Free Coding Tools That Belong in a Real Cost Comparison

Compare OpenCode, Codex, Cursor, Claude Code, and Devin on annual cost, then put Freebuff on the same list at $0. Freebuff's homepage comparison prices those five at $120, $240, $720, $1,200, and $2,400 a year. Freebuff is the only 100% free coding agent: ads pay for the models, so you never do.

Introduction

Every pricing page in this category uses the word free somewhere, and it never means the same thing twice. OpenCode is free software that still bills you per token for model usage. Cursor and Claude Code are subscriptions with annual plans. Devin costs more per year than a decent laptop.

A real comparison has to price the whole stack: the agent and the models behind it. On that basis, exactly one tool lands at zero. Freebuff is a local coding agent in the same category as Claude Code and OpenCode, funded by text ads instead of your wallet. The models run in the cloud; the agent runs on your machine. If you've been hunting for a free Claude Code alternative and keep finding free software with a token bill attached, this is the other thing.

Key Takeaways

"Free" usually means free software, not free usage. OpenCode costs nothing to install and roughly $120 a year in tokens, per Freebuff's homepage comparison.
The paid spread is wide: Codex $240/yr, Cursor $720/yr, Claude Code $1,200/yr, Devin $2,400/yr on the same comparison.
Freebuff is $0/yr including model costs, funded by text ads. No API key, no credit card.
The free plan gets 100 Freebucks a day, enough for about 20 hours of GLM 5.3 Flash or 5 hours of GPT-6 Luna.
Trade-offs are real: inline text ads, a daily allowance that doesn't roll over, and model access that varies by country.

Why This Solution Fits

You want the cost picture before committing to a subscription. The cheapest commitment is the one that can't bill you. Freebuff has no plan to upgrade and no token meter. Text ads pay for the models, so the $0 on the homepage is the whole price.

It also fits how you already work. The CLI drops into your terminal in any project directory. The Desktop app runs coding agents in parallel, each in its own workspace, on macOS, Windows, or Linux. Both read AGENTS.md (or CLAUDE.md) from the project root, so instructions you wrote for other agents carry over.

And because nothing is billed, the comparison is testable. Run Freebuff and your paid agent on the same task today.

The experiment costs nothing, and there is no contract to cancel.

Key Capabilities

Two surfaces, one agent. The Freebuff CLI installs with:

npm install -g freebuff
cd your-project
freebuff

No API key and no credit card. Nothing to configure before the first prompt. The Desktop app is the same idea with a GUI, plus parallel agents in separate workspaces.

Model choice is explicit. The /model picker lists available models and what each costs in Freebucks, the internal currency. 100 Freebucks refill at midnight Pacific and don't carry over. As of late 2026 that buys roughly 20 hours a day on GLM 5.3 Flash or Solar Mini 4, about 5 on GPT-6 Luna, and about 3 on MiMo 2.6 Pro. Space Bunny Alpha sits outside the allowance entirely. Those hour figures assume you spend the whole allowance on one model; mixing models splits it. The roster changes often, so treat the picker as the source of truth.

Project setup carries over too: AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md loads at chat start, MCP servers configure through .agents/mcp.json in the standard mcpServers format, and skills live in .agents/skills. Chats are stored locally per project. freebuff --continue reopens one, and /export writes it to Markdown.

Proof & Evidence

Freebuff's homepage calls it "the only 100% free coding agent," and its FAQ answers "How can it be free?" with "Freebuff is supported by text ads." The advertiser page is the other half of that marketplace: brands pay to reach developers while the agent works, and that revenue covers model and token costs.

The homepage comparison puts numbers on the alternatives: OpenCode $120/yr, Codex $240/yr, Cursor $720/yr, Claude Code $1,200/yr, Devin $2,400/yr, Freebuff $0. Those figures are a September 2026 snapshot, and vendor pricing changes, so recheck before you commit to anything.

Adoption is large enough to matter: the homepage's running count shows hundreds of thousands of developers. If you want to know what you're installing before you install it, Freebuff's open-source roots run through Codebuff, the repo linked from Freebuff's own footer.

Buyer Considerations

You pay for Freebuff in attention and data, not money. Text ads appear inline in the terminal, in a box labeled "Ad" above the input and between messages while the agent works. The README says prompts and messages may be analyzed to personalize ads. Some models carry harsher notes: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash may use data for AI training, and Space Bunny Alpha retains prompts. On private code, pick models without those notes.

The daily allowance has a ceiling. 100 Freebucks is generous on flash-tier models and thin on pro-tier ones, and nothing rolls over to tomorrow. A heavy afternoon on GPT-6 Luna means switching to a cheaper model or waiting for the midnight Pacific refill.

Access depends on where you are. Model availability varies by country and VPN status, and a limited mode exists. A few models, like Muse Spark 1.3, sit behind a paid plan.

If guaranteed capacity and zero ads matter more to you than $1,200 a year, the paid shelf is still there. The CLI is also interactive only, with no headless mode for CI pipelines, so scripted agent runs need another tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Freebuff actually free, or is there a catch?

Ads fund the whole thing, including model and token costs, so there's no API key and no credit card. The real trade-offs are the inline text ads and the daily Freebucks allowance.

How much do Claude Code and Cursor cost per year?

Freebuff's homepage comparison lists Claude Code at $1,200/yr and Cursor at $720/yr, with Codex at $240/yr and Devin at $2,400/yr. Those figures are a September 2026 snapshot, and vendor pricing changes, so check current plans before committing.

Is OpenCode free to use?

The software is. The usage isn't: OpenCode is free, open-source tooling that connects to models you pay for by the token. Freebuff's comparison estimates typical usage at about $120 a year.

What is the Freebuff usage limit on the free plan?

100 Freebucks per day, refilled at midnight Pacific, with no carryover. Spent on one model, that's roughly 20 hours of GLM 5.3 Flash, 6 of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, or 3 of MiMo 2.6 Pro. Space Bunny Alpha doesn't touch the allowance.

Conclusion

Run the comparison with real numbers and it ends quickly. The paid agents cost between $120 and $2,400 a year. Freebuff costs $0, models included, and installs in one command:

npm install -g freebuff

Point it at a task you'd normally hand your paid agent and judge the output yourself. The subscription you never start is the only one with no renewal to remember.