The Complete Free AI Coding Setup for 2026: Professional-Grade, Zero Cost
How to build a professional AI-assisted coding environment that costs nothing - the best free editors, extensions, inference providers, and local models combined into setups that rival $20/month subscriptions.
You do not need to pay $20 a month for AI-assisted coding. Not anymore. The free tooling in 2026 has gotten good enough that a developer willing to spend 30 minutes on setup can get roughly 80-85% of the paid experience at zero cost, with enough daily capacity for a full workday.
This guide shows you exactly how to do it. We will cover every free editor, extension, and inference provider worth using, then combine them into concrete setups you can copy. No vague recommendations - specific tools, specific providers, specific limits.
If you want the full breakdown of free inference providers, our complete guide to zero-cost inference covers 20+ providers with rate limits, quotas, and comparisons. This guide focuses on how to turn those providers into a working coding environment.
The Building Blocks
A free AI coding setup has three parts: an editor or IDE that supports AI features, a model provider that runs the actual AI, and optionally a local model as a fallback for when cloud limits run out. Let us look at each.
Free AI Editors and Extensions
VS Code + Continue.dev (Best Overall Free Option)
Continue.dev is an open-source extension (Apache 2.0) that turns VS Code into a full AI coding environment. Chat, autocomplete, inline edits, code actions - it has everything. The key difference from paid tools: you bring your own model provider instead of paying for a bundled one.
That means you connect it to any of the free inference providers and pay nothing. Configure Gemini for chat, Groq for autocomplete, and a local model as fallback - all in one config.json.
It also works with JetBrains IDEs if that is your preference.
Why it wins: Maximum flexibility. No token limits imposed by the extension itself. Your daily capacity is limited only by the providers you connect.
Cline, Roo Code, and Kilo Code (Free Agentic Coding)
These are open-source VS Code extensions that go beyond chat and autocomplete into full agentic coding. They can read and write files, run terminal commands, create entire projects, and iterate on errors autonomously.
- Cline has 5 million+ installs and is the most established. It connects to any provider via API keys.
- Roo Code is a Cline fork with multi-mode support (Architect, Code, Debug) and better team workflows.
- Kilo Code adds MCP support and offers $20 in free credits for hosted models.
All three are free. You bring your own API keys from free providers. Connect Cline to Google AI Studio or Groq and you have a free coding agent that can handle multi-file tasks, debug errors, and run tests.
OpenCode CLI (Best Free Terminal Option)
OpenCode is an open-source terminal-based coding assistant with 100K+ GitHub stars. If you prefer working in the terminal over an IDE, this is the Claude Code alternative you want. It supports 75+ models, has vim-like editing, multi-session support, and LSP integration.
Connect it to Google AI Studio or Groq for zero-cost AI coding from your terminal. No code or context is stored server-side.
Void Editor (Open Source Cursor Alternative)
Void is a fork of VS Code that builds AI features directly into the editor. Think of it as an open-source Cursor: autocomplete, inline edits, chat agents, all built in. The critical difference from Cursor is that messages go directly to your chosen provider with no middleman server.
It is still maturing but already usable for daily work. If you want the Cursor experience without the Cursor price tag (or the Cursor data routing), Void is worth watching.
Zed Editor (Fastest Editor, Free with BYO Keys)
Zed is built from scratch in Rust and it shows - the editor is significantly faster than anything Electron-based. The free plan includes 50 AI prompts per month, but more importantly, you can bring your own API keys for unlimited use. Connect your Gemini or Groq key and you have a blazing-fast editor with free AI.
What About the Paid Editors' Free Tiers?
They exist, but they are restrictive:
| Editor | Free Tier | Main Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Cursor | 50 premium requests/month, 200 completions | Exhausted in 1-2 days of active use |
| Windsurf | 25 prompt credits/month, unlimited autocomplete | Credits gone in ~3 days |
| GitHub Copilot | 2,000 completions/month, 50 chats | Decent autocomplete, very limited chat |
| Cody (Sourcegraph) | Unlimited autocomplete, 200 chats/month | Chat limit is workable for targeted questions |
The Windsurf and Copilot free tiers are useful as supplements - stack their unlimited autocomplete alongside Continue.dev for chat - but none of them work as your only AI tool.
Free Inference Providers: What Actually Works for Coding
Not every free API is equally useful for coding. You need fast responses, decent context windows, and models that understand code. Here are the providers that matter, ranked by daily coding capacity.
For the full provider comparison with all rate limits and signup details, see our free inference providers guide.
| Provider | Best Coding Model | Requests/Day | Speed | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groq | Llama 3.3 70B | 1,000 | Fastest (300+ tok/s) | 128K |
| Google AI Studio | Gemini 2.5 Flash | 250 | Fast | 1M |
| Google AI Studio | Gemini 2.5 Pro | 100 | Medium | 1M |
| Cerebras | Llama 3.3 70B | ~1M tokens | Very fast | 8K |
| OpenRouter | Qwen3-Coder 480B | 50 | Varies | 262K |
| Mistral | Codestral | ~1B tokens/month | Slow (2 RPM) | 32K |
| GitHub Models | GPT-4o | 50-150 | Medium | 8K |
The standout for coding: Groq gives you 1,000 requests per day at 300+ tokens per second. That is enough for 8+ hours of active coding with near-instant responses. Google AI Studio gives you access to Gemini 2.5 Pro (one of the strongest coding models available) at 100 requests per day. OpenRouter's Qwen3-Coder 480B is a frontier-level coding model available for free, though limited to 50 requests daily.
