What is the best free alternative to Cursor?

GitHub Copilot has a free plan with limited usage and works in the editor you already use. Devin Desktop and Replit also have free plans. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan or API usage.

Is there a Cursor alternative that works in VS Code?

GitHub Copilot is built into popular editors, including VS Code, so you can keep your current setup instead of switching editors.

What happened to Windsurf?

Windsurf is now Devin Desktop, an agentic IDE with an agent command center for managing local and cloud coding agents.

Best Cursor alternatives

Short answer: The top-ranked Cursor alternatives are GitHub Copilot (98), OpenAI Codex (93) and Replit (91), out of 5 options ranked by editorial score.

Cursor is one of our top-rated AI coding tools, but it isn't the only way to code with an agent. These alternatives keep your current editor, move the agent into the terminal, or build and host apps in the browser. Ranked by editorial score in our coding category.

Looking for Cursor itself? See our Cursor profile.

Ranked by editorial score in Coding. Rankings are editorial, never paid. Pricing details last verified 2026-10-16.

The list

1
GitHub Copilot
by GitHub
Works inside popular editors, GitHub and the command line, with completions, chat and agent mode; free plan with limited usage.
Editorial 98FreemiumFree tier
2
OpenAI Codex
by OpenAI
OpenAI's coding agent for a desktop app, the terminal, IDEs and the cloud; included with ChatGPT plans, with limited use on the free plan.
Editorial 93FreemiumFree tier
3
Replit
by Replit
Browser-based platform where Replit Agent builds, runs and publishes apps from prompts; free Starter plan.
Editorial 91FreemiumFree tier
4
Devin Desktop
by Cognition
Agentic IDE (formerly Windsurf) with a command center for local and cloud coding agents; free plan.
Editorial 88FreemiumFree tier
5
Claude Code
by Anthropic
Anthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, IDEs and the web; included with paid Claude plans or via the API.
Editorial 87PaidNo free tier

Comparison table

Best Cursor alternatives compared
#	Tool	Best for	Pricing model	Free tier	Editorial score
1	GitHub Copilot	ide, autocomplete, coding agent	Freemium	Yes	98 / 100
2	OpenAI Codex	coding agent, cli, ide	Freemium	Yes	93 / 100
3	Replit	app builder, cloud ide, hosting	Freemium	Yes	91 / 100
4	Devin Desktop	ide, coding agent, cloud agents	Freemium	Yes	88 / 100
5	Claude Code	cli, coding agent, terminal	Paid	No	87 / 100

"Best for" lists each tool's use-case tags. Scores are editorial (0–100) in Coding; pricing last verified 2026-10-16.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free alternative to Cursor?: GitHub Copilot has a free plan with limited usage and works in the editor you already use. Devin Desktop and Replit also have free plans. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan or API usage.
Is there a Cursor alternative that works in VS Code?: GitHub Copilot is built into popular editors, including VS Code, so you can keep your current setup instead of switching editors.
What happened to Windsurf?: Windsurf is now Devin Desktop, an agentic IDE with an agent command center for managing local and cloud coding agents.

The list

GitHub Copilot

OpenAI Codex

Replit

Devin Desktop

Claude Code

Comparison table

Frequently asked questions

Related