Aider vs Continue

Side-by-side comparison of Aider and Continue: pricing, features, API access, and community ratings.

AI comparison summary

TL;DR: Aider is a terminal-based tool with extensive features like automatic git commits, codebase mapping, voice input, and built-in linting/testing across 100+ languages. Continue is a simpler IDE extension (VS Code/JetBrains) that focuses on in-editor assistance with bring-your-own-model flexibility, though it was recently acquired by Cursor which may impact its future direction. Choose Aider for comprehensive CLI-driven workflows with advanced automation, or Continue for lightweight IDE integration with model portability.

Aider
Aider

AI pair programming in your terminal — code smarter with LLMs

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Continue
Continue

Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with bring-your-own-model flexibility

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Category
Coding & development
Coding & development
Pricing
Free
Free
Starting price
Free
Free
Free tier
Audience
Technical
Technical
API available
Open source
Self-hostable
Model provider
Multi-provider: Anthropic (Claude 3.7 Sonnet), DeepSeek (R1 & Chat V3), OpenAI (o1, o3-mini, GPT-4o), and local models
Founded
2023
2023
Headquarters
US
Key strengths
  • ·Codebase mapping for large projects
  • ·Supports 100+ programming languages
  • ·Git integration with auto-commit
  • ·Multi-LLM support including local models
  • ·Open-source coding agent
  • ·Acquired by Cursor
  • ·Pioneer in AI developer tooling