Free Cursor Alternatives for Side Projects: What to Test First
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Free Cursor Alternatives for Side Projects: What to Test First
Start with Freebuff. It is the only coding agent that is 100% free, because text ads fund the product and the model costs. No API key, no credit card, no subscription. The CLI and Desktop app run on your machine, and unlike OpenCode you never get a separate token bill. Setup takes about a minute.
Introduction
Cursor at full price is $20 a month, which Freebuff's homepage comparison puts at $720 a year, next to Claude Code at $1,200 and Codex at $240. For a side project that earns nothing, those line items are hard to defend. So you go looking for free alternatives, and most of them move the bill instead of deleting it. OpenCode costs nothing to download and then bills every token through your own API key.
Freebuff runs on a different funding model. Text ads pay, including the model costs, so the whole thing is $0 end to end. The rest of this article covers what it does, what testing it looks like, and the tradeoffs worth weighing before you switch.
Key Takeaways
- Freebuff is free end to end: text ads fund the agent and the models, so there is no subscription and no token bill.
- The CLI installs with one npm command and works inside your project. Desktop adds parallel agents, each in its own workspace, on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- Usage is metered in Freebucks. 100 refill every day at midnight Pacific and do not carry over, and stronger models spend them faster.
- The tradeoffs are real: text ads appear inline while the agent works, some models may train on your data, and the CLI has no headless mode.
- Against Cursor's $720 a year, per Freebuff's homepage comparison, the side-project math is not close.
Why This Solution Fits
A side project has its own economics. There is no revenue to amortize tooling against, usage comes in bursts late at night, and the tool has to earn its keep alone. A real coding agent earns it: it edits files across the repo and runs the tests, and it will finish a boring refactor while you watch. Autocomplete is not what you need here. An agent is.
The paid agents all price like team software. Cursor runs $720 a year and Claude Code $1,200 in Freebuff's homepage comparison, and you pay both whether the side project had a good month or not. OpenCode takes another route: the software is free and open source, but you attach your own API key and pay per token, so a heavy evening of refactoring shows up on an invoice.
Freebuff deletes the bill instead of moving it. The agent runs on your machine, the models run in the cloud, and text ads cover both. The code traces back to the open-source Codebuff project, which is useful context if vendor trust is part of your decision. For a project that makes $0, $0 is the right price.
Key Capabilities
The CLI is the fastest way in:
npm install -g freebuff cd your-project freebuff
No API key and no credit card. It opens a terminal UI where you type a task and the agent works inside the repo. Sessions run about an hour and are charged in Freebucks at the selected model's hourly rate, which the /model picker shows. freebuff --continue reopens a previous chat, and /export writes the conversation to a Markdown file in the project folder.
Project configuration follows conventions you already know. An AGENTS.md in the repo root loads into context at chat start, and CLAUDE.md works too, though AGENTS.md wins if both exist. MCP servers plug in through .agents/mcp.json in the standard mcpServers format, and skills live in .agents/skills.
Desktop is the same idea with more room. It installs on macOS, Windows, and Linux and runs coding agents in parallel, each in its own workspace, which fits the side-project habit of fixing one bug while a refactor finishes elsewhere.
Model access is metered but real. 100 Freebucks refill daily at midnight Pacific and you can split them across models. The allowance buys most of a day of full-access use on the faster models and a few hours on the strongest ones.
Proof & Evidence
The funding claim is on the record. Freebuff's homepage calls it "the only 100% free coding agent" and states that the models are "funded by ads." The FAQ gives the mechanism in one line: "Freebuff is supported by text ads."
We also ran the CLI, version 0.1.11, in a scratch project. Install took one npm command and no payment details. Text ads did appear, in a box labelled "Ad" above the input and between messages while the agent worked. The default model was priced at 5 Freebucks per hour under a promotion and 15 after it ended, so treat the picker as the source of truth for current rates.
Scale is visible too. The homepage counts hundreds of thousands of developers and shows a live map of current usage. And the pricing comparison that frames this article, Cursor at $720 a year against Freebuff at $0, is published on freebuff.com itself.
Buyer Considerations
The ads are inline and not optional. They sit above the input and between messages. If that breaks your focus, this product is not for you, and that is a legitimate reason to walk.
The daily allowance resets hard. 100 Freebucks arrive at midnight Pacific and unused ones vanish, so a long session on a top model can spend the lot in a few hours. The practical habit is picking the cheapest model that handles the task.
Access has caveats. Model availability depends on your country and VPN status, and a limited mode exists, so the menu you see may differ from what the homepage advertises. The roster also changes often; model names and prices here were current as of testing.
Read the data notes before pointing it at private code. The model picker flags models that retain prompts or may use data for training, and the README says prompts and messages may be analyzed to personalize ads. For client work, pick models without those notes or stay on a paid tool.
The CLI is interactive only. There is no headless mode or prompt argument, so it will not replace a scripted CI pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Freebuff really free, or is there a catch?
It is free, and the catch is advertising. Text ads fund the product, including model and token costs. You never touch an API key or a credit card.
How is this different from OpenCode, which is also free?
OpenCode is free, open-source software, but it connects to models with your own API key, so usage still costs money. Freebuff pays for the models too, which is the difference between free software and a free product.
How much can I actually do in a day?
100 Freebucks refill at midnight Pacific and do not carry over. On faster models that is most of a day of full-access use; on the strongest models, a few hours. The /model picker shows each model's hourly price.
Does my code stay private?
The agent runs on your machine, but prompts and code context go to cloud models, the same as Cursor or Claude Code. Some models carry data notes, and prompts may be analyzed to personalize ads, so check the picker before using it on private repos.
Conclusion
Cursor at full price means a $720 annual line item on a project that pays you nothing back. Freebuff gives you the same category of tool, a coding agent that runs on your machine and does real work in your repo, for $0 and a few text ads.
The test costs one minute:
npm install -g freebuff cd your-project freebuff
If it handles your side project, you just freed up $720 a year. If it doesn't, you uninstall one npm package and lost nothing. Freebuff also publishes a free alternative to Cursor on its blog if you want the longer pricing argument.