Aider

The original open-source AI pair programmer for your terminal.

Terminal agentsOpen sourceVerified 2026-10-17
Visit Aider ↗ Free (pay for model usage)

What is Aider?

Aider is an open-source (Apache-2.0) command-line pair programmer. It maps your whole codebase, works with cloud and local LLMs, supports 100+ languages, auto-commits changes to git with sensible messages, and can lint and test after every change. Voice-to-code and image/web context are supported.

Aider pricing

PlanPriceWhat you get
Open source$0Install with pip (aider-install). You pay your LLM provider, or run local models.

Prices in USD, excluding tax, as listed on the official pricing page on 2026-10-17.

Best for

  • Git-centric developers who want every AI change as a reviewable commit
  • Running local or cheap models
  • Lightweight setups with no editor lock-in

Limits & gotchas

  • No GUI; terminal only (IDE use is via code comments)
  • Homepage model recommendations still reference older models (Claude 3.7 Sonnet, o3-mini)
  • Main GitHub repo's last push was May 22, 2026, so development appears slower than rivals

Head-to-head

Aider FAQ

Is Aider free?

Yes. Aider is open source under Apache-2.0. You only pay for whichever LLM API you connect, or nothing if you run a local model.

Does Aider work with git?

Yes. It automatically commits each change with a descriptive message, so you can diff and undo with normal git tools.

Sources

  1. Aider homepage (aider.chat)
  2. Aider on GitHub (Apache-2.0) (github.com)

Last verified 2026-10-17. Spot something out of date? Tell us via the newsletter reply.

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