Aider vs Devin Desktop
Pricing
Aider: Free (open source), you pay for API usage
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | $0 | Apache-2.0 licence; you supply your own LLM API key or run a local model |
Prices checked on the vendor's page
Devin Desktop: Free tier, Pro $20/mo, Max $200/mo
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 member, light agent quota, limited models |
| Pro | $20/mo | 1 member, higher quotas, frontier and open-source models |
| Max | $200/mo | 1 member, significantly higher quotas than Pro |
| Teams | $80/mo plus $40 per seat | Up to 200 users, own quota per full seat |
Prices checked on the vendor's page
Description
Aider: Open-source terminal AI that edits your code and makes clean git commits automatically
Devin Desktop: AI IDE (formerly Windsurf) with an agent mode (Cascade) and a command center for running local and cloud coding agents across your project
Best for
Aider: Developers who code in the terminal and want an AI pair programmer that commits each change to git.
Devin Desktop: Solo developers who want an AI editor that also runs local and cloud coding agents
Pros
- Git-aware: every change is a well-described commit you can review or revert
- Works with Claude, OpenAI and DeepSeek models, plus local models
- Maps your whole codebase and can run linters and tests after each change
- Cascade agent mode handles multi-file changes without hand-holding
- Agent Command Center lets you start, track and review several local and cloud agents from one board
- Free tier with unlimited Tab completions and inline edits, enough to evaluate before paying
Cons
- Terminal-only: no GUI, no visual diff preview
- API costs are yours to manage and can add up with large context
- Development has slowed: the latest release, v0.86.0, came out in August 2025
- Had a messy 2025: acquisition talks with OpenAI fell through, and talent split between Google and Cognition
- Smaller community means fewer tutorials and troubleshooting resources
- Context window can hit limits on larger projects
Details
Aider is a terminal tool that pair-programs with you. You tell it what to change, it edits the files, and (here is the part that wins people over) it creates a clean git commit with a descriptive message. Every change is tracked, reviewable, and revertable. No other AI coding tool handles version control this naturally.
Built by Paul Gauthier, it builds a map of your whole repository so it can work on larger codebases. The tradeoff is that it is terminal-only and requires you to bring your own API key, and there is a learning curve to getting the most out of it (knowing which files to add, how to prompt). Development has also slowed: the latest release, v0.86.0, came out in August 2025, and the repository has had no new commits since May 2026, so support for newer models may lag. If you are already comfortable with git and the command line, aider fits into your workflow like a glove. If you want a visual editor experience, look at Cursor or Cline instead.
Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf, the AI IDE that started as Codeium’s editor. It is now made by Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent. It still combines regular code completion with Cascade, an agent mode that can plan out multi-step tasks and execute them across your project. Tell it “add user authentication to this app” and it will create files, install packages, and wire things up.
The rename put an Agent Command Center at the front: a board where you run and review local and cloud agents, including Cascade, Codex and Claude Agent, while the full IDE stays available. Pro costs $20/mo and adds higher usage quotas, frontier models and Devin Cloud agents. The company had a turbulent 2025, when a $3B acquisition by OpenAI fell apart and talent ended up split between Google and Cognition, but the product now has a clear owner. If you want a capable AI IDE that can also manage several coding agents at once, it is worth trying.
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