AI Coding Tools Pricing Compared (2026): Plans, Limits and Hidden Costs
Prices verified against official sites on 2026-11-04 · Rankings are independent of sponsorships
AI coding tools all look like a flat monthly fee until you hit a limit. Then the differences show up: Cursor bills third-party models separately, Claude Code and Codex meter usage in rolling windows, Copilot draws down dollar-denominated credits, and app builders like Lovable and Bolt count credits or tokens. This guide lines up what eight tools charge for individuals and small teams, how each one counts your usage, and which extra charges to watch for. Every price below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on November 4, 2026 (USD, before tax).
Quick verdict
At a glance
| Tool | Tier | Pricing | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor | S | Sold via The X Subscription: Free $0; Plus $8/mo (Grok models only); Premium $30/mo; Super $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo; Teams from $30/seat/mo. Third-party models billed separately at API prices. | Yes, Free plan with limited agent and chat requests |
| Claude Code | S | Included with Claude Pro ($20/mo, or $17/mo billed annually), Max ($100/mo, with $100/mo in Claude Platform API credits) and Ultra ($200/mo, formerly Max 20x, with $200/mo in API credits and no 5-hour limit for verified accounts); Team seats $25/mo standard, $125/mo premium ($20/$100 billed annually); or pay-as-you-go via the API. | Not included in the Free Claude plan |
| GitHub Copilot | A | Free $0; Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo; Max $100/mo. Chat and agents use GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01): Pro includes $15/mo of credits, Pro+ $70/mo, Max $200/mo; completions unlimited on paid plans. | Yes, Copilot Free: 2,000 completions/month plus limited chat and agent usage (includes CLI and agent mode) |
| OpenAI Codex | A | Included in ChatGPT Free, Go ($8/mo), Plus ($20/mo), Pro ($100, $200 or $500/mo), Business, Edu and Enterprise; extra usage via ChatGPT credits. | Yes, ChatGPT Free includes Codex for quick tasks |
| Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) renamed | A | Free $0; Pro $20/mo; Max $200/mo; Teams $80/mo plus $40/mo per full dev seat; Enterprise custom. | Yes, light agent quota with unlimited Tab completions |
| Lovable | B | Free $0; Pro $25/mo (100 monthly credits); Business $50/mo (100 monthly credits); Enterprise custom. | Yes, no card required |
| Bolt.new | B | Free $0; Pro $25/mo; Teams $30/member/mo (yearly billing saves up to 28%). | Yes, 300K tokens/day and 1M tokens/month |
| Replit | A | Free; Core $20/mo ($18 annual); Pro $100/mo ($90 annual); Enterprise custom. | Yes, Free Mode |
The short answer
If you want the cheapest paid plan with models from several vendors, GitHub Copilot Pro at $10 a month is the lowest-priced option here, and it comes with $15 a month of GitHub AI Credits. ChatGPT Go ($8) and Cursor Plus ($8) are cheaper but limited to OpenAI models and Grok models respectively. For about $20 a month you get a full agent in a terminal or IDE from several vendors: Claude Pro ($20, or $17 a month billed annually), ChatGPT Plus ($20, which includes Codex), Devin Desktop Pro ($20) and Replit Core ($20, or $18 billed annually).
If you code with agents all day, the ladder jumps: many vendors have a $100 tier and a $200 tier, and OpenAI adds a $500 Pro option. Budget for that tier only after you have actually hit the limits on the $20 plans.
GitHub Copilot details →Claude Code details →OpenAI Codex details →
Free plans and cheap entry points
Every tool here has a free way in except Claude Code, which is not included on Claude's Free plan. Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month plus limited chat and agent use, including the CLI. Codex is included in ChatGPT Free, and ChatGPT Go at $8 a month is the cheapest paid ChatGPT plan with Codex. Devin Desktop Free has a light agent quota with unlimited Tab completions and inline edits. Cursor Free has limited agent and chat requests.
Cursor's Plus plan is $8 a month, but its pricing page notes that only Grok models are available on that plan. Third-party models such as Claude or GPT start at the $30 Premium plan and are billed separately at API list price.
App builders start free too. Lovable's free plan gets 5 daily build credits (up to 30 a month, per its docs) and Bolt's free plan gets 300K tokens a day and 1M a month. Replit's pricing page lists Core at $20 a month ($18 billed annually) for personal projects.
Cursor details →Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) details →Bolt.new details →Lovable details →
Individual plans at $17 to $39
Cursor Premium is $30 a month (4x the usage of Plus, cloud agents and automations, Bugbot code reviews and third-party models at API list price). Lovable Pro and Bolt Pro are both $25 a month, and GitHub Copilot Pro+ is $39 a month with $70 of monthly AI credits and access to premium models including Opus.
