Vibeleaderboard

What are the best AI coding agents?

The differences that matter in practice are how the agent gathers context across a repository, whether it can run and verify its own work, and how much it costs to run for an hour — not benchmark scores.

Surveyed 10 August 2026

Code with an agent

Open in Tools →
No.Tool
  1. 01
    Claude Code

    Anthropic's agentic coding harness — the harness developers use to build and run autonomous coding agents from the terminal. It also works as an AI coding assistant that understands your entire codebase, executing routine tasks, explaining complex code, and handling git workflows through natural language.

    Developer Tools
  2. 02
    Codex CLI

    A coding agent from OpenAI that runs locally in your terminal, providing AI-powered assistance for development tasks. Works with ChatGPT plans or API keys and offers multiple deployment options including IDE integration and desktop app.

    AI Agents
  3. 03
    Cline

    Cline is an autonomous coding agent for your IDE that can create and edit files, run terminal commands, and drive the browser — asking permission at each step. It works with a wide range of API and local model providers.

    Developer Tools
  4. 04
    goose

    An open-source AI agent that runs locally and automates complex development tasks from start to finish. Beyond code suggestions, it can build entire projects, write and execute code, debug issues, and interact with external APIs autonomously.

    Developer Tools
  5. 05
    Cursor

    AI-powered code editor built on VS Code — the vibecoding cockpit with inline AI, chat, and agent mode

    Developer Tools
  6. 06
    Aider

    AI pair-programming in your terminal. Edits files, makes commits, works with any LLM.

    Developer Tools
  7. 07
    OpenCode

    An open source AI coding agent that helps developers write code directly in their terminal, IDE, or desktop app. Supports 75+ LLM providers including Claude, GPT, and Gemini, with privacy-first design that doesn't store your code.

    AI Agents
  8. 08
    Gemini CLI

    Google's open-source terminal agent. Open-source command-line agent for Gemini models. Generous free tier with a personal Google account, or pay-per-token via the API.

    Developer Tools
  9. 09
    OpenHands

    Open-source software-dev agent. Open-source autonomous developer agent (formerly OpenDevin). Self-host for free, or use the hosted cloud with usage billing.

    Developer Tools
  10. 10
    Devin

    Autonomous software engineer. Cognition's autonomous coding agent that plans and executes tasks end-to-end. Core plan plus usage; Team and Enterprise tiers above.

    Developer Tools
  11. 11
    Amp

    Agentic coding tool. Sourcegraph's agentic coding tool for the terminal and editor. Usage-based, pay for what you run.

    Developer Tools
  12. 12
    Devin Desktop

    AI IDE by Codeium with agentic coding flows and deep codebase understanding

    Developer Tools

Ordered by the VibeLeaderboard index, re-surveyed each edition. Something missing?

What to look for

  • 01Can it run tests and read the output? An agent that cannot verify its work hands you unreviewed guesses.
  • 02How does it find context — search, indexing, or whatever you pasted? This dominates quality on large repositories.
  • 03What does an hour cost, and can you cap it? Per-token pricing on a long autonomous run is easy to misjudge.

Common questions

Do benchmark scores predict which coding agent is better?
Weakly. SWE-bench measures resolving isolated GitHub issues in known repositories, which is not the same task as working in your unfamiliar codebase against your conventions.
Should I use a terminal agent or an editor extension?
Terminal agents suit long autonomous runs and multi-file changes; editor integrations suit tight edit-and-review loops. Most people end up using both for different kinds of work.

Head-to-head

More in Work with agents