LAST UPDATED: FEBRUARY 8, 2026
Devin made headlines as the "first AI software engineer." But it's not the only AI coding agent — and depending on your workflow, it might not be the best one for you. Here are 10 alternatives, what they actually do, and how to choose.
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Devin, built by Cognition, positions itself as an autonomous AI software engineer — an agent that can plan, write, debug, and deploy code independently. It works in its own cloud environment with a browser, terminal, and editor, handling multi-step engineering tasks from a natural language prompt. For teams that want to offload entire tickets to an AI agent and review the output, Devin is genuinely impressive.
But "autonomous software engineer" isn't the only way to use AI for coding, and for many developers it's not the best way. Some teams want AI that works alongside them in real-time, not asynchronously in a separate environment. Some want to stay in their existing editor rather than switching to a new workflow. Some need open-source tools they can self-host. And some want to control costs — Devin's $500/month price point puts it out of reach for individual developers and small teams.
The AI coding agent space has matured rapidly, with tools ranging from lightweight autocomplete to full autonomous engineering. The right choice depends on how much autonomy you want the AI to have, how integrated it needs to be with your existing workflow, and what you're willing to pay.
A VS Code fork rebuilt around AI. Cursor embeds AI into every part of the editing experience — tab completion that predicts multi-line changes, inline chat that understands your entire codebase, and an agent mode that can create files, run terminal commands, and make multi-file edits. The key difference from Devin is that Cursor works inside your editor, not in a separate environment. You see every change as it happens and can intervene instantly.
Best for: Developers who want AI deeply integrated into their editor workflow with real-time collaboration rather than asynchronous task completion.
vs Devin: More hands-on, faster feedback loop, significantly cheaper. Less autonomous — you're pair programming with AI rather than delegating.
Visit →The most widely adopted AI coding tool, embedded directly in VS Code, JetBrains, and other editors. Copilot started as an autocomplete engine but has expanded significantly — Copilot Chat provides contextual Q&A, and the agent mode can handle multi-file edits, run terminal commands, and iterate on code autonomously. The tight GitHub integration means it understands your pull requests, issues, and repository context natively.
Best for: Teams already on GitHub who want AI coding assistance that integrates seamlessly with their existing workflow and tools.
vs Devin: Less autonomous but more integrated. Works inside your existing editor and GitHub workflow rather than operating in a separate sandbox.
Visit →Anthropic's command-line coding agent. Claude Code runs in your terminal and operates directly on your local codebase — reading files, writing code, running commands, and fixing errors in a conversational loop. It understands project structure, can navigate large codebases, and handles multi-file changes naturally. Because it operates through the Anthropic API, you pay per usage rather than a flat subscription, which can be cheaper or more expensive depending on volume.
Best for: Developers who prefer terminal workflows, want agentic coding on their local machine, and are comfortable with usage-based pricing through the Anthropic API.
vs Devin: Runs locally in your terminal rather than a cloud sandbox. More interactive — you're in the loop at every step. No monthly subscription but API costs can add up with heavy use.
Visit →Built by Codeium, Windsurf is an AI-native code editor that combines real-time suggestions with an agentic "Cascade" mode that can plan and execute multi-step coding tasks. The editor tracks your actions and context continuously, so the AI understands not just your code but your intent based on recent edits. The free tier includes meaningful AI functionality, making it one of the most accessible entry points for AI-assisted coding.
Best for: Developers who want an AI-first editor with both autocomplete and agent capabilities at a lower price point than Cursor or Devin.
vs Devin: Editor-based like Cursor but with a more aggressive free tier. Less autonomous than Devin but more interactive and significantly cheaper.
Visit →An open-source terminal-based AI pair programmer that edits code directly in your local git repository. Aider connects to any LLM provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, local models), understands your entire repo structure through a repository map, and makes changes that automatically commit with descriptive messages. It's particularly strong for developers who live in the terminal and want full transparency over what the AI changes and why.
Best for: Terminal-oriented developers who want open-source, model-agnostic AI coding with tight git integration and full control over their workflow.
vs Devin: Fully open-source and free. You bring your own LLM. More hands-on but gives you complete control and transparency. No cloud sandbox — everything happens locally.
Visit →OpenAI's cloud-based coding agent, available through ChatGPT. Codex spins up a sandboxed environment for each task, reads your repository, writes code, runs tests, and produces a pull request — a workflow similar to Devin's. It connects directly to GitHub repositories and can work on multiple tasks in parallel. The agent runs asynchronously, letting you assign tasks and come back to review completed work.
Best for: Teams already invested in the OpenAI ecosystem who want Devin-style autonomous coding within ChatGPT's interface.
vs Devin: Similar async sandbox model. Bundled into ChatGPT Pro rather than a standalone subscription. More tightly integrated with OpenAI's model ecosystem.
Visit →Amazon's AI coding assistant, integrated into VS Code, JetBrains, and the AWS console. Beyond standard code suggestions and chat, Q Developer includes an agent mode for autonomous multi-step tasks — implementing features across files, generating tests, and performing code transformations. Its standout capability is deep AWS integration: it understands CloudFormation, CDK, and AWS service configurations natively, making it the strongest choice for teams building on AWS.