Claude Pro is $20 monthly or $17 a month on the annual plan ($200 billed up front) and includes Claude Code. ChatGPT Plus at $20 includes Codex on the web, in the CLI and in the IDE extension, plus code review and Slack integration. Devin Desktop Pro at $20 adds frontier models from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and SpaceXAI, free use of its SWE-2 model and access to Devin Cloud agents.
Cursor details →Claude Code details →Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) details →Lovable details →Bolt.new details →
Heavy use: the $100 and $200 tiers
At $100 a month you can pick Cursor Super (15x Plus usage and priority model access at peak times), Claude Max (5x Pro usage and $100 a month in Claude Platform API credits), Copilot Max (a $200 monthly credit allowance), the entry Codex Pro plan (OpenAI lists Pro at $100, $200 or $500 a month) or Replit Pro (listed at $100, or $90 billed annually).
At $200 a month there is Cursor Ultra (50x Plus usage), Claude Ultra (the plan formerly called Max 20x: 10x Pro weekly usage, no 5-hour limit for verified accounts and $200 a month in API credits), Devin Desktop Max (significantly higher quotas than Pro) and the middle Codex Pro tier. Codex Pro at $500 is the only plan on this list with Ultrafast mode access.
Cursor details →Claude Code details →GitHub Copilot details →OpenAI Codex details →Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) details →Replit details →
How each tool counts your usage
Cursor: every plan has one AI usage pool shared across Cursor and Grok, refreshed weekly. When it runs out you can buy top-offs or wait, and third-party models never draw from the pool because they bill at API list price. Claude: limits reset on a rolling five-hour window with weekly limits on top, and Claude Code shares one pool with your Claude chats; on paid plans you can turn on usage credits billed at API rates.
Copilot: chat, agent mode, code review, the cloud agent and the CLI use GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01) and completions stay unlimited on paid plans; past your allowance you can set a dollar budget, switch to a cheaper model or wait for the monthly reset. Codex: ChatGPT's pricing page gives Plus estimates per five-hour period, for example 15-160 local messages with GPT-6.1 Sol and 350-3,000 with GPT-6 Luna, and says Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit. Devin Desktop: paid plans refresh a usage allowance daily and weekly, and extra usage is billed at API pricing.
Lovable and Bolt meter work, not time. Lovable charges credits per message (its docs show examples from 0.5 credits for making a button gray to about 2 for a landing page with images), and Plan mode costs 1 credit per message. Bolt counts tokens: Pro starts at 10M tokens a month with no daily limit.
Team and business pricing
Cursor Teams starts at $30 per user per month. Claude's pricing page lists Enterprise at $20 per seat per month plus usage at API rates, billed annually. ChatGPT Business is $20 per user per month for two or more users billed annually, or $25 billed monthly, and includes Codex. Devin Desktop Teams is $80 a month for the team plus $40 a month per full dev seat, for up to 200 users. Bolt Teams is $30 per member per month, billed monthly, and Lovable Business starts at $50 a month for 100 credits, with unlimited workspace members on every plan.
The Copilot plans page lists Business and Enterprise plans but does not show their per-seat prices, so check GitHub directly before budgeting for a team.
Cursor details →OpenAI Codex details →Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) details →Bolt.new details →Lovable details →
Hidden costs and savings to know about
Credits and tokens can expire. Lovable's monthly plan credits expire two months after they are issued on monthly plans, and its daily build credits expire at the end of each day. Bolt's unused tokens on paid plans stay in your balance for up to two months, while free-plan tokens do not roll over.
Annual billing cuts the price on several tools: Claude Pro drops from $20 to $17 a month, Replit Core from $20 to $18 and Replit Pro from $100 to $90. Lovable's docs say annual billing gives two months free (Pro with 100 credits is $25 monthly or $250 a year), and Bolt says yearly billing saves up to 28%. Lovable Pro scales well past the entry price: its docs list 100 credits at $25 a month up to 10,000 credits at $2,250 a month.
Prices change often and several of these vendors have reshuffled plans this year, so treat this guide as a snapshot from November 4, 2026 and confirm on each vendor's site. Our Best AI coding tools in 2026 guide covers fit and quality, and Cursor vs Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot goes deeper on the three biggest names.
Claude Code details →Replit details →Lovable details →Bolt.new details →
Make these tools better
- Cursor Rules: Next.js 16 ($9): 12 scoped Cursor rules, AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md for Next.js 16.4 with Cache Components.
- Claude Code Agent Kit ($19): Installable Claude Code plugin: 12 subagents, 8 skills and 3 tested safety hooks.
- Vibe Debug Pack ($9): 42 symptom prompts, a decision tree and git rescue to break AI fix loops.
Prefer free first? Browse the ToolTier Library for copy-paste Cursor rules, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and debug prompts.
Prices change often. Always confirm on the vendor's site before buying. See the full tier lists.
