Continue
Open-source AI coding assistant that plugs into VS Code and JetBrains.
Details
- Website
- continue.dev
- Category
- Coding & Development
- Pricing
- Open source / free (model costs separate)
- Listed
- Aug 2026
- Verified
- Aug 2026
Evaluation
What to know
Best for
- Developers wanting open tooling
- Custom model backends
- IDE-native AI without vendor lock-in
Not ideal for
- Users who want zero-setup hosted-only agents
- Non-technical users
Key features
- VS Code and JetBrains plugins
- Bring-your-own model
- Chat + autocomplete
- Open source
Pros
- Open source
- Flexible models
- Stays inside your IDE
Cons
- More setup than fully managed IDEs
- Feature polish varies by config
ToolifyNav verdict
Continue is ideal if you want AI coding without leaving your IDE and without locking into one vendor model. Cursor wins for a fully productized agent IDE.
About
About Continue
Stay in your IDE, swap the brain
Continue plugs into VS Code and JetBrains so autocomplete and chat call models you configure — local, API, or mixed. The win is control: no forced migration to a single commercial AI IDE.
Setup reality
You will spend time on model configs, context providers, and team conventions. That cost is the price of avoiding vendor lock-in. If nobody on the team wants to own config, a managed product will feel better on day one.
When to pick something else
- Zero-setup agent polish → Cursor
- GitHub-only procurement → Copilot
- Private on-prem completion → Tabnine
- Huge monorepo search heritage → Sourcegraph Cody
Continue is the “we own the stack” path, not the “buy a seat and forget” path.
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