The best AI for coding in October 2026 from the Terminal-Bench 4.0 leaderboard, with prices checked 2026-10-22 for Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin Desktop, Google Antigravity and more.
The best AI for coding on 2026-10-22 is Claude Code running Claude Opus 5.5. On Terminal-Bench 4.0, the public agent leaderboard, Opus 5.5 in Claude Code is first at 64.8% and Sonnet 5.5 in Claude Code is second at 61.8%; the two overlap within the margin of error (Terminal-Bench leaderboard ↗, checked 2026-10-22). Claude Code comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually (Claude pricing ↗, checked 2026-10-22).
The best model for coding is Claude Opus 5.5, which Anthropic prices at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens (Anthropic models ↗). Google released Gemini 4 Argon on 2026-10-13 at $2 and $10 per million tokens until November 30, then $4 and $20 (Gemini API pricing ↗). Argon is not on the Terminal-Bench board yet. Google's own launch table puts Argon ahead of Opus 5.5 on DeepSWE v1.1 (77.9% against 74.2%) and behind it on Terminal-Bench 4.0 (57.4% against 66.4%), so no model wins every test (Google DeepMind ↗).
The best free option is Google Antigravity's free plan: $0 a month, agent models including Gemini 3.8 Flash, unlimited Tab completions and a weekly rate limit (Antigravity pricing ↗). If you only want completions inside the editor you already use, GitHub Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month (GitHub Docs ↗).
| Fact | Value | Source | Checked on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro (includes Claude Code) | $20 per month, $17 per month billed annually | Anthropic pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| ChatGPT Plus (includes Codex) | $20 per month | ChatGPT pricing ↗, Codex pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Google Antigravity | Free plan $0 per month | Antigravity pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| GitHub Copilot | Free; Pro $10; Pro+ $39; Max $100 per month | GitHub Copilot plans ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Cursor | Free; Plus $8; Premium $30; Super $100; Ultra $200 per month | Cursor models and pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Devin (includes Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf) | Free; Pro $20; Max $200 per month | Devin pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Amazon Q Developer Pro | $19 per user per month | AWS pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Zed Pro | $10 per month, with $5 of monthly token credit | Zed pricing ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| JetBrains AI Pro | $10 per month for individuals | JetBrains docs ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
| Developers using or planning to use AI tools | 84% of respondents; 51% of professionals use them daily | Stack Overflow 2025 survey ↗ | 2026-10-22 |
Updated 2026-10-22: named the best AI and model for coding from the Terminal-Bench 4.0 leaderboard, added Codex (including its free tier) and Google Antigravity, and re-checked every price. Cursor's Pro and Pro+ plans now continue only for existing customers.
AI coding tools moved from line suggestions to agents that work across a whole codebase. Claude Code, Codex, Devin and Antigravity take a task and carry it out, while Copilot and Cursor add agent modes to the editor. Public leaderboards now rank these agents on the same tasks.
Modern AI coding tools search a whole project, trace references across files and propose changes that still need human review before they ship. Cursor's Agent searches your codebase with Instant Grep, a local index that traces references across files (Cursor docs ↗). GitHub Copilot includes agent mode, even on its free plan (GitHub Copilot plans ↗).
Agents are the newest category. Claude Code reads a codebase, edits files and runs commands, and it runs in the terminal, IDE extensions, a desktop app and the web (Claude Code docs ↗). Codex comes with ChatGPT Plus and runs on the web, in the CLI and in an IDE extension (Codex pricing ↗). Devin runs in the cloud or on your machine.
Windsurf became Devin Desktop ↗ on 2026-06-02, when Cognition launched it as the next generation of Windsurf (Devin blog ↗). Cursor moved to new plans: Plus at $8 a month covers Cursor's own models only, and Claude, GPT and Gemini models need Premium ($30) or above, billed at API list price from prepaid credit (Cursor docs ↗).
