Continue: Coding Agents

Founded 2023|Open Source Community|1-10 people|Free open-source + Hub from $10/mo

What is Continue?

Continue is an open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains that lets developers and teams choose any LLM (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT-4, Google Gemini, Mistral, or local models through Ollama) and deploy anywhere — cloud, on-premise, or fully offline. Continue ships in-editor autocomplete, chat, edit modes, and an agent mode that can take multi-step actions across the codebase.

What sets Continue apart is its emphasis on source-controlled, auditable AI workflows. Configurations, custom commands, and context providers live as files in your repo so every team member uses the same setup. Continue Hub adds enforceable CI checks for AI-generated code, plus a marketplace of shared prompts, rules, and assistant blocks that organizations can roll out company-wide.

Pricing is a generous open-source free tier, with paid plans starting at $10/month for Hub features (private rules, team analytics, advanced models) and enterprise tiers for on-prem and custom deployment. Continue's 'no vendor lock-in' positioning has made it the go-to for security- or compliance-sensitive engineering teams.

Key features

Core capabilities this platform advertises.

Autocomplete, chat, edit, and agent modes in VS Code and JetBrains
Bring any LLM — Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Mistral, or local Ollama
Source-controlled config: prompts, rules, and context providers live in the repo
Continue Hub for shared assistants, rules, and CI-enforceable AI checks
On-prem, cloud, or fully offline deployment for compliance-sensitive teams

Strengths and tradeoffs

What this tool does well, and the limitations to keep in mind.

Pros

100% open-source — no vendor lock-in, fully auditable
Most flexible model support of any major coding assistant
Source-controlled AI configuration treats prompts like code
Strong on-prem / air-gapped story for enterprise
Active Hub marketplace and community contributions

Cons

Setup is more involved than turn-key tools like Copilot or Cursor
UX is functional rather than polished compared to Cursor
Quality bound to your chosen model — no built-in agent intelligence
Smaller out-of-the-box integration set than incumbents

Plans & pricing

What's included in each plan, and how the tiers compare.

Free (Open Source)

Forever

VS Code + JetBrains extensions
Autocomplete, chat, edit, agent modes
BYO model — any provider including local
Community support

Hub (Solo)

$10

Month

Private rules and assistants
Source-controlled team configs
Shared prompt + context library
Email support

Hub (Team)

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Team analytics + adoption insights
Enforceable CI checks for AI-generated code
SSO and admin controls
Priority support

Enterprise

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On-prem and air-gapped deployment
Custom models + private gateway
Audit logs, SOC 2, SAML SSO
SLAs and dedicated support

View official pricing page

Common use cases

Engineering teams that want an open-source, auditable AI coding assistant with full model and deployment freedom

Standardized AI coding workflows across an engineering org
On-prem or air-gapped development for regulated industries
BYOK with no markup across many providers
Source-controlled prompts and rules under code review
CI gates that enforce AI-output quality before merge

Using Continue with Respan

Integrate Continue's open-source coding assistant with Respan to add flexible AI coding capabilities. Use any LLM provider or local models. Combine Continue's zero-cost approach with Respan's orchestration for comprehensive development automation.

Completely free and open-source
Choose any LLM provider or use local models
Native IDE integration with VS Code and JetBrains
Privacy-focused with local model support

Run Continue in production with Respan

10KFree traces/mo

1,000+Models

5 minSetup

Respan lets you trace LLM and agent calls across any model or framework, A/B test prompts on production traffic, and route requests across 1,000+ models through one gateway.

Try Respan free

Best Continue alternatives & competitors

Top companies in Coding Agents you can use instead of Continue.

Claude Code

Agentic CLI that edits files, runs commands, and navigates codebases autonomously