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AI IDE Collection

Gotta Code 'Em All! A comprehensive comparison of AI-powered development environments

12
AI IDEs Tested
Cursor & Codespaces
My Personal Favorites
100+
Hours Tested

GitHub AI Offerings - What's the Difference?

GitHub Copilot - AI Assistant

AI coding assistant that provides autocomplete and chat. Install in your IDE.

GitHub Codespaces - Cloud IDE

Full VS Code environment in the cloud with compute + integrated Copilot.

GitHub.dev - Not Included

Lightweight browser editor (no AI, no compute). Too minimal for comparison.

Filter by:
MY FAVORITE
S-TIER
Cursor
The AI-first code editor built for pair programming
$20/month
Free tier available
Chat with your codebase
Inline AI editing (Cmd+K)
Composer for multi-file edits
VS Code fork with AI built-in
GPT-4, Claude, Gemini support

Pros

  • Best AI integration
  • Codebase understanding
  • Multi-model support
  • Fast & responsive

Cons

  • Subscription required
  • Can be expensive
  • Less stable than VS Code
Visit Site
S-TIER
Windsurf (Codeium)
Agentic IDE with cascade flows - completely free
FREE
Unlimited usage
Cascade agentic flows
Multi-file AI edits
Supercomplete (context-aware)
100% free, no limits
VS Code fork

Pros

  • Completely free
  • Agentic workflows
  • Fast autocomplete
  • Great for beginners

Cons

  • Newer, less mature
  • Smaller community
  • Limited model choices
Visit Site
A-TIER
Void
Open-source Cursor alternative with local-first AI
FREE
Open source
Run models locally (Ollama)
Privacy-first design
VS Code extension
Copilot-like autocomplete
DeepSeek Coder support

Pros

  • 100% free & open source
  • Privacy (local models)
  • No data sent to cloud
  • Customizable

Cons

  • Requires GPU for best performance
  • Setup complexity
  • Less powerful than cloud models
Visit Site
A-TIER
Continue.dev
Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code & JetBrains
FREE
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)
Works with any LLM API
VS Code + JetBrains support
Local & cloud models
Customizable prompts
Open source (Apache 2.0)

Pros

  • Fully open source
  • Use any AI model
  • Great customization
  • Active community

Cons

  • Need own API keys
  • Setup required
  • Less polished UI
Visit Site
A-TIER
GitHub Copilot
The OG AI pair programmer from GitHub
$10/month
Free for students/open source
Inline code suggestions
Works in VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim
Chat interface
GitHub integration
Most widely adopted

Pros

  • Most mature
  • Reliable autocomplete
  • Huge training data
  • Enterprise support

Cons

  • Limited to autocomplete
  • No codebase understanding
  • Can't edit multiple files
Visit Site
MY FAVORITE
A-TIER
GitHub Codespaces
VS Code in the cloud with AI superpowers
Limited free tier
~$0.18/hour after
Full VS Code in browser/desktop
Integrated GitHub Copilot
Linux compute environment
Prebuilt dev containers
Starts in seconds

Pros

  • Zero local setup
  • Full Linux environment
  • Seamless GitHub integration
  • Pre-configured dev environments

Cons

  • Very limited free tier
  • Can get expensive quickly
  • Requires constant internet
  • Cloud latency
Visit Site
A-TIER
Zed
Blazing fast multiplayer code editor with AI
FREE
Open source
Built in Rust (insanely fast)
Real-time collaboration
AI assistant integrated
Native performance
Vim mode

Pros

  • Fastest editor (Rust)
  • Collaborative coding
  • Modern architecture
  • Beautiful UI

Cons

  • AI features basic
  • Limited extensions
  • Still maturing
Visit Site
B-TIER
Replit AI
Browser-based coding with AI agent
$25/month
Free tier limited
Browser-based (no install)
AI agent for coding
Instant deployment
Collaborative workspaces

Pros

  • Zero setup
  • Deploy instantly
  • Great for learning

Cons

  • Requires internet
  • Expensive for teams
  • Less powerful locally
Visit Site
B-TIER
Amazon CodeWhisperer
AWS-powered AI coding companion
FREE
Professional: $19/month
Security scanning built-in
AWS SDK optimized
VS Code, JetBrains support
Enterprise features

Pros

  • Free tier generous
  • Security scanning
  • Great for AWS

Cons

  • Not as smart as GPT-4
  • AWS-focused
  • Basic features
Visit Site
B-TIER
Tabnine
AI code completion trained on your codebase
$12/month
Free tier available
Learns your code style
Works offline
Privacy-focused (local option)
Team training

Pros

  • Privacy options
  • Learns your patterns
  • Offline mode

Cons

  • Just autocomplete
  • No chat/composer
  • Pricey for features
Visit Site
A-TIER
Trae
AI-powered VS Code extension with chat and code generation
FREE
Pro: $10/month
VS Code extension
Multiple AI models
Code explanation & refactoring
Context-aware suggestions
Bug detection

Pros

  • Generous free tier
  • Good VS Code integration
  • Multiple AI models
  • Lightweight

Cons

  • Less known/smaller community
  • Limited multi-file editing
  • Newer product
Visit Site

Feature Comparison Matrix

IDE Price Autocomplete Chat Multi-file Edit Codebase Context Local Models
Cursor $20/mo
Windsurf Free
Void Free
Continue.dev Free (BYOK)
GitHub Copilot $10/mo
Tabnine $12/mo
Trae Free ($10 Pro)

My Recommendations

For Serious Local Development: Cursor

If you code professionally and can afford it, Cursor is unmatched. The Composer feature alone is worth it for complex refactoring. Best for when you need powerful AI on your local machine.

For Cloud-Based Development: GitHub Codespaces

Zero setup, full Linux environment, and seamless GitHub integration. Perfect when you need a pre-configured environment or working from different devices. The free tier is enough for hobby projects.

Best Free Option: Windsurf

Incredible that it's free. Agentic flows are powerful, and Supercomplete is faster than Cursor's autocomplete.

For Privacy: Void + Continue.dev

Run models locally with Ollama. Your code never leaves your machine.

Latest AI IDE Discoveries

Automated weekly scans to keep this comparison up-to-date

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Tier System

S-TIER

Best-in-class

A-TIER

Excellent

B-TIER

Good

Ready to level up your coding with AI?

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