Continue vs Tempo
Pricing
Continue: Free (open source), no longer maintained since June 2026
Tempo: Free tier, Pro from $20/mo
Description
Continue: Open-source AI assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. Cursor acquired it in June 2026 and the project is now read-only
Tempo: AI React app builder with a visual editor: import Figma designs or describe what you want
Pros
- The final 2.0 release still installs for free from the VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX and npm
- Works with your own API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini and others) or local models through Ollama and LM Studio
- The code stays available under the Apache 2.0 license, so anyone can fork it
- Visual drag-and-drop editing alongside AI generation
- Import Figma designs and turn them into working React components
- Outputs clean React + Tailwind code you can take with you
Cons
- No longer maintained: no bug fixes, security patches or support for new models
- Hosted accounts and sign-in were retired after the acquisition
- Requires setup: picking a model, getting API keys, configuring the tool
- React-only: if you use Vue, Svelte, or anything else, this is not for you
- Visual editor hits limits fast when building complex application logic
- Newer tool with a smaller community and fewer resources
Details
Continue was the “bring your own model” approach to AI coding: a free, open-source extension for VS Code and JetBrains, plus a CLI, that connected to the LLM of your choice, from cloud APIs like Claude to local models through Ollama. You got autocomplete, chat and inline editing without a subscription.
In June 2026 Cursor acquired Continue. The team shipped a final 2.0 release on 19 June 2026, retired hosted accounts and sign-in, and made the GitHub repository read-only. The extensions still install and run with your own keys, but nothing will be fixed or updated. For the same free, model-agnostic setup with active development, use Cline inside VS Code, or Aider or Claude Code in the terminal.
Tempo sits between a design tool and a code generator. You can import Figma designs, use AI prompts, or visually edit components with drag-and-drop, then export clean React and Tailwind code. It is the visual approach to AI-assisted coding.
If you think in terms of visual layouts rather than code, Tempo might click better than text-prompt tools like v0. The Figma import is particularly useful if you already have designs. The limitation is that it only outputs React, and the visual editor works better for UI than for business logic. Think of it as a UI building tool, not a full app builder.
Continue verified
Tempo verified
