AI Coding Plan Pricing, Compared
What every AI coding subscription actually costs: the dedicated tools (Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf), the frontier labs' coding plans (Claude Code, Codex), and China's contenders. Each price links to the provider's own page, and we only list plans we could verify.
What's the cheapest AI coding plan?
GitHub Copilot Pro is the cheapest dedicated coding subscription at $10/month. Below the $20 crowd you'll also find Zhipu's GLM Coding Plan ($18) and Moonshot's Kimi Code ($19). Claude Pro, Cursor Pro, Windsurf Pro, and ChatGPT Plus all sit at $20/month. Alibaba's Qwen Code is the priciest here at $50.
| Provider · Plan | Monthly price | Verified | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot Pro | $10/mo $100/yr. Pro+ is $39/mo, Max is $100/mo. Cheapest dedicated coding plan. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Zhipu GLM Coding Plan (Lite)
China
| $18/mo Pro and Max tiers cost more. Works with Claude Code, Cline, OpenCode. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Moonshot Kimi Code
China
| $19/mo Entry paid tier; annual billing discounted. A free tier exists. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Anthropic Claude Pro | $20/mo $17/mo billed annually. Max tiers ($100/$200) add 5x–20x usage. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Cursor Cursor Pro | $20/mo Includes ~$20 of API agent usage plus Auto/Composer usage. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Cognition Windsurf Pro | $20/mo Unlimited SWE-1.5 model use plus some frontier-model credits. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| OpenAI ChatGPT Plus (Codex) | $20/mo Codex included across paid plans; $20 is the entry point. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
| Alibaba Qwen Code (Pro)
China
| $50/mo Lite tier closed to new subscribers on 2026-03-20; 1,000 free OAuth calls/day exist. | ✓ Jun 2026 | Official ↗ |
The $10–$20 band, and one outlier
Dedicated coding subscriptions cluster tightly. GitHub Copilot Pro anchors the bottom at $10/month, the cheapest way into a serious agent. Then a wall of $20 plans: Claude Pro (which now bundles Claude Code in the terminal), Cursor Pro, Windsurf Pro, and ChatGPT Plus with Codex. China's entrants slot in just under that wall: Zhipu's GLM Coding Plan at $18 and Moonshot's Kimi Code at $19, while Alibaba's Qwen Code Pro stands alone at $50 after it shut its cheaper Lite tier to new subscribers.
The sticker price is a floor, not a ceiling
The monthly fee is the least interesting number on this page. Nearly every plan now runs on usage-based credits underneath. GitHub moved Copilot to usage-based billing in June 2026. The $10 covers an allowance, and overage bills at a cent per credit. Cursor Pro's $20 includes roughly $20 of agent usage that a heavy day can exhaust. And OpenAI's Codex, though it rides on the $20 ChatGPT Plus plan, is metered by API tokens: real-world spend for an active developer routinely lands between $100 and $200 a month. Compare the entry prices here, then read each row's note for how the meter runs.
Why there are no free tiers in this table
Several of these tools have free plans (Copilot, Gemini Code Assist, Qwen Code via OAuth), and we deliberately left them out. Free coding tiers come with gotchas that make them misleading in a price comparison: tight request caps, no agent or background tasks, slower models, and prompts that may be used for training. This page tracks the cheapest plan you would actually rely on for daily work. For the same reason it omits two plans we couldn't pin down: Google's Gemini Code Assist (its individual tier is free, and the paid tier is effectively enterprise-only) and MiniMax's coding plan, whose pricing page renders no figures we could verify.
How we keep this honest
Every price here was read off the provider's own pricing or help page, and each row links to that source with the month we last checked it. When we can't confirm a number against an official page, the plan doesn't make the table. We'd rather omit it than publish a guess. Prices and usage policies move fast in this category; this page is re-checked against official sources on a regular cadence and re-dated each time, so treat the "verified" month on each row as the real freshness signal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest AI coding plan in 2026?
GitHub Copilot Pro is the cheapest dedicated coding subscription at $10/month. Below the $20 crowd you'll also find Zhipu's GLM Coding Plan ($18) and Moonshot's Kimi Code ($19). Claude Pro, Cursor Pro, Windsurf Pro, and ChatGPT Plus all sit at $20/month. Alibaba's Qwen Code is the priciest here at $50.
Is GitHub Copilot or Cursor cheaper?
GitHub Copilot Pro is $10/month versus Cursor Pro at $20/month. But both run on usage-based credits. Copilot bills overage at $0.01 per credit, and Cursor includes about $20 of agent usage that heavy users burn through before month-end. The effective cost depends on how hard you push the agent.
Do AI coding plans have hidden usage costs?
Often, yes. Most 2026 coding plans bundle a monthly credit allowance and then bill usage on top. OpenAI's Codex is metered by API tokens and can run $100–$200/month for heavy users despite the $20 entry point, and Copilot, Cursor, and Claude all charge for overage beyond their included usage. Treat the sticker price as a floor, not a ceiling.
What are the cheapest Chinese AI coding plans?
Zhipu's GLM Coding Plan starts at $18/month and Moonshot's Kimi Code at $19, both priced in USD on their international sites and usable with tools like Claude Code, Cline, and OpenCode. Alibaba's Qwen Code Pro is $50/month after it closed its cheaper Lite tier to new subscribers in March 2026.