aider vs continue
The two are close in size: 48.8k stars for aider, 35.8k for continue. Over the days we have tracked them aider moved +2.8% and continue +6.8%, so continue is growing faster right now.
aider leads on context depth and noise control and privacy and model freedom and setup ease. continue does not take any axis by a clear margin.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
Provides a terminal-first, whole-repo map and git-integrated workflow enabling surgical, repo-wide AI edits while supporting both cloud and local models.
- Stars
- 48.8k
- Tracked growth
- +2.8%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 105d ago
- Language
- Python
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Your API key for cloud models; local models possible
An open-source, community-built coding agent provided as a CLI and editor plugins (VS Code and JetBrains), aiming to be a reference implementation for developer tooling.
- Stars
- 35.8k
- Tracked growth
- +6.8%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 13h ago
- Language
- TypeScript
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Free, open-source
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | aider | continue |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● Whole-repo analysis | ●●●●● Diff only |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● Basic filters & git review | ●●●●● None mentioned |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Config file options | ●●●●● Config file |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Local-first | ●●●●● Fixed cloud only |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● Any provider / local | ●●●●● Single provider |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● Easy install script | ●●●●● Complex deploy |
Which one to pick
Pick aider if…
Whole-repo mapping — pick Aider when you want a terminal-focused, git-native assistant that understands your entire codebase and can run with local models.
- Context depth: Whole-repo analysis (5/5 against 1/5)
- Noise control: Basic filters & git review (3/5 against 1/5)
- Privacy: Local-first (5/5 against 1/5)
- Model freedom: Any provider / local (5/5 against 1/5)
- Setup ease: Easy install script (4/5 against 1/5)
Pick continue if…
Open-source — choose Continue when you want an openly licensed, community-maintained coding agent available as a CLI and editor integrations that you can inspect and extend.
What people want from each one
Aider-AI/aider
Hacker News: Aider: AI pair programming in your terminal drew 432 points and 156 comments.
continuedev/continue
Hacker News: Show HN: Continue – Open-source coding autopilot drew 298 points and 103 comments.
Questions people ask
Is aider better than continue?
aider leads on context depth and noise control and privacy and model freedom and setup ease. continue does not take any axis by a clear margin. aider is worth picking when whole-repo mapping — pick Aider when you want a terminal-focused, git-native assistant that understands your entire codebase and can run with local models.
Which of aider and continue keeps my code private?
aider: Local-first (5/5). continue: Fixed cloud only (1/5).
What does each one cost to run?
aider: Your API key for cloud models; local models possible. continue: Free, open-source.
Full profiles: Aider-AI/aider and continuedev/continue. Everything else in CLI coding agents.