Cerebras caveat: The 1M tokens/day sounds generous, but the free tier is capped at 8K context. That is a deal-breaker for large codebase work but fine for focused function-level tasks.
The Recommended Setups
Setup 1: Maximum Free Cloud (No Hardware Requirements)
This is the setup I recommend for most developers. Zero hardware requirements, works on any laptop, and provides enough AI capacity for a full workday.
Editor: VS Code + Continue.dev
Provider rotation:
- Primary (chat/reasoning): Google AI Studio - Gemini 2.5 Flash (250 req/day) for most tasks, Gemini 2.5 Pro (100 req/day) for complex problems
- Autocomplete: Groq - Llama 3.3 70B (1,000 req/day) for fast tab completions
- Agentic tasks: OpenRouter - Qwen3-Coder 480B or DeepSeek R1 (50 req/day) for multi-step coding agents via Cline
- Fallback: Cerebras (1M tokens/day) or Mistral Codestral (1B tokens/month)
Daily capacity: 1,300+ requests across providers. That is 8-10 hours of continuous AI-assisted coding if you rotate intelligently.
Setup time: 15-20 minutes. Install Continue.dev, sign up for 3-4 providers, paste API keys into the config.
Setup 2: Local + Cloud Hybrid (Best for Privacy and Unlimited Use)
If you have 32GB of RAM (or a GPU), you can run a local coding model for unlimited AI assistance and save cloud providers for the hard problems.
Editor: VS Code + Continue.dev
Local model: Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B via Ollama. This Mixture-of-Experts model has 30B total parameters but only 3B active, so it runs at 12-15 tok/s on CPU with 32GB RAM. No GPU needed.
Cloud for complex tasks: Google AI Studio Gemini 2.5 Pro (100 req/day) for the problems your local model cannot handle.
Daily capacity: Unlimited local + 100 cloud requests. Your AI never runs out.
Hardware needed: 32GB RAM minimum. An RTX 3090 or 4090 makes local inference dramatically faster (73-87 tok/s) but is not required.
Setup 3: Terminal Power User
For developers who live in the terminal.
Tool: OpenCode CLI Primary: Google AI Studio Gemini 2.5 Flash Fast iteration: Groq Local fallback: Ollama with Qwen3-Coder-30B-A3B
OpenCode's TUI gives you multi-session support, vim keybindings, and direct file editing - all from the terminal. If you use tmux or similar, you can have an AI coding session running alongside your regular workflow.
Setup 4: Stack All the Free Tiers
The maximize-everything approach. Use every free tier simultaneously:
- Windsurf extension: Unlimited free autocomplete (runs in background)
- Cody extension: 200 chats/month with deep codebase indexing
- Continue.dev: Connected to Groq + Google AI Studio for additional chat
- GitHub Copilot Free: 2,000 completions/month
This gives you autocomplete from two sources, chat from three, and codebase-aware answers from Cody's indexing. Overkill? Maybe. But it is free.
How Long Can You Code for Free Each Day?
Let us do the math for Setup 1 (Maximum Free Cloud):
| Provider | Daily Limit | Requests Used per Hour | Hours of Coding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groq | 1,000 req | ~60-80 (autocomplete) | 12-16 hrs |
| Google AI Studio (Flash) | 250 req | ~20-30 (chat) | 8-12 hrs |
| Google AI Studio (Pro) | 100 req | ~10-15 (complex tasks) | 6-10 hrs |
| OpenRouter | 50 req | ~5-10 (agentic tasks) | 5-10 hrs |
Bottom line: You can comfortably code with AI for 8+ hours before hitting any limits. If you hit the wall on one provider, switch to the next. Most developers will never exhaust all providers in a single day.
What You Lose Compared to Paying $20/Month
Let us be honest about the tradeoffs. Here is what a Cursor Pro or Claude Pro subscription gives you that free setups do not:
| Paid ($20/month) | Best Free Setup | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup complexity | Install and go | 30 min configuring providers and keys |
| Model quality | Claude Sonnet/Opus, GPT-4 | Qwen3-Coder 480B, Gemini 2.5, DeepSeek R1 (comparable) |
| Daily capacity | Effectively unlimited | 1,300+ requests (sufficient for full day) |
| Response speed | Consistently fast | Varies by provider; Groq is fast, OpenRouter can lag |
| Background agents | Yes (Cursor Pro) | No |
| Reliability | SLA-backed | Free tiers can throttle during peak hours |
| Context window | 200K+ consistently | 8K-1M depending on provider |
The quality gap has narrowed dramatically. Free models like Qwen3-Coder 480B genuinely compete with paid proprietary models on coding benchmarks. The main things you lose are convenience (one-click setup vs. multi-provider configuration), reliability (guaranteed capacity vs. free-tier throttling), and background agents (Cursor Pro's killer feature that has no free equivalent).
For most developers, the free setup is good enough. Save the $20/month for when you genuinely need it.
Getting Started in 15 Minutes
Here is the fastest path to a working free setup:
- Install Continue.dev in VS Code from the extension marketplace
- Get a Google AI Studio key at ai.google.dev (no credit card)
- Get a Groq key at console.groq.com (no credit card)
- Configure Continue.dev to use Gemini 2.5 Flash for chat and Groq for autocomplete
- Start coding
That is it. Four steps, 15 minutes, and you have a professional AI coding environment at zero cost. Add more providers, local models, or agentic tools later as you need them.
If you want to go deeper on local models and hardware, our Home GPU LLM Leaderboard has token-per-second benchmarks for every consumer GPU and Apple Silicon chip. For the full list of free providers with every rate limit and quota, see the free inference providers guide.
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