opencode vs Aider
Both are alternatives to Cursor. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Aider vs opencode — same comparison, one verdict.
opencode
The terminal-native agent with the largest open-source community in the category.
opencode (MIT) is a coding agent that runs in your terminal, with a desktop app in beta and IDE extensions alongside it. It is deliberately provider-agnostic — 75+ providers via the AI SDK and Models.dev, including Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible local endpoint — and it ships two built-in agents: a full-access `build` agent and a read-only `plan` agent for exploring a codebase before anything is allowed to change it. It is now the most-starred project in this space at roughly 191k GitHub stars, maintained by Anomaly after the repository moved from `sst/opencode` to `anomalyco/opencode`. The optional opencode Zen gateway sells curated, benchmarked models pay-as-you-go and includes some free ones; using your own provider keys stays free.
Aider
Git-native pair programming in the terminal — every change lands as a commit.
Aider (Apache-2.0) is the minimalist of this group: a Python CLI that edits files in your repository and commits each change with a sensible message, so your review tool is `git diff` and your undo is `git revert`. It connects to almost any LLM including local ones — `aider --model ollama_chat/<model>` with `OLLAMA_API_BASE` set — and it has no account, no backend and no vendor anywhere in the path. The honest caveat is cadence: the most recent PyPI release (0.86.2) landed on 12 February 2026 and the latest commit on GitHub is 22 May 2026. It still works, and 47.8k people star it, but in a field where models change monthly that is a noticeably slower pulse than the others here — which is why it scores well on sovereignty and lower on maintenance.
Side by side
| opencode | Aider | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 93 | 89 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Pricing | Free and open source (MIT) — you pay your own provider. The optional opencode Zen gateway is pay-as-you-go, with some free models; your own API keys cost nothing extra. | Free and open source (Apache-2.0) — you pay only your model provider. No account, no hosted tier, no credits. |
opencode edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
opencode
Strengths
- +MIT and provider-agnostic by design — 75+ providers, plus Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible local endpoint
- +The read-only `plan` agent lets you scope work before the agent can touch a file
- +Terminal-first, so it works over SSH on a server or a modest machine
- +The largest community in the category and daily commits
Trade-offs
- −Terminal-first is a genuine adjustment coming from an editor-integrated agent; the desktop app is still beta
- −No inline autocomplete — a different tool for a different job than Cursor's Tab
- −Ownership moved from SST to Anomaly; the MIT licence means no practical risk, but it's worth knowing
- −Large configuration surface (providers, models, agents) — more to learn than picking from a dropdown
Aider
Strengths
- +Git-native: every edit is a commit you can diff, revert or cherry-pick — the best audit trail of the group
- +No account, no backend, no vendor in the request path at all
- +The lightest client here — a Python CLI that runs anywhere, including over SSH on modest hardware
- +Clear, well-documented local-model path via Ollama
Trade-offs
- −Development has slowed sharply — last PyPI release 12 February 2026, last commit 22 May 2026
- −Terminal only: no editor UI and no inline completion
- −Ollama defaults to a 2k context window and silently discards overflow, so local setups need deliberate configuration (Aider's docs cover it, but it is a footgun)
- −A leaner feature set than the newer agents — no sandboxing or built-in browser tooling
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-07-29. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.