Aider
Verified Oct 16, 2026 ActiveOpen-source terminal pair programmer that edits a git repository with the model you choose and commits each change.
Listed on EffectHub ·
Pricing
- Pricing model
- 100% Free
Free and open source under Apache-2.0 with no hosted plan; the only cost is API tokens billed by the model provider you connect, which on large repositories is the real line item.
Use tool ↗About Aider
Aider is a command-line coding agent that edits files in a local git repository from a chat prompt, running linters and tests after each change and committing with a generated message so every step can be diffed or undone with ordinary git. It builds a map of the whole codebase to give the model context on larger projects, accepts images and web pages as context, takes voice input and works from inside an editor by reading comments left in code. It connects to Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Gemini and local models through your own API keys, and installs with pip on macOS, Linux and Windows. The project is Apache-2.0 licensed, maintained by Paul Gauthier under the Aider-AI organisation, and has no paid plan: the running cost is whatever your model provider charges for tokens.
- API
- Not confirmed
- Last verified
- Oct 16, 2026
Verified sources
- 'AI pair programming in your terminal'; maps the whole codebase, 100+ languages, auto-commits with descriptive messages, runs linters and tests after each change, accepts images, web pages and voice; installs via pip; works with Claude, DeepSeek, OpenAI and local models; shows 44K GitHub stars, 6.8M PyPI installs and 15B tokens/week; no pricing anywhere on the site (15 October 2026)aider.chat ↗
- Repository under the Aider-AI organisation, Apache-2.0 license, 49.6k stars, 13,138 commits (15 October 2026)github.com ↗
- PyPI package aider-chat: latest 0.86.2 released 12 February 2026, Apache Software License, maintainer paul-gauthier; earliest release 0.5.0 on 8 June 2023 (15 October 2026)pypi.org ↗
Is Aider legit?
We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.
- Domain registered
- May 15, 2023 (3 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar Squarespace Domains II LLC, looked up Sep 11, 2026
- TLS certificate
- Issued by Let's Encrypt, valid until Nov 25, 2026Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 16, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 16, 2026The site answered
- On the market since
- 2023The vendor's own material, read by us
- Operated by
- Aider-AIOur research, card verified Oct 15, 2026
Pros & cons of Aider
Aider is the pick when you want a coding agent that respects your repository: every edit is a git commit, the model is whichever provider you hold a key for, and nothing leaves your machine except the prompts. It suits developers comfortable in a terminal who would rather own the loop than rent a hosted agent; people who want an IDE experience, or a vendor to call, will find it austere, and the release cadence has slowed since early 2026.
Pros
- Apache-2.0 and free; the code, the prompts and the edit format are all inspectable
- Git-native: automatic commits per change, easy diff and undo with standard tools
- Provider-agnostic — Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Gemini or a local model through one flag
- Repository map plus lint-and-test after each edit keeps changes grounded on big codebases
- Large install base: 49.6k GitHub stars and 6.8M PyPI installs as of this check
Cons
- Last PyPI release was 0.86.2 in February 2026, and the homepage still recommends Claude 3.7 Sonnet and o1 — the model advice is stale
- Terminal-only chat; no built-in editor UI, so reviewing a multi-file change means reading diffs
- Token spend is yours to watch: the repo map and whole-file edit formats can be expensive on frontier models
- Single primary maintainer and no commercial entity behind it
Best for
- Developers who want model choice and bring-your-own-key billing rather than a bundled subscription
- Teams that need every AI edit to arrive as a reviewable git commit
- Working on large existing repositories where the repo map keeps the model oriented
Not for
- Anyone who wants a graphical editor with inline suggestions rather than a chat in a terminal
- Organisations that need a vendor contract, support desk or audit tooling around the agent
Watch out: Frontier-model tokens are the hidden bill — Aider itself is free, but a long session on a big repository with a premium model can cost more per day than a hosted agent's subscription, and no release has shipped since February 2026.
Alternatives to Aider
Amazon Q Developer69AWS's coding and operations assistant for IDEs, the terminal and the console, with its IDE plugins now on an end-of-support clock.Not rated yetFrom $19/seat/moAider head-to-head
Side-by-side fact sheets against the competitors our research or their makers name — pricing, platforms, API and both verdicts on one page.
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