Best / AI coding assistants
Best open-source AI coding assistants
The best open-source coding-assistant split in the c17.io catalog is Continue in the IDE (the published Copilot/Cursor/Windsurf stack), Aider in the terminal, Cline when you want an autonomous agent loop, and OpenHands when the job is a Replit-shaped software-engineer agent in a sandbox you host. bolt.diy is the MIT prompt-to-app builder (Lovable / Bolt.new / v0). You still pay tokens or a GPU. Chat UIs stay on /best/llm-chat-ui.
Open the stackStart on Railway
Ranked picks
1
ContinueApache-2.0 IDE coding agent — the c17 Copilot/Cursor/Windsurf path.
When to pick it: Chat and edits inside VS Code or JetBrains.
36,267 stars in the catalog
2
AiderApache-2.0 pair programmer in the terminal that edits a git repo — /compare/continue-vs-aider.
When to pick it: CLI-first edits you commit yourself.
49,646 stars in the catalog
3
ClineApache-2.0 autonomous coding agent as an IDE extension, CLI, or SDK — /compare/cline-vs-aider.
When to pick it: An agent loop, not just autocomplete.
70,568 stars in the catalog
4
OpenHandsMIT AI-driven development agent (formerly OpenDevin) — the c17 Replit path.
When to pick it: A sandbox agent, not an IDE plugin.
91,310 stars in the catalog
5
bolt.diyMIT community Bolt.new. Prompt, run, and edit apps with an LLM you bring.
When to pick it: Prompt-to-app instead of Cursor Tab.
19,960 stars in the catalog
How they compare
| Tool | License | Self-host | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continue | Apache-2.0 | Easy | Chat and edits inside VS Code or JetBrains. |
| Aider | Apache-2.0 | Easy | CLI-first edits you commit yourself. |
| Cline | Apache-2.0 | Medium | An agent loop, not just autocomplete. |
| OpenHands | MIT License | Medium | A sandbox agent, not an IDE plugin. |
| bolt.diy | MIT License | Medium | Prompt-to-app instead of Cursor Tab. |
Related pages
- Continue + LiteLLM stack
- OpenHands / Coder stack
- bolt.diy stack
- Coder / code-server stack
- Replace GitHub Copilot
- Replace Cursor
- Replace Windsurf
- Replace Replit
- Replace Lovable
- Replace Bolt.new
- Replace v0
- Replace GitHub Codespaces
- Continue vs Aider
- Cline vs Aider
- All best open-source pages
- All compare pages
- All replace pages
- All stacks
- Tools catalog
FAQ
- Cursor or Windsurf?
- Same published stack — /replace/cursor and /replace/windsurf. Continue in the IDE. Aider in the terminal. Cline if you want the agent.
- Continue or Aider?
- Continue if you want the IDE. Aider if you live in git from a terminal — /compare/continue-vs-aider.
- Is this Replit?
- Replit Agent is OpenHands — /replace/replit. bolt.diy is Lovable/Bolt.new/v0.
- Are these free?
- Continue, Aider, and Cline are Apache-2.0. OpenHands and bolt.diy are MIT. You pay hosting and model tokens. Template users never pay c17.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open /stacks/continue-copilot and point the editor at LiteLLM. OpenHands is /stacks/openhands-dev. bolt.diy is /stacks/bolt-diy.
Stack of the Week
Get one stack a week that replaces a SaaS bill.