Aider vs Amp
Detailed side-by-side comparison to help you choose the right tool
Aider
🔴DeveloperAI Coding Assistant
Open-source terminal coding agent that pairs with git, edits multiple files at once, and works with any leading LLM.
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FreeAmp
AI coding assistant
Amp is Sourcegraph’s frontier coding agent for professional developers who want CLI-first automation, long-running agent workflows, MCP-connected tooling, plugins, and pay-as-you-go individual pricing. It is better suited to serious engineering teams than casual coding help because its value depends on terminal workflows, workspace policy, and agent supervision.
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CustomFeature Comparison
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Aider - Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓Truly free and open-source (Apache 2.0) with no commercial upsell
- ✓Model-agnostic BYOK across 20+ providers, including self-hosted Ollama/vLLM
- ✓Every edit is a git commit with a real message — trivial to review and undo
- ✓Publishes the most-cited independent code-editing benchmark leaderboard
- ✓Runs in any terminal — no IDE lock-in, works over SSH and inside tmux
Cons
- ✗Terminal-only; no IDE UI for hover, inline diff, or CodeLens-style affordances
- ✗Steep learning curve compared to click-to-accept IDE agents like Cursor
- ✗Repo-map indexing on huge monorepos can chew tokens and needs manual tuning
- ✗MCP client support is still marked experimental
Amp - Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓Amp supports CLI-first agent workflows and can be installed on Mac, Linux, WSL, Windows, or through Homebrew, which fits developers who live in terminal-based workflows.
- ✓The June 4, 2026 "Agents, Everywhere" release adds continuity across web, CLI, and mobile so developers can watch and drive agents from more than one surface.
- ✓Performance claims are specific: Amp says deep and rush modes now receive the first token 87% faster, entire responses are 32% faster at p50, and long-horizon tasks can reach up to a 40% end-to-end speedup.
- ✓Plugin extensibility is deeper than simple settings: plugins can hook into events, add tools, standardize policy, and be deployed to a workspace.
- ✓The public pricing message is unusually direct for this category: individuals and non-enterprise workspaces pay pass-through provider API costs with zero markup, no subscription or commitment, and a $5 minimum credit purchase.
- ✓Team controls include passkey-authenticated "sudo" sessions for web and mobile remote control, which is useful when organizations need stronger governance around agent actions.
Cons
- ✗Amp does not publish a simple fixed monthly or annual seat price, so teams must estimate usage from provider API costs and Amp credit consumption rather than a flat subscription.
- ✗Usage-based pricing can be harder to forecast than a flat per-seat subscription, especially for developers running long deep or rush sessions.
- ✗Amp is aimed at professional developers and software teams; nontechnical users will get little value from its CLI, TUI, plugin, and workspace concepts.
- ✗The product messaging emphasizes moving quickly with frontier models, which may be uncomfortable for teams that prefer slow-changing, highly standardized tooling.
- ✗Because Amp is newer and more agent-focused than mainstream editor assistants, teams may need to validate its behavior, permissions, and cost controls before replacing incumbent tools.
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