The main AI coding tools are Claude Code (with Claude Pro, $20/month), Codex (with ChatGPT Plus, $20/month), GitHub Copilot (Pro $10/month), Cursor (Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month), Devin Desktop (free plan, Pro $20/month) and Google Antigravity (free plan). Prices checked 2026-10-22.
Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent. It is included with Claude Pro ($20/month) and Max (from $100/month), and the free Claude plan does not include it. It builds features, fixes bugs and automates development tasks, with the developer reviewing its changes.
Codex is OpenAI's coding agent. It is included with ChatGPT Plus at $20/month (ChatGPT Plus ↗). Codex also has a free tier for quick coding tasks, and ChatGPT Go covers lightweight ones; both run GPT-6 Luna in the Codex desktop app, which OpenAI is still rolling out (Codex pricing ↗).
GitHub Copilot plugs into the editor you already use, including VS Code and JetBrains IDEs (GitHub Docs ↗). Copilot Free is limited to 2,000 completions a month, Pro costs $10/month, Pro+ $39/month and Max $100/month.
Cursor is an AI-first editor that can import your VS Code setup in one click (Cursor docs ↗). New customers choose Free, Plus ($8/month), Premium ($30/month), Super ($100/month) or Ultra ($200/month). Plus covers Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 and Composer 2.5); third-party models start at Premium.
Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf, is Cognition's editor for running local and cloud agents. Devin offers a free plan, Pro at $20/month and Max at $200/month; Teams costs $80/month plus $40/month per full developer seat.
Google Antigravity has a $0 plan with agent models including Gemini 3.8 Flash, unlimited Tab completions and weekly rate limits. Gemini 4 Argon and Claude Opus 5.5 in Antigravity need a paid Google AI Pro subscription or higher (Antigravity models ↗).
Zed is an open-source editor built for speed. The editor is free, and Zed Pro costs $10/month ↗ with $5 of monthly token credit. You can also bring your own keys from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama and other providers.
PlayCode is a browser-based AI builder. Its free plan includes trial AI credits for eligible signups, and the Pro plan costs $25/month ↗ with 100 credits added each month.
Replit combines a cloud IDE with an agent and deployments. Replit Core costs $20/month ↗ ($18/month billed annually) and Pro costs $100/month ($90/month billed annually).
Bolt.new turns an idea into a website, app or prototype in the browser, which suits quick proofs of concept.
Cline is an open-source (Apache 2.0) coding agent available as a VS Code extension, a CLI and an SDK.
Amazon Q Developer targets teams that build on AWS. The free tier includes 50 agentic requests a month, and Pro costs $19/user/month.
JetBrains AI Assistant works inside IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs. AI Pro costs $10/month ↗ for individuals with 10 AI credits per 30 days.
| Tool | Category | Price (Oct 2026) | Best For | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Agent | $20/mo (Claude Pro) | Hardest tasks | First on Terminal-Bench 4.0 with Opus 5.5 |
| Codex | Agent | $20/mo (ChatGPT Plus) | ChatGPT users | Web, CLI and IDE extension |
| GitHub Copilot | Extension | Free/$10/mo | Your current editor | VS Code and JetBrains support |
| Cursor | AI-First Editor | Free/$8/mo; $30/mo for Claude, GPT and Gemini | Multi-file edits | VS Code settings import |
| Devin Desktop | Agent editor | Free/$20/mo | Local and cloud agents | Formerly Windsurf |
| Google Antigravity | Agent editor | Free | Free agent use | Gemini 3.8 Flash on the free plan |
| Amazon Q | Extension | Free/$19/mo | AWS projects | AWS console and CLI help |
| Zed | Editor | Free/$10/mo | Speed | Open source, bring your own keys |
| Replit | Browser-Based | $20/mo (Core) | Build and deploy | Cloud IDE with an agent |
| PlayCode | Browser-Based | Free/$25/mo | No installation | AI builder in the browser |
| JetBrains AI | Extension | Free/$10/mo | JetBrains users | Native IDE integration |
Cursor (Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month for Claude, GPT and Gemini models) is a separate AI-first editor. GitHub Copilot (Pro $10/month) plugs into the editor you already use. Windsurf, now Devin Desktop, has a free plan and a $20/month Pro plan. Prices checked 2026-10-22.
