AI Coding pricing compared
What 9 ai coding tools actually cost — free tiers, the cheapest paid plan, and where each free plan runs out. Each figure is taken from the vendor’s own pricing page and dated, so you can see when we last checked.
| Tool | Free tier | Cheapest paid plan | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | Yes | $4/user/month · Team | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Zed | Yes | $10/mo · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Cursor | Yes | $16 · Paid tier 1 | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Replit AI | Yes | $20/mo · Core | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Windsurf | Yes | $20/mo · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Bolt | Yes | $25/per month · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Lovable | Yes | $25 · Pro | 14 Jul 2026 |
| v0 | Yes | $30/user/mo · Premium | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Cline | Yes | Custom / contact | 14 Jul 2026 |
Prices are as published by each vendor and may be region-specific — many vendors price by country. Confirm on the vendor’s page before buying.
Sorted cheapest paid plan first. A “free tier” means there is a genuinely free plan — tap through to any tool to see the full tier breakdown and exactly where the free plan stops. We list no fabricated prices: where a vendor only quotes “contact sales” we say so.
What drives ai coding pricing
The meter has shifted from seats to model consumption, and most tiers now bundle a token or credit allowance you can blow through. Bolt is explicit, 1M tokens free rising to 10M on the $25 Pro, so a heavy generation session depletes the month regardless of seat count. Replit, v0, and Zed give you a dollar-denominated credit pool, Zed's Pro includes $5 of tokens then bills usage at API list price plus 10%, and v0's Premium bundles $30 of credits per user. GitHub Copilot keeps the older per-seat model, $4 Team and $21 Enterprise, but layers CI/CD minutes on top. Cline and Windsurf split the difference: the editor is free or cheap and you bring your own API keys or pay usage-based inference separately. The real cost driver is how much the agent generates, since autonomous multi-file edits consume far more tokens than tab-completion, and BYO-key setups expose that directly.
How to choose on price
Decide first whether you want bundled or bring-your-own inference, because it changes the entire cost profile. Bundled plans like Bolt, v0, and Replit are predictable but cap you at their token or credit allowance; BYO-key tools like Cline and Windsurf's usage-based path expose the raw model bill, which is cheaper if you already pay for API access and more expensive if the agent runs wild. The trap is a low seat price hiding a thin token grant, a $20 plan with a small credit pool can cost more in overages than a pricier plan with a generous one, so compare included allowance, not sticker. For heavy autonomous agents that touch many files, budget for real token burn and consider Zed's transparent list-price-plus-10% or a Max-style high-quota tier. The free tiers prove the tool but exhaust in a day of serious agent use, so treat them as evaluation only.
AI Coding pricing FAQ
Do coding tools bill by seat or by usage now?
Increasingly by usage. Bolt meters tokens (1M free, 10M on Pro), Zed and v0 use dollar-denominated credit pools, and Replit grants Agent credits. GitHub Copilot is the holdout on classic per-seat pricing at $4 and $21 per user. The trend is bundling an inference allowance into each tier, so heavy generation depletes your month regardless of how many seats you hold.
What does "bring your own API key" actually cost?
The editor is free or cheap, but you pay the model provider directly for every token the agent uses. Cline is a free open-source extension on this model, and Windsurf offers a usage-based path. It is cheaper if you already hold API credits and run the agent judiciously, but an autonomous multi-file agent can rack up real inference bills you see in full, with no cap.
Why does an AI agent burn tokens so much faster than autocomplete?
Because autonomous agents read and rewrite many files, hold large context, and iterate, while tab-completion sends short bursts. A single agentic task can consume orders of magnitude more tokens than inline completions. This is why bundled allowances like Bolt's drain quickly during agent-heavy work and why high-quota Max-style tiers exist for power users.
Is the free coding tier enough to build on?
For evaluation, yes; for sustained work, no. Free tiers like Cursor's limited usage or Bolt's 1M tokens let you judge code quality and workflow fit, but a day of serious agent-driven development exhausts them. Once the tool is part of your daily loop, you will need a paid tier sized to your token or credit consumption.
See the full breakdown
Open any tool for its complete pricing tiers, free-tier limits, screenshot and honest review.