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Continue vs Refact.ai

ContinueRefact.ai

Bottom line: Continue for local-first developers; Refact.ai for privacy-sensitive engineering teams.

ContinueContinue

Open-source AI code assistant that plugs any model into your IDE

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Refact.aiRefact.ai

Open-source autonomous AI coding agent that runs end-to-end tasks in your IDE

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Votes00
PricingFreemiumFreemium
CategoryCodingCoding
Tags
open-sourceide-extensionlocal-modelsautocompletecustomizable
ai-coding-agentopen-sourceself-hostedideswe-bench
Best for
  • Local-first developers
  • Teams wanting config-as-code
  • Privacy-conscious engineers
  • Privacy-sensitive engineering teams
  • Open-source-first developers
  • JetBrains and VS Code users
Pros
  • Fully open-source, no required subscription
  • Supports any model, cloud or local
  • Deep customization via config-as-code
  • Works in VS Code and JetBrains
  • Autonomous agent mode added in 2026
  • Fully open source with a permissive license
  • Can be self-hosted on-premise for data privacy
  • Bring-your-own-key across many model providers
  • Strong ranking among open-source agents on SWE-bench Verified
  • Supports 25+ programming languages
Cons
  • Steeper setup than plug-and-play tools
  • Quality depends on chosen models
  • Evolving product direction can shift features
  • Local models need capable hardware
  • Less hand-holding than commercial assistants
  • Self-hosting requires infrastructure and setup effort
  • Agent quality depends heavily on the chosen BYOK model
  • Smaller ecosystem and community than Cursor or Copilot
  • No mobile or browser-based experience
  • Autonomous runs still need careful human review

Comparison generated from each tool's listing. Add or remove tools above to change it.