While tools like GitHub Copilot and Amazon CodeWhisperer have gained mainstream attention, they often come with subscription costs. Fortunately, the open-source and free software communities have stepped up, offering powerful AI-based coding assistants at zero cost.
In this blog, we’ll explore the best free AI coding tools available in 2025, their key features, and how they can supercharge your productivity—without burning a hole in your pocket.
Why Use Free AI Coding Tools?
Before diving into the list, here’s why you should consider using free AI tools:
- No Cost: Ideal for students, indie developers, or startups with tight budgets.
- Transparency: Many free tools are open source, so you can inspect and even modify the code.
- Privacy: Some allow local installation, so your code never leaves your system.
- Community-Driven: Updates and features often come from active developer communities.
- Efficiency Boost: Even without premium pricing, many free tools offer advanced autocompletion, bug detection, and test generation features.
1. Continue.dev
Platform: VS Code extension
Language Support: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, and more
Local or Cloud: Local-first, but can connect to external LLMs (GPT, Claude, etc.)
What it does: Continue.dev brings AI-powered autocomplete and inline code assistance right into VS Code. It works similarly to GitHub Copilot but is open source and supports integration with various AI models (local or API-based).
Why it’s great:
- Open source and customizable
- Supports both online and offline models
- Lightweight and developer-friendly
- Keploy
Platform: CLI + Dev environment
Primary Use: Automated test generation using real-time API traffic
Local or Cloud: Runs locally
What it does: Keploy is an AI-powered open source tool that automatically generates unit and integration tests from real user API calls. It mocks dependencies and simplifies the often-tedious testing process.
Why it’s great:
- Saves hours of writing tests manually
- Works with Node.js, Go, Java, and more
- Helps achieve 70–80% test coverage effortlessly
Keploy stands out by turning observability data into high-quality, deterministic tests that can be re-run any time you make changes. For backend developers, it’s one of the best ways to bring AI into testing for free.
???? https://keploy.io
3. Tabby
Platform: VS Code, JetBrains, self-hosted server
Language Support: JavaScript, Python, Go, Java, and more
Local or Cloud: Self-hosted, local
What it does: Tabby is a self-hosted alternative to Copilot, offering real-time code suggestions. You can run it on your machine or deploy it on a private server, making it ideal for teams that prioritize privacy.
Why it’s great:
- Fully local, no data leaves your system
- Lightweight and fast
- Active open source development
4. CodeGeeX
Platform: Browser, VS Code extension
Language Support: Python, C++, Java, and more
Local or Cloud: Cloud
What it does: CodeGeeX is a large multilingual code generation model developed by Tsinghua University. It supports a wide variety of languages and provides intelligent code completions.
Why it’s great:
- Multilingual support
- Free API access with generous limits
- Good for both beginners and experienced devs
- Cursor (Free Plan)
Platform: Cursor Editor (VS Code fork)
Language Support: All major languages
Local or Cloud: Cloud (uses OpenAI or other models)
What it does: Cursor is an AI-native code editor that provides deep integration with LLMs. While it has premium plans, its free tier gives you access to powerful autocomplete and “ask AI” features in a Copilot-style experience.
Why it’s great:
- Smooth UI and UX
- Fast and smart code navigation with AI
- Frequent updates and growing community
6. Codeium
Platform: Browser, VS Code, JetBrains
Language Support: 40+ languages
Local or Cloud: Cloud (with local extension support)
What it does: Codeium is a free AI code assistant focused on performance and compatibility. It offers code completion, search, and context-aware suggestions across a wide variety of editors.
Why it’s great:
- Free for individuals, no hidden charges
- Supports almost every popular IDE
- Surprisingly fast and accurate
Final Thoughts
The rise of AI has transformed the way developers write, test, and ship code. But you don’t need a corporate budget to access its benefits. Whether you want to automate your testing with Keploy, get Copilot-like suggestions using Tabby or Continue.dev, or explore multilingual coding with CodeGeeX, there’s a free AI tool for you.
These tools prove that AI doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. The open source and free software communities are democratizing development—and now’s the best time to take advantage.
So go ahead—try one (or all) of these best free AI tools and level up your coding game.
Read more on https://keploy.io/blog/community/best-free-ai-code-generators