Comparison
Best AI coding agents (Nov 2026): 4 prices, free and paid
There is no single best AI coding agent. On November 9, 2026, this page compares list prices for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. Free and paid plans are both included. A plan price is not a count of how much code the agent will write.
Last verified November 9, 2026. Cells are list prices and plan limits copied from vendor pages on November 9, 2026. This is not a quality ranking.
Key takeaways
- There is no single best AI coding agent. This page compares four list prices, not a score.
- On November 9, 2026, Cursor Plus is $8 a month and GitHub Copilot Pro is $10 a month. Claude Code is listed on Claude Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month if $200 is paid up front.
- Free plans exist for Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Codex. Claude’s Free card at $0 did not list Claude Code.
Last verified November 9, 2026
What are the best AI coding agents in November 2026?
There is no single best AI coding agent. On November 9, 2026, this page compares list prices for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. Free and paid plans are both included.
A plan price is not a count of how much code the agent will write. Token bills, separate from these seat prices, are the AI agent cost calculator. The libraries those products sit beside are Best AI agent frameworks. The loop around the model is Agent harnesses.
Which AI coding agents are free?
Cursor Free, GitHub Copilot Free, and Codex on ChatGPT Free are $0 plans with limits. Claude’s Free card is $0, and the pricing page read on November 9, 2026 did not list Claude Code on it. Claude Code appears on the Pro card, at $20 a month or $17 a month when $200 is paid up front.
GitHub Copilot Free includes 2,000 code completions a month and limited chat and agent use. Cursor Plus, the first paid Cursor plan, is $8 a month and does not include third-party models. The earlier side-by-side of Claude Code and Codex plan ladders is Claude Code vs Codex pricing.
How much do these AI coding agents cost?
Four products. Prices are the list prices on the vendor page read November 9, 2026. Equal monthly prices are not equal amounts of coding.
Sort any column. A blank would mean the official page did not state the fact. Source numbers match the list at the end of the page. Last verified November 9, 2026. The shelf for this table is Best AI agents.
- Claude Code
- Codex
- Cursor
- GitHub Copilot
| Claude Code | Anthropic | A coding agent on a Claude plan | Proprietary product on Claude plans | Free $0 does not list Claude Code. Pro is $20/mo, or $17/mo if $200 is paid up front, and the Pro card lists Claude Code. Max is $100/mo with 5× Pro usage. Read November 9, 2026. | Included on the Pro pricing card. Product surfaces are on the Claude Code listing. | [1] |
| Codex | OpenAI | Coding inside a ChatGPT plan | Included with ChatGPT plans | Included on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise. A feature note names $100 and $200 Pro plans. Free, Go, and Plus dollar amounts were not on the cards this fetch read. Read November 9, 2026. | The pricing page describes Codex with ChatGPT plans, plus an API-key path billed at API rates. | [2] |
| Cursor | Anysphere | An editor with its own models on Plus | Proprietary editor | Free $0, Plus $8/mo, Premium $30/mo, Super $100/mo, Ultra $200/mo. Annual: $80, $300, $1,000, $2,000. Teams $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo. Third-party models are extra. Prices exclude tax. Read November 9, 2026. | Code editor. New plans are part of The X Subscription, shared with Grok. | [3] [4] |
| GitHub Copilot | GitHub | An agent inside GitHub and an editor | Proprietary product | Free $0 with 2,000 completions/mo. Pro $10/mo (1,500 credits), Pro+ $39/mo (7,000), Max $100/mo (20,000). One credit is $0.01. Read November 9, 2026. | Editors, github.com, and the Copilot CLI, as the plans page lists them. | [5] [6] |
Which AI coding agent fits which job?
Job-fit notes from the product pages. Not scores, and not a claim that one writes better code.
These are job-fit notes from the documented scope, not scores.
Best for the lowest paid sticker checked today
Cursor Plus is $8 a month and includes Cursor’s own models. Third-party models are not on that plan. GitHub Copilot Pro is $10 a month.
Best for a coding agent inside a chat plan
OpenAI’s Codex pricing page says Codex is included on ChatGPT plans, including Free. Claude Code is listed on the Pro card, not the Free card.
Best for an editor you already use
GitHub Copilot’s plans page lists editors including VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, and Neovim, plus the CLI and github.com.
How were these AI coding agent prices checked?
Each price was copied from the vendor page named in the sources on November 9, 2026. A number that page did not print is left out.
Codex’s pricing page said Codex is included on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise, and a feature note named the $100 and $200 Pro plans. The Free, Go, and Plus cards in that fetch did not print a dollar amount, so those stickers are not repeated here. An earlier check on November 6 is linked from the Codex listing. Cursor’s plan price does not include third-party models. GitHub’s credit totals are separate from the subscription price.
What else do people ask about AI coding agent prices?
Short answers on free plans, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code limits.
What is the GitHub Copilot price in November 2026?
On November 9, 2026, GitHub lists Copilot Free at $0, Pro at $10 a month, Pro+ at $39 a month, and Max at $100 a month. Pro includes 1,500 AI credits, Pro+ 7,000, and Max 20,000. One credit is $0.01.
How much does Cursor AI cost?
On November 9, 2026, Cursor lists Free at $0, Plus at $8 a month, Premium at $30, Super at $100, and Ultra at $200. Teams is $30, $100, or $200 per seat. Third-party models are not included in those prices.
Is there a free AI coding agent?
Yes. Cursor Free, GitHub Copilot Free, and Codex on ChatGPT Free are $0 plans with limits. Claude’s Free card is also $0, and it did not list Claude Code when read on November 9, 2026.
What are the Claude Code limits?
The pricing page read on November 9, 2026 says Pro includes more usage than Free every five hours and every week, and Max is 5 times Pro usage on both windows. It does not print a fixed number of coding tasks. A longer comparison with Codex, checked earlier in November, is on the Claude Code versus Codex pricing guide.
Sources
- 1Anthropic, Plans and pricing (read November 9, 2026)
- 2OpenAI, Codex pricing (read November 9, 2026)
- 3Cursor, Pricing (read November 9, 2026)
- 4Cursor, Models and pricing (read November 9, 2026)
- 5GitHub, Copilot plans (read November 9, 2026)
- 6GitHub Docs, Usage-based billing for individuals (read November 9, 2026)
Cite or embed this
The citation names this page and the date above. The embed is a blockquote with a link back here.
Citation
AI Agents Info. "Best AI coding agents." Last verified November 9, 2026. https://www.aiagentsinfo.com/best/ai-coding-agents.
Embed
<blockquote cite="https://www.aiagentsinfo.com/best/ai-coding-agents"> <p>There is no single best AI coding agent. On November 9, 2026, this page compares list prices for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. Free and paid plans are both included. A plan price is not a count of how much code the agent will write.</p> <footer><a href="https://www.aiagentsinfo.com/best/ai-coding-agents">Best AI coding agents</a>, AI Agents Info, last verified November 9, 2026.</footer> </blockquote>