claude-code vs continue
claude-code is much bigger: 152.9k stars against 36.3k. Over the days we have tracked them claude-code moved +10.2% and continue +3.5%, so claude-code is growing faster right now.
claude-code leads on 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
A terminal-first agent that executes routine coding tasks and integrates git workflows, plus @claude GitHub tagging.
- Stars
- 152.9k
- Tracked growth
- +10.2%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 12h ago
- Language
- TypeScript
- License
- none declared
- Cost to run
- Anthropic cloud; see docs
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
- 36.3k
- Tracked growth
- +3.5%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 51m 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 | claude-code | 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. | ●●●●● Diff / file only | ●●●●● Diff only |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● No noise controls | ●●●●● None mentioned |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Plugins & config | ●●●●● Config file |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Cloud service only | ●●●●● Fixed cloud only |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● Anthropic only | ●●●●● Single provider |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● One-command install | ●●●●● Complex deploy |
Which one to pick
Pick claude-code if…
Easy setup — install with one command to get a local, terminal-native coding assistant that helps with git workflows and code explanation.
- Setup ease: One-command install (5/5 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
anthropics/claude-code
Hacker News: Issue: Claude Code is unusable for complex engineering tasks with Feb updates drew 1364 points and 753 comments.
continuedev/continue
Hacker News: Show HN: Continue – Open-source coding autopilot drew 298 points and 103 comments.
Questions people ask
Is claude-code better than continue?
claude-code leads on setup ease. continue does not take any axis by a clear margin. claude-code is worth picking when easy setup — install with one command to get a local, terminal-native coding assistant that helps with git workflows and code explanation.
Which of claude-code and continue keeps my code private?
claude-code: Cloud service only (2/5). continue: Fixed cloud only (1/5).
What does each one cost to run?
claude-code: Anthropic cloud; see docs. continue: Free, open-source.
Full profiles: anthropics/claude-code and continuedev/continue. Everything else in CLI coding agents.