Continue vs Ollama
Continue and Ollama 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.
| Continue | Ollama | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Platform | windows, mac, linux | windows, mac, linux |
| Works with | claude, chatgpt, gemini | claude |
| In one line | 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). | Free, open-source tool for running large language models locally on your own hardware — no internet connection or API key required. |
Which should you pick?
Both sit at a similar price point, so cost won't decide it. 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.