Cursor's Agent uses Instant Grep to find symbols and trace references across files, which helps when a refactor touches several files. Cursor builds that search index on your machine and does not upload code to build it. As with any AI tool, its output still needs review before merging.
GitHub Copilot fits into the editor you already use, and every plan, including Free, has agent mode.
Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf, has a free plan with a light agent quota, unlimited inline edits and unlimited Tab completions (Devin pricing ↗). Pro at $20/month adds frontier models and Devin's cloud agents.
For individual developers on a budget, the free plans of Devin Desktop, Cursor and GitHub Copilot are the easiest starting point. If you want Claude, GPT or Gemini models in Cursor, budget for Premium at $30/month.
Organizations can choose GitHub Copilot Business at $19 per seat per month or Copilot Enterprise at $39 per seat per month. Cursor Teams costs $30, $100 or $200 per seat per month, matching the Premium, Super and Ultra tiers (Cursor docs ↗).
GitHub Copilot runs inside VS Code, from free to $10/month for Pro. Claude Code and Cline also run as VS Code extensions. Cursor means switching editors, though it imports your VS Code setup in one click.
GitHub Copilot works inside VS Code without changing your workflow, with chat and code suggestions in the editor.
Claude Code has IDE extensions as well as the terminal app, so you can keep VS Code and still hand tasks to an agent. Cline is an open-source agent extension for VS Code.
Cursor is the option for VS Code users willing to switch editors. Its one-click import brings over your VS Code setup, which makes the move smaller than switching to an unrelated editor.
JetBrains AI Assistant works natively in IntelliJ IDEA and PyCharm, with AI Pro at $10/month for individuals. GitHub Copilot also has a JetBrains extension. Cursor requires moving away from JetBrains tools.
JetBrains AI Assistant is the most natural fit for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs. AI Free gives 3 AI credits per 30 days, AI Pro costs $10/month with 10 credits, and AI Ultimate costs $30/month with 35 credits for individuals.
GitHub Copilot also has a JetBrains extension, which keeps one assistant across teams that use several editors.
Cursor is a separate editor, so using it means leaving native JetBrains tools. For teams invested in JetBrains IDEs, that switching cost can outweigh Cursor's AI features.
Amazon Q Developer is built for AWS. It works in the IDE, the CLI and the AWS Management Console, and helps review resources, costs and architecture. The free tier includes 50 agentic requests a month, and Pro costs $19 per user per month.
Amazon Q Developer gives agentic coding help in the IDE and the CLI, and it sits in the AWS Management Console to help with cloud costs, resources, architecture guidance and operational incidents (Amazon Q Developer ↗). Members whose subscriptions are linked to an organization with IAM Identity Center get Pro tier limits.
GitHub Copilot, Cursor and other general-purpose tools handle cloud code too, but they don't sit inside the AWS console. For more on one of the agents covered here, see our Claude Code review.
Zed and Cline let you choose which model provider sees your code: Zed takes your own API keys or local models through Ollama and LM Studio, and Cline works with many providers. JetBrains offers an AI Enterprise tier for organizations.
Zed supports your own keys for Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, Ollama, LM Studio and other providers, and you can turn all of its AI features off (Zed pricing ↗).
Cline is open source under Apache 2.0 and is not locked to one provider: it works with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock and Azure or GCP Vertex models (Cline on GitHub ↗).
JetBrains sells AI Enterprise only to organizations, as part of JetBrains IDE Services, for teams that manage AI features centrally inside JetBrains IDEs.
Amazon Q Developer Pro suits organizations already on AWS, with user access managed through IAM Identity Center.
Agents like Claude Code, Codex and Devin take a goal, plan the steps, edit files across a repository and run commands, with the developer reviewing the result. Traditional assistants like Copilot's inline completions and Cursor's Tab suggestions work inside the developer's own typing.
