodebuffCodebuffAI |
Terminal | 31 | 1,480 | up 50.3% | — | — | 13.2K+47/day | — | $100/mo | |
| 97 |
AmpAmp (spun out of Sourcegraph) |
Terminal | 31 | 41.2K | up 7.9% | up 32.7% | — | — | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 98 |
Augment CodeAugment Code |
IDEs | 31 | 35.6K | down 2.6% | down 12.6% | 780K | 285 | 1.2.0-prerele…yesterday | $20/mo | |
| 107 |
Open InterpreterOpen Interpreter (openinterpreter.com) |
Terminal | 26 | — | — | — | — | 68.5K+12/day | 0.0.556d ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 112 |
Kiro CLIAmazon Web Services |
Terminal | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 113 |
Cursor CLICursor |
Terminal | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 121 |
JulesGoogle (Google Labs) |
Cloud | 19 | 2,765 | up 13.2% | up 6.7% | — | — | — | Free + $19.99/mo | |
| 125 |
Firebase StudioGoogle |
IDEs | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free | |
| 131 |
DroidFactory |
Terminal | 16 | 9,261 | down 11.5% | down 23.3% | 39.5K | 44+1/day | — | $20/mo | |
| 135 |
Devin DesktopCognition |
IDEs | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 155 |
Rovo Dev CLIAtlassian |
Terminal | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $20/mo | — |
| No agents match that filter. | |||||||||||
Ranks are overall positions by Pulse Score. Click a column to sort by what matters to you. Methodology.
What an AI coding agent is
A coding agent is a language model running in a loop with tools: it reads files, searches the codebase, edits code, runs commands and tests, looks at the results and decides what to do next. That loop is the difference from autocomplete or a chat window. You describe an outcome ("add rate limiting to the upload endpoint and cover it with tests") and the agent does the multi-step work, pausing for approval where you have told it to.
The three shapes they come in
- Terminal agents run as a command-line program inside your repository. They fit existing workflows, script well and are the easiest to run in CI.
- AI IDEs and editor agents put the agent inside an editor, with inline diffs and visual review. Easier to supervise, harder to automate.
- Cloud coding agents take a task, work in a remote sandbox and return a pull request. Good for parallel background work, weaker when the task needs your local environment.
Many products now ship in more than one shape, so the category shows where a product started or is mostly used.
How to read the ranking
Downloads and installs show how much a tool is used today. The 7-day and 30-day changes show direction, which matters in a market that moves this quickly. Release cadence shows how actively a tool is developed. None of these measure the quality of the code an agent writes; for that, look at marketplace ratings and, where available, the share of an agent's pull requests that get merged.
Head-to-head comparisons
Related guides
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Claude Code vs Codex vs Cursor: Usage, Price and Benchmarks Compared
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How to Start Using a Terminal Coding Agent: Setup, First Tasks and Guardrails
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Questions about AI coding agents
What is the most used AI coding agent?
By package downloads over the last 7 days, OpenAI Codex leads with 25.6M, followed by Claude Code (14.8M). By editor extension installs, GitHub Copilot is first with 78.6M. Downloads include automated installs, so treat them as activity rather than a head count.
Are AI coding agents free?
Several are open source and free to install, but you still pay for the model they call, either through your own API key or a subscription. Among the 26 paid plans we track in this category, entry prices for individuals run from $8 to $100 a month, with $20 the midpoint. The Price column shows the entry point for each.
Which coding agent is best?
It depends on how you work. If you live in a terminal and want scripting and CI, start with the terminal agents. If you want to review diffs visually, look at the AI IDEs. If you want to hand off whole tasks and review a pull request later, look at the cloud agents. Within a group, compare adoption, release cadence and price, then try the top two on a real task from your own codebase.