What It Does
Continue is an open-source AI code assistant that acts as a bridge between any LLM and your IDE. It provides autocomplete, chat, and inline editing using whatever model you choose — from cloud APIs to local models running on your machine.
Key Features
- Any model — supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, LM Studio, and dozens more
- IDE integration — VS Code and JetBrains with full editor integration
- Tab autocomplete — inline code suggestions from any model
- Chat — conversational coding with codebase context
- Edit — highlight code and describe changes
- Fully configurable — customize prompts, context providers, and model routing
- Local-first option — run entirely with local models for air-gapped environments
Pricing Breakdown
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Continue | Free (Apache 2.0) |
| Models | User choice (free local to paid API) |
Who It’s For
Developers who want maximum flexibility in model choice, teams requiring local/private model deployment, and those who want an open-source alternative to GitHub Copilot without vendor lock-in.
Competitive Position
Continue occupies the “open-source Copilot” niche — maximum configurability at zero software cost. Its strength is model flexibility and community-driven development. The weakness is requiring more setup than plug-and-play solutions like Copilot. Particularly strong for teams running local models or needing custom model routing logic.