---
title: "Claude Code vs Visual Studio Code"
description: "Claude Code is a terminal agent, Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE. Visual Studio Code runs Claude Code on the login you already have for it."
canonical_url: "https://whichcoding.tools/compare/claude-code-vs-vscode"
---
# Claude Code vs Visual Studio Code

> Claude Code is a terminal agent by Anthropic. Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE by Microsoft. Every cell below is read from the directory data and points back to a vendor page.

## General

|  | Claude Code | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Layer | Terminal agent, Editor extension, Cloud agent | AI-native IDE |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Microsoft |
| Website | [code.claude.com](https://code.claude.com) | [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com) |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux, Windows, Web | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web |
| License | Proprietary (Proprietary) | MIT (Open source) |
| Status | active | active |

## Pricing

|  | Claude Code | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Entry price | $20/mo | Free |
| Top individual plan | $200/mo | Free |
| Team plan | $25/user/mo | — |
| Included usage | — | — |
| Beyond the plan | API list price | — |
| Part of a plan | Claude | — |

## Models

|  | Claude Code | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Providers | Anthropic | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot |
| Bring your own key | BYOK | Partial BYOK |
| Local models | No | Yes |

## Features

|  | Claude Code | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Git worktrees | Yes | Yes |
| Parallel agents | Yes | Yes |
| Subagents | Yes | Yes |
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| ACP agent | Yes | No |
| Browser automation | Yes | Yes |
| Sandboxing | Yes | Yes |
| Remote execution | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile companion | Yes | No |
| Scheduled tasks | Yes | No |
| Diff review | No | Yes |
| Checkpoints | Yes | Yes |
| Plugins | Yes | Yes |
| Hooks | Yes | Yes |
| Tab completion | No | Yes |

## Works with

|  | Claude Code | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runs | — | GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI |
| Runs inside | agent-manager, Claude Desktop, Claude Squad, cmux, Conductor, Devin Desktop, dmux, Emdash, goose, Herdr, JetBrains AI, Multica, Nimbalyst, opcode, OpenHands, Orca, Paseo, Sculptor, Superset, T3 Code, Vibe Kanban, Vibe Notch, Visual Studio Code, Warp, Xcode, YYLO, Zed | — |
| Pricing verified | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-28 |

## Related

[Add more tools](https://whichcoding.tools/compare?tools=claude-code,vscode), up to four at a time.

Data: CC BY 4.0. Credit whichcoding.tools and link to https://whichcoding.tools. Full terms in [LICENSE-DATA](https://github.com/benjamincanac/whichcodingtools/blob/main/LICENSE-DATA).

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