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Continue

Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains.

FREECODE EDITORS & COMPLETIONHAS AGENT

Last updated May 17, 2026 · Filed under Code Editors & Completion

CLICKS

PRICING TYPE

FREE

STARTING

Free

ADDED

2026

About this tool

Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that ships as extensions for VS Code and JetBrains, plus a CLI and a hub for sharing configuration. Unlike closed assistants, Continue lets developers and teams plug in any model, including frontier providers like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google as well as local models via Ollama or vLLM, and configure the autocomplete, chat and agent behaviors through a transparent config file. It supports custom slash commands, context providers that pull in docs, tickets or design files, and reusable Assistants and Rules that can be published to a team hub. Continue is aimed at developers and engineering platforms that want full control over their AI stack and to standardize how the company uses AI in the IDE, and is offered as a free open-source product alongside hosted team and enterprise plans.

USE CASES

Customized copilots
Local model coding
Context-aware chat
Team copilots

KEY FEATURES

Open source
Bring your own model
Custom commands
Context providers
Local models

Continue pros and cons

Hand-derived from the catalog data — strengths and trade-offs to weigh before signing up.

Pros of Continue

Completely free to use — no paid tier required
Includes an autonomous AI agent for multi-step tasks
Open source
Bring your own model
Custom commands

Cons of Continue

Competition is strong in this space — see Cursor and Windsurf for comparison

PLANS & PRICING

3 plans from Continue

Pulled from Continue’s public pricing page. Prices may change — verify on the vendor’s site before purchasing.

Starter

Pay-as-you-go agents

$3/M tokensper month

Pay $3 per million tokens

Create and run AI agents
Integrations: Slack, Sentry, Snyk
Frontier model credits
Pay-as-you-go

POPULAR

Team

Company

For larger orgs

Custom

Custom volume & SLAs

Custom SSO with SAML/OIDC
Bring-your-own API keys
Invoicing, SLAs
Dedicated support

HOW IT COMPARES

Continue vs Code Editors & Completion

Side-by-side with the top 3 other code editors & completion in this category.

Open full comparison

TOOL	ContinueAGENTTHIS TOOL Code Editors & Completion Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains.	CursorAGENT Code Editors & Completion AI-first code editor built on VS Code.	WindsurfAGENT Code Editors & Completion Agentic IDE from Codeium with the Cascade agent.	GitHub CopilotAGENT Code Editors & Completion GitHub's AI pair programmer across editors and the browser.
PRICING MODEL	Free	Freemium	Freemium	Freemium
STARTING PRICE	Free	$20/mo	$15/mo	$10/mo
CATEGORY	Code Editors & Completion	Code Editors & Completion	Code Editors & Completion	Code Editors & Completion
AI AGENT	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
EDITOR'S PICK	No	Yes	No	No
KEY FEATURES	Open source Bring your own model Custom commands Context providers Local models	Composer agent Tab completion Codebase chat Multi-file edits Bring your own model	Cascade agent Inline edits Codebase awareness Multi-file changes Terminal commands	Inline completions Chat Workspace agent Code review Multi-model
USE CASES	Customized copilots Local model coding Context-aware chat Team copilots	Pair programming Refactoring Code generation Codebase Q&A	Agentic coding Refactoring Codebase exploration Bug fixing	Code completion Refactoring Tests PR review
TAGS	#open-source#editor#customizable	#editor#ide#copilot	#editor#ide#agent	#copilot#editor#github
WEBSITE	www.continue.dev	www.cursor.com	codeium.com/windsurf	github.com/features/copilot

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Continue — frequently asked questions

What is Continue?

Continue is an AI code editors & completion tool used for customized copilots, local model coding, context-aware chat.

Is Continue free?

Yes — Continue is free to use, with no paid tier required.

Does Continue include an AI agent?

Yes — Continue includes agentic capabilities: it can plan and execute multi-step tasks autonomously, not just answer one prompt at a time.

What are the key features of Continue?

Notable features include Open source, Bring your own model, Custom commands, Context providers, Local models.

What can Continue be used for?

Common use cases for Continue include customized copilots, local model coding, context-aware chat, team copilots.

What are the best alternatives to Continue?

If Continue isn't quite right for your use case, top alternatives in the code editors & completion space include Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot. See the full list on ConsistencyAI’s Continue alternatives page.

Is Continue better than Cursor?

Continue and Cursor both serve code editors & completion workflows but target different needs. Compare pricing, features, and use cases head-to-head on the Continue vs Cursor page to pick the right fit.

What are the pros and cons of Continue?

Strengths: fully free; autonomous agent capability; Open source + Bring your own model. Tradeoffs: competing tools in the space may offer different feature mixes. See the full Pros & Cons section above for detail.