Aider review

★ 4.1/5

AI coding agent

Aider is a free, open-source AI pair programmer that runs in your terminal and edits code in your local Git repo with automatic commits. The tool itself costs nothing; you bring your own LLM API key and pay the model provider directly, so spend scales with usage. It connects to almost any model, including local ones via Ollama for near-zero cost.

Researched & verified by Dirr Research · scored by our rubric

Visit Aider → last verified 2026-06-01

Affiliate link · how we make money

Best for Terminal-native, BYOK AI pair programming. Aider starts Free (open source) on a Free open-source tool; you pay only your chosen LLM provider's API usage (BYOK). model. The software is $0; your only cost is the LLM API you point it at, so heavy use of a premium model like Claude can run $20 to $200+ per month while a local Ollama model costs nothing.

Spec

pricing modelFree open-source tool; you pay only your chosen LLM provider's API usage (BYOK).
entry priceFree (open source)verify livedecode →
free tierEntire tool is free and Apache 2.0 open source. With a free OpenRouter model or a local Ollama model, total cost can be $0; otherwise you pay your model provider's per-token API rates.source →
self-hostYes
MCPNone
integrationsGit, 100+ programming languages, and most LLM providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI, Azure, Cohere, Groq, GitHub Copilot, Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock, OpenRouter, and local models via Ollama.source →
API accessNo
affiliateNo public affiliate program

The gotcha

the pricing catch

There is no built-in model, so you must supply and fund your own API key, and unmonitored usage of premium frontier models can rack up real per-token bills. Native MCP support is not merged upstream; only third-party/experimental MCP servers exist.

Decode the real cost →

Best for

  • You want a free, open-source CLI coding agent and full control over which model you use and what you pay.

source: aider.chat/pricing →

Aider pricing tiers

Prices move. Cells flagged verify link to the live vendor page.

Decode Aider pricing →
tiermonthlyannualincludedunit
Open source (BYOK) $0verify n/a Full tool, Apache 2.0 license, self-hosted in your terminal; you pay only your own LLM provider's API usage (zero markup). Cost varies by model and volume. per user

// pools and per-unit rates are volatile · cells flagged verify link to the live vendor page

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Questions

How much does Aider cost?

Aider starts Free (open source). The software is $0; your only cost is the LLM API you point it at, so heavy use of a premium model like Claude can run $20 to $200+ per month while a local Ollama model costs nothing.

Can you self-host Aider?

Yes, Aider can be self-hosted.

Does Aider support MCP?

Aider supports MCP as None, so it works with assistants like Claude and ChatGPT.

What's the catch with Aider's pricing?

There is no built-in model, so you must supply and fund your own API key, and unmonitored usage of premium frontier models can rack up real per-token bills. Native MCP support is not merged upstream; only third-party/experimental MCP servers exist.