AI Coding Tools Tier List

6 AI coding tools, ranked S to D

The ranking is Uğur's opinion. Plans, prices and limits come from each tool's official page, checked on October 20, 2026. Prices are US dollars per month, before tax.

The tier list

Tier	Tool	Free tier	Paid plans	Main limit	Link
S	Claude Code	None	Pro $20 · Max $100 / $200	5-hour window + weekly limit	claude.com/pricing
A	OpenAI Codex	Included in ChatGPT Free	Go $8 · Plus $20 · Pro from $100	Plus: 15–160 messages per 5 hours (GPT-6.1 Sol)	learn.chatgpt.com
A	Google Antigravity	Yes: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude 4.6 until Nov 2	Google AI Pro $19.99 · Ultra from $99.99	Free: weekly quota · Pro: refreshes every 5 hours	antigravity.google
B	GitHub Copilot	Yes: 2,000 suggestions a month, limited chat and agent	Pro $10 · Pro+ $39 · Max $100	Monthly AI credits ($15 worth on Pro)	github.com
C	Cursor	Yes: limited agent and chat	Plus $8 · Premium $30 · Super $100 · Ultra $200	Weekly pool; Claude and GPT cost extra	cursor.com/pricing
D	Gemini CLI	Gone for personal accounts (June 18, 2026)	Paid API key or an org license	Code Assist Standard: 1,500 requests a day	geminicli.com

Tool by tool

S · Claude Code

• Free: Claude's free plan doesn't include Claude Code.
• Paid: Pro is $20 a month ($17 a month billed yearly, $200 up front). Max 5x is $100 and Max 20x is $200, monthly only.
• Limits: a rolling 5-hour window, plus a weekly limit on paid plans. Claude Code in your terminal and your chats share one pool. Max gives you 5x or 20x the usage of Pro.
• Models: Opus, Sonnet and Haiku on Pro and Max.
• Why S: Opus comes with the $20 plan, and your limit resets every 5 hours.

A · OpenAI Codex

• Free: included in ChatGPT Free, running GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app (still rolling out).
• Paid: Go $8, Plus $20 (web, CLI, IDE extension and iOS, plus automatic code review and Slack), Pro at $100, $200 or $500.
• Limits: OpenAI estimates 15–160 local messages per 5 hours on Plus with GPT-6.1 Sol, 5–45 with GPT-6 Astra and 350–3,000 with GPT-6 Luna. Weekly limits may apply too. Pro has no 5-hour limit right now.
• Why A: you get it even on free ChatGPT, and the paid plan starts at the same price as Claude's.

A · Google Antigravity

• Free ($0): Gemini 3.8 Flash. Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-OSS-120b until November 2, 2026. Unlimited Tab completions and a quota that refreshes weekly.
• Paid: Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month. Ultra at $99.99 (5x Pro) or $199.99 (20x Pro).
• On Pro: Gemini 4 Argon, Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Opus 5.5. These three aren't available on the trial, only on paid Pro. The quota refreshes every 5 hours until you hit a weekly limit, and you can keep going with purchased AI credits.
• Why A: the free plan still has Claude Opus for now, and paid Pro puts the newest Claude and Gemini models in one subscription.

B · GitHub Copilot

• Free ($0): 2,000 inline suggestions a month and limited chat and agent use, including the CLI and agent mode. Models: Claude Haiku 4.5 and GPT-5 mini.
• Paid: Pro $10, Pro+ $39, Max $100. Inline suggestions are unlimited on every paid plan.
• Limits: monthly GitHub AI credits (1 credit = $0.01), worth $15 on Pro, $70 on Pro+ and $200 on Max. They reset every month, and you can set a budget to keep going.
• Models: Pro has Claude Sonnet 5.5 but no Opus. Opus 5.5 is on Pro+ and Max.
• Why B: the cheapest paid plan, but Opus takes the $39 one.

C · Cursor

• SpaceX acquired Cursor on August 14, 2026. New plans are sold as "The X Subscription", bundled with Grok and X Premium.
• Free ($0): limited agent and chat requests.
• Paid: Plus $8 (Grok models only), Premium $30 (4x the usage of Plus), Super $100 (15x), Ultra $200 (50x).
• Limits: a weekly pool for Cursor's own models (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5 and Composer 2.5). Claude, GPT and other third-party models aren't included; on Premium and up they bill at API list price from your prepaid credit.
• Legacy plans (Pro, Pro+, Ultra): still include a separate monthly pool for third-party models.
• Why C: Claude costs extra on the new plans, and the $8 plan doesn't have it at all.

D · Gemini CLI

• Since June 18, 2026 it no longer serves free users or Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Antigravity CLI replaced it.
• Where it still works: with a paid Gemini API key, or through an org's Gemini Code Assist license (Standard: 1,500 requests a day, Enterprise: 2,000).
• Open source (Apache 2.0), about 107K stars on GitHub. Google's own README points you to Antigravity CLI for Gemini models.
• Why D: you can't use it with a personal Google account anymore.

Which one to start with (Uğur's picks)

• Spend nothing: Codex on free ChatGPT, or Antigravity's free plan. The free Claude models in Antigravity go away on November 2; after that, the free plan runs Gemini 3.8 Flash.
• Autocomplete in your editor for the least money: GitHub Copilot. 2,000 suggestions a month for free, unlimited on Pro ($10).
• An agent that builds in your terminal, about $20 a month: Claude Code (Claude Pro) or Codex (ChatGPT Plus). Hitting limits a lot? Claude Max or ChatGPT Pro.
• Gemini and Claude in one subscription: Google AI Pro with Antigravity ($19.99). The Claude 5.5 models aren't on the trial.
• Already on Cursor: check which plan you're on first. Legacy Pro, Pro+ and Ultra have a separate pool for third-party models; on the new plans, Claude bills at API list price.
• Still on Gemini CLI: a personal Google account doesn't work anymore. Move to Antigravity CLI, or use a paid Gemini API key.

Sources (checked October 20, 2026)

• Claude: claude.com/pricing · Max plan: support.claude.com
• OpenAI Codex: learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing
• Google Antigravity: pricing · models by plan · quotas · Google AI plans
• GitHub Copilot: github.com/features/copilot/plans
• Cursor: pricing · usage and limits · SpaceX announcement
• Gemini CLI: quotas and pricing · move to Antigravity CLI

Plans change often. Check the official page before you subscribe.