DeepAI Code vs Freebuff: which free coding agent should you use?

DeepAI, best known for its AI image generator and chat site, now has a coding agent. DeepAI Code is a desktop app that reads your project, edits files and runs commands, and it is free because ads pay for it. That is the same deal Freebuff offers, so a lot of people have asked us how the two compare. Here is the straight answer, including the places where DeepAI is ahead.

What DeepAI Code is

DeepAI Code is a desktop app for macOS 13 or later (Apple silicon and Intel) and Windows (x64 and Arm). You open a project, describe a task, and review the diff. It supports separate chats for parallel tasks, git branches and worktrees, and rewinding a chat to undo its changes. You can also connect ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Grok, OpenCode or Antigravity so their models show up in the same picker, according to DeepAI’s product page.

It first appeared on DeepAI’s pricing page in early October 2026 as a Mac-only app, with Windows builds following in November. You need a DeepAI account to use it, and DeepAI’s docs say the app is for accounts signed in with Google or Apple, or Pro accounts with a verified email.

Models come in two groups. Nine "unmetered" models, such as GLM 5.3 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-6 Luna, cost no Theos. Nine frontier models, including GPT-6.1 Sol, Gemini 4 Argon, Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Fable 5.1, are paid from Theos: up to 200 a day on a free account, plus 200 more with DeepAI Pro ($9.99 a month or $89.99 a year).

What Freebuff is

Freebuff is a free coding agent funded by ads, with no card, credits or API key needed to start. The same agent runs everywhere you code:

• In your terminal: npm install -g freebuff, then run freebuff in any project. Works next to any editor, over SSH, and in tmux. See the Freebuff CLI.
• On your desktop: Freebuff Desktop for macOS, Windows and Linux (.deb and AppImage), with one agent per tab, isolated git worktrees, and tabs that can also run your local Claude Code or Codex.
• In the browser: Freebuff Web builds full-stack apps from a prompt and hosts them for you.
• On GitHub: Freebuff Cloud runs agents against your repositories and opens pull requests.

DeepAI Code vs Freebuff at a glance

Usage: Theos vs hours

This is the biggest practical difference, and it matters more for coding than for chat. An agent working on a real task makes many model calls: it reads files, runs tests, fixes what broke, and runs them again.

DeepAI charges frontier models per request, based on tokens. Its own estimates put a typical request at about 3 Theos on GLM 5.3, 10 on GPT-6.1 Sol, 15 on Claude Opus 5.5, 25 on Claude Fable 5.1 and 50 on GPT-6 Astra, and it notes that longer tasks use more. With 200 Theos a day, that is roughly 13 typical Opus requests, 8 on Fable or 4 on Astra before you are back on the unmetered models.

Freebuff meters time. A session lasts an hour with unlimited messages, so a long agent loop costs the same as a short one. Each model shows a multiplier, and the daily allowance depends on your country: up to 30 free hours a day in the US, 21 in countries like Canada, the UK and Germany, and 12 in France, Spain, Italy and a few others. Outside those countries it is 5. New accounts in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and several other countries start on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, which does not draw down hours at all. We wrote up the math in DeepAI Theos vs Freebuff hours.

The agent around the model

A model is only part of a coding agent. The other part is the harness: how it finds the right files, checks its own work and keeps context on a big repo. DeepAI’s page describes the basics: it reads files, makes edits, runs commands and shows you the diff.

Freebuff is built around 9 specialized subagents. The file-picker finds relevant files across your codebase before the main agent edits anything. The code-reviewer critiques changes before you see them. Browser-use drives a real browser to test the app it just changed. The thinker handles deep reasoning. For bigger jobs, /interview, /plan and /review take you from an idea to reviewed code, and every response ends with three suggested next steps. Read more in our subagents deep dive.

Where they run

DeepAI Code is a desktop app for Mac and Windows. There is no Linux build, no command-line version and no web version, and one of the most recent posts on DeepAI’s own feedback board simply asks for a Linux client.

Freebuff runs on Linux as a desktop app and in any terminal, which also covers remote machines, containers and servers you reach over SSH. If you would rather not install anything, Freebuff Web runs in the browser. More in the best DeepAI Code alternative for Linux, the terminal and the browser.

Privacy: read both policies

Both apps send your prompts and the relevant parts of your code to AI models, and both are paid for by ads. The policies differ on what happens next.

DeepAI’s privacy policy (updated April 2026) covers its website and apps. It does not name DeepAI Code separately. It says DeepAI uses information to train its own AI models, may license information to third parties for purposes that include training AI models, and uses some user content to make ads more relevant. Its state-privacy section adds: "We also sell Identifiers and User Content to Other Third Parties." You can opt out of training, licensing and sales.

Freebuff’s privacy policy says Freebuff does not use your prompts and project data to train its own or third-party AI models, unless a model or feature is labeled "May use data for AI training" before you use it. The exception is the models that choose and measure ads. Freebuff may use prompts to personalize the ads it shows, but it does not give separately uploaded files, project files or connected repositories to advertising providers.

When DeepAI Code is the better pick

• You want a handful of free frontier-model requests a day, such as Claude Opus 5.5 or GPT-6.1 Sol, and the unmetered fast models for everything else.
• You only want a desktop app on a Mac or Windows PC, and you already have a DeepAI account.

When Freebuff is the better pick

• You code on Linux, over SSH, or in a terminal. DeepAI Code has neither a Linux build nor a CLI.
• Your tasks are long. An hour-long session with unlimited messages does not get more expensive as the agent iterates.
• You want to ship apps, not just edit code. Freebuff Web builds and hosts full-stack apps, and Freebuff Cloud works on your GitHub repos.
• You care what happens to your code. Freebuff does not train AI on your prompts unless a model is labeled for it.
• You want to see the source. The Freebuff CLI and SDK are open source.