What is the best free AI for coding in 2026?

The best free AI for coding depends on what you mean by coding. For an agent that edits files and runs commands, the strongest free options in October 2026 are Codex on ChatGPT's free plan, which uses GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app, Google's Antigravity with a free weekly quota, and Kiro's 50 free credits a month; Claude Code has no free plan. For help inside an editor, GitHub Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month and Cursor's Hobby plan a limited number of agent requests. For chat, Claude's free plan runs Sonnet 5.5 and ChatGPT's runs GPT-5.6 Luna. For unlimited and private, run an open model such as Qwen3.8 on your own computer with Ollama and an open-source agent. Poly's free tier runs Claude Code and Codex in a browser, with a free model from each of five labs.

Key takeaways

• Free coding agents: Codex on ChatGPT Free, Google Antigravity and Kiro. Claude Code has no free plan.
• Gemini CLI stopped serving free accounts on June 18, 2026; Google moved them to Antigravity CLI.
• The only unlimited option is local: Ollama with an open-weight model such as Qwen3.8-27B (Apache 2.0), on a 24 GB graphics card or a Mac with 32 GB or more.
• Students get extra: Copilot Student, a year of Google AI Pro (US), four months of ChatGPT Plus (US, until October 31) and $100 in Codex credits (US and Canada).

Which free AI can actually code for you?

• Codex on ChatGPT Free. GPT-6 Luna in the ChatGPT desktop app, since September 22, 2026, with limits OpenAI doesn't publish; Codex Cloud, the CLI and the IDE extension start with Plus (OpenAI). Is Codex free?
• Google Antigravity. Google's agent IDE and CLI has a free individual plan with unlimited tab completions and command requests and a basic weekly quota, with no published numbers (Google).
• Kiro. AWS's agent IDE gives 50 credits a month free, with Claude Sonnet 4.5 and open-weight models, under rate limits (Kiro).
• GitHub Copilot Free includes agent mode and the Copilot CLI, with limited chat and agent use.
• Poly's free tier runs the real Claude Code and Codex in a browser room, with Claude Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6 Luna, Grok Build, Kimi K2.7 Code and Muse Spark 1.3, for 50 credits with no card. You can invite others into the same room. What is Poly?

Not free: Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan (Is Claude Code free?), and Gemini CLI now works only with paid API keys or business plans after Google moved free users to Antigravity CLI on June 18, 2026 (Google).

Which free AI is best inside an editor?

• GitHub Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month and limited chat and agent use, with automatic model selection only, so you can't pick the model (GitHub).
• Cursor Hobby: no card, limited agent requests and access to Cursor's Composer model, with no published numbers (Cursor).
• Devin Desktop, the new name for Windsurf: a light agent quota and unlimited tab completions on its free plan.
• Zed Personal: 2,000 edit predictions a month, and unlimited use with your own API keys or external agents such as Claude Code and Codex (Zed).

Which free chatbot is best for coding questions?

• Claude Free runs Claude Sonnet 5.5, which ranks third on LMArena's WebDev leaderboard, with artifacts and code execution, under rolling five-hour limits (Anthropic).
• ChatGPT Free gives unlimited chats on GPT-5.6 Luna within abuse guardrails, with a 27,000-token context window (OpenAI).
• Gemini free runs 3.6 Flash, with some 3.1 Pro, under five-hour and weekly caps and a 32,000-token context (Google).
• Duck.ai needs no account and offers Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini and gpt-oss-120b, among others (DuckDuckGo).

Is there a free AI for coding with no limits?

Only on your own hardware. Ollama runs open-weight models locally with no usage limit (Ollama), and open-source agents drive them: Codex CLI with --oss, OpenCode, Cline and Aider. Models that fit a 24 GB graphics card or a 32 GB Mac include:

• Qwen3.8-27B (August 2026, Apache 2.0), about 18 GB in Ollama.
• Qwen3.6-27B (April 2026, Apache 2.0).
• gpt-oss-20b (OpenAI, Apache 2.0).

Larger open models, such as Qwen3-Coder-Next (80B), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (MIT), GLM-5.3-Flash (MIT) and Kimi K2.7 Code, need server-class hardware or a paid cloud. OpenRouter's free models are another route through an API, limited to 20 requests a minute and 50 a day (OpenRouter).

Can you build an app with AI for free?

Yes, within daily limits. Lovable gives 5 build credits a day, up to 30 a month; Bolt 300,000 tokens a day and 1 million a month; v0 seven messages a day; and Base44 25 message credits a month. Google AI Studio's Build mode is free to use, though hosting on Google Cloud may cost money. Replit's pricing page now shows only paid plans. Poly's free tier builds an app in a live preview you can publish. Teams should see Lovable alternatives for teams, and newcomers what vibe coding is.

Which free AI can you use without signing up?

ChatGPT works logged out, one conversation at a time, except in the EU (OpenAI). Duck.ai needs no account. Local models with Ollama need no account at all. Everything else on this page needs a sign-in.

What do students get for free?

• GitHub: Copilot Student, free in the Student Developer Pack, with unlimited completions and automatic model selection.
• Google: a free year of Google AI Pro for US college students 18 and older, redeemable until December 31, 2026 (Google).
• OpenAI: four months of ChatGPT Plus for US college students, claimable until October 31, 2026, and $100 in Codex credits for university students in the US and Canada (OpenAI).
• Others: Kiro gives 1,000 credits a month for a year at listed universities, v0 a free year at listed schools, and Lovable 50% off Pro for 12 months.

Which should you pick?

• A free agent to try now: Codex on ChatGPT Free, or Antigravity.
• The best free model for questions about code: Claude Free, with Sonnet 5.5.
• Completions in your editor: GitHub Copilot Free.
• Unlimited and private: Ollama, Qwen3.8 and an open-source agent.
• Claude Code and Codex together, in a browser, with friends or a team: Poly's free tier.

Paid agents are compared in Claude Code vs Codex and Claude Code alternatives.