AI coding tools have converged on a few price points, but what you get at each one varies a lot: some count messages in rolling windows, some sell monthly credits, and some charge API rates for any model they don’t make themselves. This guide lines up every individual plan we track, then explains the trade-offs at each price.
Every plan at a glance
| Tool | Free | Entry paid | Mid | Heavy use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codex | Free (GPT-6 Luna, desktop app) | Go $8 · Plus $20 | Pro $100 | Pro $200 · Pro $500 |
| Claude Code | — | Pro $20 ($17 billed yearly) | Max $100 | Ultra $200 |
| Copilot | Free (2,000 completions) | Pro $10 | Pro+ $39 | Max $100 |
| Cursor | Free (limited) | Plus $8 (Grok only) | Premium $30 | Super $100 · Ultra $200 |
| Antigravity CLI | Individual $0 | Google AI Pro $19.99 | — | Google AI Ultra from $99.99 |
| Kiro | Free (50 credits) | Pro $20 | Pro+ $40 | Pro Max $100 · Power $200 |
| Devin | Free (light quota) | Pro $20 | — | Max $200 |
| Zed | Personal $0 (own keys) | Pro $10 | — | — |
| Amp | Hobby (free) | Individual $20 | — | — |
| Cline | Open source (own keys) | ClinePass $9.99 | — | — |
Team plans are priced separately: Copilot Business is $19 per seat and Enterprise $39, ChatGPT Business is $20 per user on a yearly plan ($25 monthly), Cursor Teams starts at $30 per user, Zed Business is $30 per seat, and Devin Teams is $80 a month plus $40 per full seat.
Under $10: narrow but useful
The cheapest paid plans each come with a catch. Cursor Plus at $8 only runs Grok models. ChatGPT Go at $8 gives you Codex with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, not the CLI or cloud. Copilot Pro at $10 is the most complete of the group, with model choice, the cloud agent and code review, but its 1,500 monthly AI credits go quickly on premium models. Zed Pro at $10 includes $5 of tokens and unlimited edit predictions, then bills usage.
$20: the standard agent tier
Most full-featured agents start here. ChatGPT Plus unlocks Codex everywhere (web, CLI, IDE extension, iOS) with GPT-6.1 Sol and Terra. Claude Pro includes Claude Code with Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, and costs $17 a month if you pay yearly. Kiro Pro gives 1,000 credits, Devin Pro bundles the Devin cloud agent, and Amp Individual includes 45,000 minutes of hosted sandbox time.
$100–$200: for all-day use
At $100 you get roughly five times an entry plan: Claude Max, ChatGPT Pro 100, Copilot Max (20,000 credits), Cursor Super (15× Plus) and Kiro Pro Max (5,000 credits). At $200, ChatGPT Pro 200, Claude Ultra, Cursor Ultra, Kiro Power and Devin Max compete for the heaviest users.
The biggest practical difference at this level is the five-hour window. Codex Pro has none at any tier. Claude only drops it on Ultra, for verified accounts. Everyone still has weekly limits.
Free if you bring your own key
Cline (open source) and Zed’s Personal plan cost nothing beyond what you pay your model provider. Amp’s Hobby plan lets you use tokens from subscriptions you already have. See AI coding tools that work with your own API key.
Watch for these changes
- December 2026: OpenAI says ChatGPT and Codex will share one allowance on Plus, Pro and Business, so heavy chat use will eat into coding time. Details.
- Cursor’s model pricing: Claude, GPT and Gemini cost extra at API list price on top of the plan. Details.
- Gemini Code Assist: no new subscriptions since October 9, 2026. Details.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest paid AI coding tool?
The lowest paid tiers are around $8–$10 a month: Cursor Plus ($8, Grok models only), ChatGPT Go ($8, Codex with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app only), ClinePass ($9.99, curated open-weight models), Copilot Pro ($10, 1,500 AI credits) and Zed Pro ($10, with $5 of tokens). Cline and Zed's Personal plan are free if you bring your own API key.
Which plans remove the five-hour usage window?
Codex on any ChatGPT Pro tier ($100, $200 or $500) currently has no five-hour limit. On Claude, only the $200 Ultra plan removes it, and only for verified accounts. Both still have weekly limits.
Is $20 a month enough for an AI coding agent?
$20 is the most common entry point for a full agent: ChatGPT Plus (Codex), Claude Pro (Claude Code), Kiro Pro, Devin Pro and Amp's Individual plan all sit there. How far it goes depends on the model you pick; heavier models use your allowance faster.
Does Cursor include Claude and GPT models in its plans?
Not in the monthly price. Since October 2026, Cursor's plans include Grok and Cursor's own models; Claude, GPT and Gemini are available on Premium ($30) and up, billed from the first request at API list price.