Alternatives to Kilo
Open-source AI coding agent for IDE, CLI, and cloud with 500+ model support
Kilo ranks #3 of 11 in AI coding assistants, with an Alt Score of 82. It is licensed under MIT, freemium from $15/user/mo (Teams; inference and cloud compute extra) and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and Web. 9 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Kilo is an MIT-licensed AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, the CLI and cloud workflows. It supports 500+ models through its Gateway, user-supplied provider keys, and local models such as Ollama or LM Studio. Anaconda announced its acquisition in July 2026, and Kilo remains available. Individual platform access is free; Teams costs $15/user/month, while hosted inference and cloud compute are separate. Credit purchases carry a 5% processing fee.
Developers and engineering teams who want an AI coding agent in their editor, terminal or cloud workflows, with a choice of model providers, user-supplied keys or local models. Teams and Enterprise add collaboration, administration and governance features.
An MIT-licensed coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains and the CLI, with autocomplete, opt-in semantic codebase indexing, agentic edits and refactors, plus Cloud Agents and Android/iOS apps. Kilo Gateway offers 500+ models at provider inference rates. Teams costs $15/user/month; hosted inference, cloud compute and the 5% credit-purchase processing fee are separate pricing components.
The editor integration or CLI connects through Kilo Gateway, user-supplied provider keys, or local runtimes such as Ollama and LM Studio. Opt-in Codebase Indexing parses code with Tree-sitter, generates embeddings, and stores them in LanceDB or Qdrant; Ollama with LanceDB supports local indexing. Cloud Agents run tasks in isolated containers, billed separately from model usage.
Where Kilo stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave Kilo
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
Sign in to add a reason — new reasons go through moderation before appearing.
Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Tabby (TabbyML) is an open-source AI coding assistant built to run entirely on a team's own infrastructure, serving code completion and chat from locally hosted or self-hosted open-weight models with.
Cline is an open-source AI agent that plugs into VS Code and JetBrains, giving models full terminal access, file editing, and browser automation via Playwright under a human-in-the-loop Plan/Act workf.
Aider is an open-source (Apache-2.0) command-line AI coding assistant created by Paul Gauthier that treats git as the system of record, generating a commit for every accepted change.
Amp is Sourcegraph's coding agent, rebranded from Cody in 2026 after Sourcegraph discontinued Cody's individual/Pro plans in favor of an enterprise-only Cody.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the AI coding assistants checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| AI coding assistants checklist | Kilo | Tabby | Cline | Amazon Q Developer | GitHub Copilot | Aider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Editor integrations | ||||||
| Autocomplete | ||||||
| Chat with codebase context | ||||||
| Agentic edits | ||||||
| Local model support | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Free tier limits | ||||||
| Privacy: code retention policy | ||||||
| Terminal / CLI use | ||||||
| Multi-file refactors |
Every fact and feature listed for Kilo is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
-
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-30
Community tier is $0; Teams tier adds per-seat pricing; usage-based credits also apply for hosted model inference beyond free models.
No. You can download Kilo Code and start coding with AI immediately using free models, local models (Ollama, LM Studio), or your own API keys. A subscription is only needed if you want team features o
https://kilo.ai/pricing -
Starts at $15/user/mo (Teams; inference and cloud compute extra) verified 2026-11-01https://kilo.ai/pricing
-
License MIT verified 2026-07-30
Full header reads 'Copyright (c) 2026 Kilo Code / Copyright (c) 2025 opencode' — Kilo Code is an MIT-licensed fork of the OpenCode CLI.
MIT License
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode/main/LICENSE -
Status acquired verified 2026-11-01https://kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/platforms/mobile
-
Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Web verified 2026-11-01https://kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/platforms/mobile
-
Editor integrations Yes verified 2026-07-30
The open source coding agent for building with AI in VS Code, JetBrains, or the CLI.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode/main/README.md -
Autocomplete Yes verified 2026-07-30
Kilo Code's autocomplete feature provides intelligent code suggestions and completions while you're typing, helping you write code faster and more efficiently.
https://kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/features/autocomplete -
Chat with codebase context Yes verified 2026-07-30
Codebase Indexing enables semantic code search across your entire project using AI embeddings.
https://kilo.ai/docs/customize/context/codebase-indexing -
Agentic edits Yes verified 2026-07-30
This describes the default 'code' agent's tool access; other built-in agents (ask, plan) intentionally restrict edit access by design.
Full access to all tools: read, edit, glob, grep, bash, task, webfetch, plus tools from MCP servers
https://kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/agents/using-agents -
Local model support Yes verified 2026-07-30
Codebase Indexing docs further confirm a fully local, zero-cost setup pairing Ollama (embeddings) with LanceDB (local vector store).
start coding with AI immediately using free models, local models (Ollama, LM Studio), or your own API keys
https://kilo.ai/pricing -
Self-hostable Partial verified 2026-07-30
Kilo Code itself is MIT-licensed and runs entirely on your own machine (source at github.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode); the CLI also exposes a self-run 'kilo serve' headless server. But no vendor page docume
kilo serve starts a headless kilo server
https://kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/platforms/cli-reference -
Privacy: code retention policy Partial verified 2026-07-30
Guarantee is limited to paid plans. Free-tier 'Auto Free' routing can hit third-party providers that log data, per kilo.ai/docs/getting-started/using-kilo-for-free: 'Auto Free may route your requests
No data retention for AI prompts and outputs on paid plans
https://kilo.ai/security-and-compliance -
Terminal / CLI use Yes verified 2026-07-30
Also installable via curl script, pnpm, bun, Homebrew, or AUR per README; full command reference documented at kilo.ai/docs/code-with-ai/platforms/cli-reference.
npm install -g @kilocode/cli
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode/main/README.md -
Multi-file refactors Yes verified 2026-07-30
Offload tech debt cleanup, batch updates, and large-scale refactors to run autonomously in the cloud.
https://kilo.ai/cloud
FAQ
Yes. Tabby, Amazon Q Developer and GitHub Copilot have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Tabby, Cline and Aider — every license claim links its source.