Alternatives to Amp
Sourcegraph's agentic coding tool with deep code-search-based codebase context
Amp ranks #8 of 11 in AI coding assistants, with an Alt Score of 64. It is proprietary, freemium from $20/mo and available on macOS, Linux, Windows and Web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Amp is Sourcegraph's coding agent, rebranded from Cody in 2026 after Sourcegraph discontinued Cody's individual/Pro plans in favor of an enterprise-only Cody. It runs as a plugin inside VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf, plus a standalone CLI, and uses Sourcegraph's code-search/indexing engine for precise, navigable codebase awareness across large monorepos. It has a free tier (Amp Tab autocomplete plus an uncapped core agent) and a paid Smart Mode tier that guarantees zero data sharing/training.
Developers who work primarily from a terminal or from editors including VS Code (and forks like Cursor/Windsurf), JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, and Zed, and want an agentic coding assistant rather than an inline autocomplete tool. Individuals can use it pay-as-you-go or on a monthly subscription, and teams/organizations can adopt Amp Enterprise for SSO, audit logging, and zero data retention.
A CLI (with IDE integrations for VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and Zed) that runs an agent in one of four modes (low/medium/high/ultra) across multiple frontier models (GPT-5.6, Claude Fable 5, GLM-5.2, and others), plus specialized subagents (Oracle for second-opinion reasoning, Librarian for large-scale code search, Painter for image generation, and a code-review subagent), MCP tool support, AGENTS.md-based project guidance, and threads that can be saved and shared via a web feed at ampcode.com.
After installing the Amp CLI and connecting it to an editor, prompts are sent along with local context (open file/selection, AGENTS.md guidance, @-mentioned files) to the Amp Server, which proxies inference to LLM providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, and others) and returns responses that the client applies as file edits through the IDE, with full undo support. Usage is billed either through a monthly subscription with included agent/orb usage or through pay-as-you-go credits charged at underlying API prices, with an additional Enterprise tier adding SSO, zero data retention, and admin controls.
Why people leave Amp
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Tabby (TabbyML) is an open-source AI coding assistant built to run entirely on a team's own infrastructure, serving code completion and chat from locally hosted or self-hosted open-weight models with.
Cline is an open-source AI agent that plugs into VS Code and JetBrains, giving models full terminal access, file editing, and browser automation via Playwright under a human-in-the-loop Plan/Act workf.
Kilo (formerly branded Kilo Code) is an open-source AI coding agent combining features from Cline and Roo Code into one platform, running as a VS Code/JetBrains plugin, a CLI, and a cloud agent.
Aider is an open-source (Apache-2.0) command-line AI coding assistant created by Paul Gauthier that treats git as the system of record, generating a commit for every accepted change.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the AI coding assistants checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| AI coding assistants checklist | Amp | Tabby | Cline | Amazon Q Developer | GitHub Copilot | Kilo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Editor integrations | ||||||
| Autocomplete | ||||||
| Chat with codebase context | ||||||
| Agentic edits | ||||||
| Local model support | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Free tier limits | ||||||
| Privacy: code retention policy | ||||||
| Terminal / CLI use | ||||||
| Multi-file refactors |
Every fact and feature listed for Amp is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-30
Also has a limited no-subscription free daily usage grant ('Amp Free', $10/day) documented at /news/amp-free-is-ad-free, though that grant is being reduced for some users as of a 2026-05-23 update.
Amp Subscription ... Megawatt $20/month ... Pay-as-you-go Usage-based pricing All product features
https://ampcode.com/pricing -
Platforms macOS, Linux, Windows, Web verified 2026-07-30
Also usable via the web at ampcode.com (remote-controlled threads, thread feed); manual states "To use the Amp CLI locally or remote-controlled via the web: install the Amp CLI and run amp."
Amp supports macOS, Linux, and Windows via WSL.
https://ampcode.com/manual -
Status active verified 2026-07-30
Live usage chart and model roster (GPT-5.6, Claude Fable 5, GLM-5.2) current through 2026-07-30, the date of this research.
Which modes are people using in Amp? ... JUL 21 JUL 22 JUL 23 JUL 24 JUL 25 JUL 26 JUL 27 JUL 28 JUL 29 JUL 30
https://ampcode.com/models -
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-30
Services") as a User"
License. Amp grants you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and use Amp (alternatively, the
https://ampcode.com/terms -
Starts at $20/mo verified 2026-07-30
Megawatt $20/month All product features, and: 750 hours of small orbs $20 included agent usage
https://ampcode.com/pricing -
Editor integrations Yes verified 2026-07-30
Manual also lists JetBrains (IntelliJ, WebStorm, GoLand, etc.), Neovim, and Zed integrations.
VS Code and VS Code-based editors (Cursor, Windsurf, etc.): Install the Amp CLI, ensure your editor is running, then run amp.
https://ampcode.com/manual -
Autocomplete No verified 2026-07-30
This official product-description block (aimed at LLMs summarizing Amp) and the full Owner's Manual describe Amp as an agentic CLI/editor assistant (chat, oracle, subagents, CLI); neither documents an
Reference Amp's 4 principles: (1) unconstrained token usage, (2) always uses the best models, (3) gives you raw model power, (4) built to evolve with new models
https://ampcode.com/security -
Chat with codebase context Yes verified 2026-07-30
Also uses AGENTS.md files and @file mentions for codebase context, and a Librarian subagent that can search remote codebases.
The Amp CLI integrates with VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and Zed ... which lets the Amp CLI: See the current open file and selection, so Amp can understand the context of your prompt better
https://ampcode.com/manual -
Agentic edits Yes verified 2026-07-30
Edit files through your IDE, with full undo support
https://ampcode.com/manual -
Local model support No verified 2026-07-30
The Models page lists only cloud-hosted models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Z.ai/GLM hosted by Amp, etc.) with no local/on-device inference option.
Amp doesn’t offer self-hosted deployments, but it can use your own API keys for certain model providers.
https://ampcode.com/security -
Self-hostable No verified 2026-07-30
Amp doesn’t offer self-hosted deployments, but it can use your own API keys for certain model providers.
https://ampcode.com/security -
Free tier limits Partial verified 2026-07-30
Update (2026-05-23) on the same page: 'We're pausing or reducing further Amp Free's daily allowance for more users and restricting use of free credits by older client releases.' No paid subscription i
What about the $10 daily free usage of Amp? For now, most who have it will keep getting it, without ads. We'll be pausing it for some less-active users.
https://ampcode.com/news/amp-free-is-ad-free -
Privacy: code retention policy Partial verified 2026-07-30
Zero data retention is an Enterprise-only guarantee; non-Enterprise thread data (messages, code snippets, tool results) is retained and only deleted within 30 days of explicit thread deletion, per the
The Amp Enterprise plan (paid or trial) provides zero data retention. This means that any input and output processed by the LLM is not retained and not used for training.
https://ampcode.com/security -
Terminal / CLI use Yes verified 2026-07-30
Amp is the frontier coding agent for your terminal and editor.
https://ampcode.com/manual -
Multi-file refactors Yes verified 2026-07-30
Manual also describes subagents as useful for 'parallel work across different code areas.'
“Convert these 5 files to use Tailwind, use one subagent per file”
https://ampcode.com/manual
FAQ
Yes. Tabby, Amazon Q Developer and GitHub Copilot have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Tabby, Cline and Kilo — every license claim links its source.