This is a pillar article — the complete reference for coding agent pricing in 2026. Every pricing-related comparison links back here.
The Pricing Spectrum
All 15 coding agents ranked by cost — terminalblog.com
| Category | Agents | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free (BYO keys) | Hermes, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Goose, Codebuff, Oh My Pi, Kilo, pi.dev, Gitlawb Zero | $0 + API costs |
| Free (zero cost plus no API) | OpenClaw | $0 |
| Subscription | Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Copilot CLI | $10-200/month |
| Pay-as-you-go | AmpCode | Variable (~$10/day free tier) |
| Free but commercial | Mimo Code | $0 |
Free Agents (9 agents)
These agents cost nothing to install. You bring your own API keys for the LLM.
Actual cost: $0 for the agent + ~$5-50/month in API usage depending on how much you code.
Subscription Agents
| Agent | Monthly | Annual | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | $20-200 | $200-2,000 | Deep reasoning, subagents, skills |
| Cursor | $20-200 | $200-2,000 | Fast editing, composer, background agents |
| Codex CLI | $20 (ChatGPT Plus) | $240 | Parallel cloud execution |
| Copilot CLI | $10-39 | $100-468 | GitHub integration, multi-model |
Key comparison: Claude Code vs Cursor · Codex vs Copilot CLI
Pay-As-You-Go
| Agent | Free Tier | Paid Tier | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| AmpCode | ~$10/day credits | Variable | Costs can spike |
Key comparison: AmpCode vs Copilot CLI
The Hidden Costs
- API tokens — Free agents still need LLM access
- Context window waste — Failed tasks burn tokens
- Multi-agent sprawl — Two subscriptions × multiple tools
- Overage charges — Usage-based billing beyond the base plan
Verdict
Free agents win on cost. Subscription agents win on polish and benchmark scores. Most developers end up with one of each.
See the Complete Guide to AI Coding Agents for the full picture, or Open Source vs Commercial for the OSS perspective.