AI Tools Spectrum
Every AI coding tool I could find, plotted by monthly cost (X) and capability (Y). Drag the budget slider to dim what's out of reach. Filter by category. Click any tool to pin its details. Data current as of April 2026.
How to read it
- Four charts, four dimensions. Chat, IDE, CLI, and Infra each get their own plot because comparing a chat window to a CLI agent on the same Y axis is nonsense.
- X axis (shared): realistic monthly cost in USD, log scale. Not entry price, what you'd actually pay to use the tool seriously. Free tiers burn out.
- Y axis (per chart):
- Chat: context window size (32K to 1M tokens)
- IDE: autonomy (autocomplete to autonomous)
- CLI: scope (pair programmer to swarm)
- Infra: number of models supported (log)
- Dashed ring around a logo means genuinely free (Gemini CLI, Copilot Student, DeepSeek chat, etc). Dimmed logos are out of your current budget.
Recommended starter stacks
$0 / mo
Student / starter
- Gemini (web)
- Gemini CLI or Codex CLI
- VS Code + Copilot (Student Pack)
$20 / mo
Indie dev
- Claude Pro (incl. Claude Code)
- Cursor free or Windsurf Pro
- OpenRouter for API misc
$100+ / mo
Heavy user
- Claude Max (5x or 20x)
- Cursor Pro+
- Vercel AI Gateway for prod
See something missing or out of date? PR welcome .