Claude Code Alternatives?

6•pozzy•9mo ago

For anyone that has use Claude Code, what is a powerful enough alternative? I've been getting some amazing results with it, but the cost quickly adds up. I'd like to test something like the Gemini 2.5 Flash API which is significantly cheaper.

Does Aider or RooCode offer comparative performance?

I'm not looking for something that's simply cheaper. I want to know if it's possible to get the same level of quality at a cheaper price. I know Claude Code is tightly integrated with its own model which is part of the reason it performs so well.

Comments

sibeliuss•9mo ago

OpenAI just released codex. Oh my it is slow

owebmaster•9mo ago

OpenAI products are the living proof LLMs can't code, even with unlimited budget

muzani•9mo ago

Cursor is the popular one now for good reason. It does have gemini-2.5-flash-exp, along with all the claudes, openAI, deepseek, and their own free ones.

It comes down to about $16/month, which includes limited use of claude sonnet and gemini 2.5 pro. Which feels extremely bloody cheap to me as my usage for both of these would far exceed that cost. You can give it your own API key instead of using their subscription model as well.

vismit2000•9mo ago

Google firebase studio

chewz•9mo ago

Try SDGLBL/mcp-claude-code or ezyang/codemcp. They are both very good (better then Claude Code in my opinion).

Using aider is another option. Or Assistant in Zed. - diferent approaches but both very effective.

https://github.com/SDGLBL/mcp-claude-code

https://github.com/ezyang/codemcp

Imanari•9mo ago

aider.chat

It is less autonomous but I consider it a feature, it's more of a precision tool.

Ask HN: Anyone Using a Mac Studio for Local AI/LLM?

Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (February 2026)

Ask HN: Ideas for small ways to make the world a better place

Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2026)

Ask HN: 10 months since the Llama-4 release: what happened to Meta AI?

Ask HN: Non AI-obsessed tech forums

Ask HN: Opus 4.6 ignoring instructions, how to use 4.5 in Claude Code instead?

LLMs are powerful, but enterprises are deterministic by nature

Tell HN: Another round of Zendesk email spam

Ask HN: Is Connecting via SSH Risky?

Ask HN: Has your whole engineering team gone big into AI coding? How's it going?

AI Regex Scientist: A self-improving regex solver

Ask HN: Non-profit, volunteers run org needs CRM. Is Odoo Community a good sol.?

Ask HN: Is it just me or are most businesses insane?

Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

Kernighan on Programming

Ask HN: Mem0 stores memories, but doesn't learn user patterns

Ask HN: How does ChatGPT decide which websites to recommend?

Ask HN: Why LLM providers sell access instead of consulting services?

Ask HN: What is the most complicated Algorithm you came up with yourself?

Ask HN: Have you been fired because of AI?

Ask HN: Does a good "read it later" app exist?

We built a serverless GPU inference platform with predictable latency

Ask HN: Anyone have a "sovereign" solution for phone calls?

Ask HN: Cheap laptop for Linux without GUI (for writing)

Ask HN: Anyone Seeing YT ads related to chats on ChatGPT?

Ask HN: Does global decoupling from the USA signal comeback of the desktop app?

GitHub Actions Have "Major Outage"

Ask HN: Has anybody moved their local community off of Facebook groups?

Ask HN: OpenClaw users, what is your token spend?