Free AI coding agents
Coding agents you can start using without paying the vendor: open-source tools and commercial products with a free tier.
By weekly package downloads, the leaders are OpenAI Codex (25.6M), Pi (5.2M), mini-SWE-agent (3.4M). By VS Code extension installs, the leaders are GitHub Copilot (78.6M), OpenAI Codex (15.2M), Cline (5.5M). By GitHub stars, the leaders are OpenCode (212K), OpenAI Codex (128K), Pi (113K). 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 | 83 | 25.6M | up 5.7% | up 21.2% | 15.2M | 128K+153/day | 0.160.1yesterday | Free + $8/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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 57 |
GooseBlock (now Agentic AI Foundation) |
Terminal | 43 | — | — | — | 7,352 | 55K+38/day | 1.53.04d ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 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) | |
| 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 | |
| 89 |
Antigravity CLIGoogle |
Terminal | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free | |
| 91 |
CrushCharm |
Terminal | 33 | 7,773 | down 10.6% | — | — | 28.5K+25/day | 0.97.17d ago | Free | |
| 97 |
AmpAmp (spun out of Sourcegraph) |
Terminal | 31 | 41.2K | up 7.9% | up 32.7% | — | — | — | Free + $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 | |
| 135 |
Devin DesktopCognition |
IDEs | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $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.
Two kinds of free
Open-source agents cost nothing to install, and you bring your own model. That means an API key billed per token, a subscription you already have, or a local model. For light use this is often the cheapest route; for heavy daily use a flat subscription can work out cheaper than per-token billing.
Free tiers of commercial agents include some model usage, with tight limits on requests or on which models you get. They are good for trying a product on a real task before paying.
The Price column shows "Free (OSS)" for the first kind and "Free + price" for products that have a free tier and a paid plan above it.
Questions about free AI coding agents
Which free AI coding agent is the most used?
By package downloads, OpenAI Codex leads this list with 25.6M in the last 7 days. By VS Code installs, GitHub Copilot is first with 78.6M.
Can I use an AI coding agent completely free?
Yes, in two ways: an open-source agent connected to a model running on your own machine, or the free tier of a commercial agent within its usage limits. Both work for small tasks and learning; sustained professional use generally needs a paid plan or API budget.