Continue — An open-source AI coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, and the terminal that connects to any LLM, now archived after Cursor acquired the company behind it.
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Best for: developers who want a model-agnostic AI coding agent without vendor lock-in and are comfortable using a project with no active company behind it
Pricing: Free and open source under Apache 2.0; no paid tiers and no usage limits.
- Continue is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, distributed via the VS Code Marketplace, the JetBrains Marketplace, and npm.
- Continue Dev, Inc. was acquired by Cursor, and the GitHub repository (35,600 stars) is now archived as read-only after a final 2.0.0 release.
- Continue supports any LLM provider, including locally hosted models, rather than locking users into one vendor.
- Continue ships as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, and a standalone CLI (@continuedev/cli).
Limitations: No longer actively developed; the GitHub repo is archived read-only after Cursor's acquisition.; Requires manual LLM provider and API key setup instead of working out of the box.; The JetBrains plugin is now a secondary priority behind the CLI.
Top alternatives: GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Cline, Aider, Tabnine — full list
What is Continue?
Continue is an open-source AI coding agent that developers install as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, or a standalone command-line tool. Unlike IDE-bundled assistants that lock users into one model provider, Continue routes requests to any LLM the developer configures — OpenAI, Anthropic, or a locally hosted model — and keeps configuration in version-controlled files rather than a vendor dashboard.
The project shipped its final 2.0.0 release focused on removing anonymous telemetry and pulling out hosted authentication, then the GitHub repository (35,600 stars, Apache 2.0 license) was archived as read-only after Continue Dev, Inc. was acquired by Cursor. The code remains free to clone, fork, and run indefinitely, and installs are still available through the VS Code Marketplace, the JetBrains Marketplace, and npm (@continuedev/cli), but there is no company shipping new features or fixing new bugs going forward.
Continue is an open-source AI coding agent available as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, and a standalone CLI, built to let developers wire in any large language model — including locally hosted models — rather than being locked into one vendor's built-in assistant. It has no pricing tiers at all: the full codebase ships under the Apache 2.0 license and installs directly from the VS Code Marketplace, the JetBrains Marketplace, or npm. Continue Dev, Inc., the company that built it, was acquired by Cursor, and its GitHub repository shipped a final 2.0.0 release — removing telemetry and hosted authentication — before being archived as read-only. The 35,600-star codebase remains free to fork and self-maintain, but prospective users should know the original team is no longer actively developing it.
Standout feature: Model-agnostic architecture: developers configure any LLM provider or a self-hosted model instead of being locked into one vendor's built-in assistant, with configuration stored in version-controlled files.
Biggest weakness: The project is no longer actively developed: Continue Dev, Inc. was acquired by Cursor and the GitHub repository was archived as read-only after a final 2.0.0 release, so there is no company fixing new bugs, adding model support, or responding to issues going forward.
Pros
- Free and open source under Apache 2.0 with no pricing tiers or usage limits.
- Works with any LLM provider, including locally hosted models, avoiding vendor lock-in.
- Available as a VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, and standalone CLI, covering multiple workflows.
- Configuration lives in version-controlled files rather than a vendor dashboard.
Cons
- Archived as read-only on GitHub after Cursor's acquisition, so no new features or bug fixes are shipping from the original team.
- Requires manually configuring an LLM provider and API key before it does anything, unlike bundled assistants that work out of the box.
- The JetBrains plugin is now a secondary priority; the project recommends the CLI instead.
Continue pricing
Free · verified from the vendor's pricing page
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | Free | Free forever under Apache 2.0; no paid tier, subscription, or usage limits. Distributed via the VS Code Marketplace, the JetBrains Marketplace, and npm (@continuedev/cli). |
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