Best for: Teams building on AWS who want AI coding assistance with native understanding of AWS services and infrastructure.
vs Devin: Less general-purpose autonomy but stronger within the AWS ecosystem. Cheaper and more integrated for cloud-native development on Amazon infrastructure.
Visit →Sourcegraph's AI coding assistant, built on top of their code intelligence platform. Cody's differentiator is codebase understanding at scale — it uses Sourcegraph's code graph to understand dependencies, call patterns, and relationships across massive repositories. For enterprise teams with large, complex codebases, this context awareness produces more accurate suggestions than tools that only see the files you have open. Available in VS Code and JetBrains.
Best for: Enterprise teams with large codebases who need AI that understands cross-repository dependencies and code relationships at scale.
vs Devin: Focused on context-aware assistance rather than autonomous task completion. Stronger at understanding existing large codebases, less focused on greenfield coding.
Visit →An open-source AI coding assistant that runs as a VS Code or JetBrains extension. Continue lets you connect any LLM — OpenAI, Anthropic, local models via Ollama, or your own fine-tuned models — and provides autocomplete, inline editing, and chat within your editor. The open-source approach means full transparency into how the tool works and the ability to customize it for your team's specific needs. It's the most flexible option for teams that want AI coding help without vendor lock-in.
Best for: Teams that want open-source, model-agnostic AI coding assistance with full customization and no vendor lock-in.
vs Devin: Extension-based rather than standalone. No autonomous capabilities — it's an assistant, not an agent. Maximum flexibility and zero lock-in.
Visit →One of the earliest AI code completion tools, Tabnine focuses on privacy-first AI coding. It offers code completion, chat, and code generation across all major editors and 80+ programming languages. Tabnine's key differentiator is its approach to IP protection — models are trained on permissively licensed code only, and the enterprise version can run entirely on your infrastructure with no code leaving your network. For regulated industries where code privacy is non-negotiable, this matters.
Best for: Enterprise teams in regulated industries who need AI coding assistance with strong privacy guarantees and IP-safe training data.
vs Devin: Focused on privacy-safe code completion rather than autonomous engineering. Less capable but more compliant for sensitive environments.
Visit →| Agent | Type | Autonomy | Starting Price | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin | Cloud sandbox | High — autonomous | $500/month | No |
| Cursor | AI editor | Medium — agent mode | $20/month | No |
| GitHub Copilot | Editor extension | Medium — agent mode | $10/month | No |
| Claude Code | Terminal agent | Medium-high — agentic | API usage | No |
| Windsurf | AI editor | Medium — Cascade mode | Free tier | No |
| Aider | Terminal agent | Medium — interactive | Free + LLM costs | Yes |
| OpenAI Codex | Cloud sandbox | High — autonomous | $200/month | No |
| Amazon Q | Editor extension | Medium — agent mode | Free tier | No |
| Cody | Editor extension | Low-medium — assistant | Free tier | Partially |
| Continue | Editor extension | Low — assistant | Free + LLM costs | Yes |
| Tabnine | Editor extension | Low — completion | Free tier | No |
If you want to describe a task in natural language and have an AI agent handle it end-to-end — writing code, running tests, debugging, and submitting a PR — then Devin, OpenAI Codex, and Claude Code are your options. Devin and Codex run in cloud sandboxes (asynchronous delegation), while Claude Code runs in your terminal (interactive but still highly autonomous). Budget is the differentiator: $500/month for Devin, $200/month for Codex via ChatGPT Pro, or variable API costs for Claude Code.
If you want AI that works alongside you in real-time — completing code, answering questions, and making edits as you work — Cursor, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot are the leading options. All three offer agent modes for multi-step tasks, but the core experience is collaborative rather than autonomous. Cursor and Windsurf are standalone editors; Copilot is an extension for your existing editor. Try the free tiers of Windsurf and Copilot to see which interaction style fits before committing.
Aider and Continue give you full control over your AI coding setup — choose your own models, run locally, customize behavior, and avoid vendor lock-in. Aider is terminal-based and more agentic; Continue is editor-based and more assistant-like. Both are free; you pay only for the LLM provider you choose (or run local models for free).
If code privacy and IP protection are non-negotiable — healthcare, defense, finance, regulated industries — Tabnine's enterprise offering and self-hosted options like Aider with local models give you AI coding assistance with zero data leaving your network. Amazon Q Developer is also strong here for teams already on AWS with existing compliance frameworks.
As AI coding agents become more autonomous — writing production code, creating pull requests, deploying changes — a new question emerges: when an agent introduces a bug, a security vulnerability, or a breaking change, how do you trace accountability? Today, the developer who prompted the agent is implicitly responsible. As agents become more independent, that assumption breaks down.
RNWY provides identity infrastructure for AI agents across any platform. Register the agents your team uses, track their interaction history through transparent reputation data, and build verifiable records of what each agent produced. When an agent has a permanent, non-transferable identity, accountability doesn't depend on memory — it depends on data that anyone can verify.
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The full directory of AI agents for software development, ranked and reviewed.
Browse directory →Multi-agent frameworks for building your own AI coding pipelines.
Read comparison →Why the distinction between assistants and agents matters for coding tools.
Read guide →Give your AI coding agents a verifiable identity that tracks what they build.
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