>_ whichcodingtools
All tools
Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code

AI-native IDE

Microsoft's free editor. Agent mode, chat and inline suggestions come from GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code, Codex, Cline and other agents install as extensions.

MicrosoftFree2026-08-23
WebsiteRepoDocs

Pricing

PlanPriceIncludedBeyond thatNotes
Free
individual
Free
——
  • The editor is free with no trial and no credit card
  • Agent and chat usage is metered by the Copilot plan or the agent you sign in with

VS Code has no price of its own. Extensions in this directory that run inside it, such as Cline, list vscode in their hosts.

Source: code.visualstudio.com/ Pricing verified 2026-08-23

Works with

What Visual Studio Code runs, and what can run Visual Studio Code. "With your existing login" means the wrapped tool's subscription is reused, no second bill.

Runs

Models

AnthropicOpenAIGooglexAIMoonshot Local models Partial BYOK

Hosted models come from the GitHub Copilot plan you sign in with. Built-in BYOK providers cover Azure, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI and custom endpoints, and the Ollama extension adds local models, with no GitHub account or Copilot plan needed. BYOK applies to chat and utility tasks only, inline suggestions and semantic search still need Copilot. The Agents window can also sign in to ChatGPT for the Codex harness.

Features

Git worktreesParallel agentsSubagentsMCP clientBrowser automationSandboxingRemote executionDiff reviewCheckpointsPluginsHooksTab completion

Install

License

MIT · Open source · github.com/microsoft/vscode

The microsoft/vscode repository (Code - OSS) is MIT. The Visual Studio Code build Microsoft ships adds its own customizations under a Microsoft product license, so the binaries people download are proprietary while the source is open.

Sources

Every fact above points at a vendor page and the date someone last checked it.