Agents carry a task from a written goal to a proposed change. Claude Code, Codex and Devin choose how to implement and test it, while the developer sets the goal and reviews the result.
These agents write functions, implement features, generate test suites and debug issues across files. Terminal-Bench 4.0 measures this kind of work, and its top five entries are all Claude Code or Codex runs.
Traditional assistants such as GitHub Copilot's completions and Cursor's Tab speed up your own typing through suggestions and autocompletion, and you make every decision.
Use agents for well-defined tasks, prototypes, boilerplate, standard patterns and test coverage. Use inline assistants for daily editing and for business logic you want to write yourself.
Google Antigravity's free plan gives an agent with Gemini 3.8 Flash and unlimited Tab completions. GitHub Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month. Devin Desktop, Cursor and Amazon Q Developer also have free plans with usage limits.
Google Antigravity is the strongest free option for agent work: $0 a month, agent models including Gemini 3.8 Flash, unlimited Tab completions and basic weekly rate limits.
GitHub Copilot Free is limited to 2,000 completions a month and picks the model for you.
Codex has a free tier for quick coding tasks with GPT-6 Luna in the Codex desktop app, which OpenAI is still rolling out.
Devin Desktop's free plan has a light agent quota with unlimited inline edits and Tab completions. Cursor's free plan includes Agent and Chat with limited usage.
Amazon Q Developer's free tier includes 50 agentic requests a month, which suits personal AWS projects.
PlayCode's free plan includes trial AI credits for eligible signups, enough to try a small prototype in the browser.
Paid plans mainly buy more agent usage and access to frontier models. Claude Pro ($20/month) adds Claude Code, Cursor Premium ($30/month) adds Claude, GPT and Gemini models, and business plans add admin controls.
Model access is the main reason to pay. Claude Pro at $20/month includes Claude Code with Opus 5.5, and Cursor needs Premium at $30/month before it offers third-party models. GitHub Copilot Pro+ at $39/month and Max at $100/month raise the monthly allowance of GitHub AI Credits over Pro.
Business plans add central control. GitHub Copilot Business ↗ costs $19 per seat per month and Copilot Enterprise $39 per seat per month. Devin Teams costs $80/month plus $40/month per full developer seat.
Claude Code running Claude Opus 5.5 is first on the Terminal-Bench 4.0 leaderboard at 64.8% (checked 2026-10-22), and it comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month. The best non-Claude entries are GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol in Codex, tied at 58.2%. For a free start, use Google Antigravity's free plan or GitHub Copilot Free.
On Terminal-Bench 4.0, Opus 5.5 in Claude Code resolves 64.8% of tasks (±3.1%), Sonnet 5.5 in Claude Code 61.8% and GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol in Codex 58.2% each. Our own logged comparison, the AI coding assistant benchmark, ran the same debugging and review tasks through several assistants on one production codebase.
Terminal-Bench 4.0 measures whether an agent finishes a task, and Claude Code with Opus 5.5 leads it. Code quality has no public score, so compare the top two or three tools on your own codebase before committing.
Google Antigravity's free plan, GitHub Copilot Free, Codex, Devin Desktop, Cursor and Amazon Q Developer all have free plans. Low-cost paid plans include Cursor Plus at $8/month (Cursor's own models only) and GitHub Copilot Pro at $10/month (checked 2026-10-22).
JetBrains AI Enterprise is sold only to organizations for central control inside JetBrains IDEs, and Amazon Q Developer Pro works with IAM Identity Center. Zed and Cline let a team choose which model provider sees its code.
In the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, ChatGPT (82%) and GitHub Copilot (68%) were the most-used out-of-the-box AI agent tools among respondents using agents.
Claude Code with Claude Opus 5.5 is first on Terminal-Bench 4.0 at 64.8% (checked 2026-10-22). It is included with Claude Pro at $20/month and runs in the terminal, IDE extensions, a desktop app and the web.
Amazon Q Developer is built for AWS, with a free tier of 50 agentic requests a month and a $19/user/month Pro tier (checked 2026-10-22).
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