Claude Code vs Continue
Claude Code and Continue are both terminal AI coding tools. Here's how they line up on the things that actually decide it — price, platform, and what they plug into.
| Claude Code | Continue | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Platform | windows, mac, linux | windows, mac, linux |
| Works with | claude | claude, chatgpt, gemini |
| In one line | Anthropic's agentic AI coding CLI — runs in your terminal, reads your files, edits code, runs commands, and works through multi-step tasks autonomously. | Open-source AI coding agent, now centered on Continuous AI — source-controlled AI checks that run on pull requests in CI via the `cn` CLI. The VS Code/JetBrains BYOK extensions still install but are in maintenance mode (final 2.0.0). |
Which should you pick?
On budget alone, Continue is the lower-cost entry (free), so it's the safer place to start if you're not ready to pay. They both work with claude, so if that's your setup either one fits. For the full picture, read the reviews below — the verdict is where the real difference shows up.