A lot of people recommend OpenAI Codex lately, but I feel it's more suited to vibe coding, where you're giving it a very high level idea.
opencode go - $10 a month gets you decent allowance with latest GLM, MiniMax, and Kimi. Windsurf - $20 gives u access to nearlly all models.
For me, I'm having these two subscriptions plus: shared Codex plans & shared Kimi coding Allegretto from Chinese resellers for around $10.
I only use the Claude Opus/Sonnet inside Windsurf after everything is crystal clear, or I want to let it handle tricky stuff where other models can't address. I use GLM/Kimi for everything else. And Windsurf offers free models all the time.
You can also add Google’s AntiGravity into the bunch. They have free allowances of Claude and Gemini 3.1 Pro there ready right after install & login. & you can also get cheap Google AI Pro shared plans there as well, just to get higher allowance on all these models.
There are many ways to get around the session limit, gotta be creative. Update: Windsurf has just made a shitty move by changing their pricing structure from credits to rolling window percentages, not sure if it's better or worse, free models are still there & I haven't hit any rate limit so far.
If you want to change the LLM, my advice is Kimi K2 that's much more chip and very skilled for coding.
(you are right: Opus is a very token-consuming even in my experience, but often it is over-skilled and you don't need it)
It doesn’t give you the largest context windows, but most models perform poorly when the context is very big so it’s not a dealbreaker to me.
Cursor – $20/month Kilocode plugin (inside Cursor) – Free models Google Antigravity Pro Opencode – Free models
Workflow - Backend Development Use Cursor for major backend tasks Flow: Plan → Execute - Frontend Development Use Google Antigravity Pro for major frontend tasks Flow: Plan → Execute - Minor Tasks & Bug Fixes Use: Opencode Kilocode (inside Cursor)
Remote / On-the-Go Setup A Telegram-configured Opencode instance is set up on mobile Used for: Minor tasks Quick fixes while away from the system
freedomben•1d ago
muzani•1d ago
freedomben•1d ago
Whoa, if you're using it that much, you should definitely look at the $100 plan. Either that, or you'll have to use an older model or reduce thinking (which does really tank the quality of results unfortunately) or look at a local model. I don't think there's really many other options.
For a while I did a $20 sub to both OpenAI and Claude and just switched back and forth. I was able to get pretty far that way, but it can feel a bit disruptive.
muzani•7h ago
Free runs out in two, yes two uses on peak hours, on Claude Sonnet.
The basic paid has 5x the use, which hits the limit at 10 uses. The $100 plan is 5x of this, which is still a limit at 50 uses on Sonnet.
At one point, Cursor would give you the same usage limits as the $200 plan, but now the pricing has changed.
The reason I switch is because something always breaks with these AI providers, Anthropic being a common offender.