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Continue

Open-source AI code assistant that connects any LLM to your IDE with full customization

4.4/5

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What is Continue?

Continue is an open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains that serves as a universal interface between your IDE and any large language model. It supports dozens of model providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, local models via Ollama, and enterprise deployments, giving teams complete control over which AI powers their development workflow.

The platform provides tab autocomplete, chat, inline editing, and code actions that rival commercial alternatives, while remaining fully customizable. Developers can configure different models for different tasks, create custom slash commands, define context providers that pull from specific documentation or databases, and build reusable prompt templates for their team.

Continue's open-source nature means full transparency, community-driven development, and the ability to self-host everything. For enterprises, this translates to complete data sovereignty with no code leaving the network. The tool's configuration-as-code approach means team setups can be version-controlled and shared, ensuring consistent AI assistance across the entire engineering organization.

Key Features

Open-source with full code transparency
Support for any LLM provider or local model
Tab autocomplete in VS Code and JetBrains
AI chat with codebase context
Custom slash commands and prompts
Configurable context providers
Inline code editing with diff preview
Model routing (different models per task)
Team configuration sharing via config file
Self-hosted deployment option

Pros & Cons

Pros

Fully open-source with no vendor lock-in
Works with any LLM including free local models
Highly customizable with slash commands and context providers
Self-hostable for complete data privacy

Cons

Requires more setup than plug-and-play alternatives
Quality depends entirely on which model you configure
Smaller community than Copilot though growing rapidly
No managed cloud option for zero-setup experience

Pricing

Model: bring-your-key

Plan	Price	Key Limits
Free (OSS)	$0	Full features, bring your own API keys or local models
API Costs	Varies	Pay your LLM provider directly, no markup from Continue
Enterprise	Custom pricing	Managed deployment, team administration, priority support

Frequently Asked Questions

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Category	AI Code Completion
Rating	4.4/5
Starting Price	$0
Free Plan	Yes