Claude Code alternatives, October 2026: OpenCode vs Claude Code, Cline, Kilo and Zoo Code on one key

Claude Code alternatives come in two kinds. Pick Claude Code when you want Anthropic's own agent on the Claude models. Pick OpenCode or Kilo Code when you want the same models plus GLM, DeepSeek and Kimi in one picker, and Cline or Zoo Code when you live in VS Code. All five run on one API key, and the model, not the tool, sets the bill: Claude Sonnet 5.5 is $1.20 in and $3.00 out per million tokens here against Anthropic's $2.00 and $10.00.

OpenCode vs Claude Code is the pair most people search, so it comes first. This post has no measured runs of its own yet; the cost figures are one fixed turn shape priced from the live catalog, and the tool facts carry the date they were read.

One column decides the bill: what the tool charges. Four of the five charge nothing when they run on your own key. The two that sell a gateway of their own, Kilo and OpenCode, price it at the developer's list plus a fee on credit, and both also take a key from here at the rates in the next table.

An agent turn late in a session is mostly cached context: 80,000 cached, 2,000 new input and 1,500 output tokens, the shape the Claude Code pricing post uses. Every tool here re-sends the conversation each turn, so the cached rate decides most of the bill, in all of them.

The same turn is $0.0129 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 and $0.0076 on GLM 5.3, whichever of the five tools sends it. Claude Code sends only Claude ids; the other four send any of these. Today's real-model verdicts: Claude Sonnet 5.5, same fingerprint since oct 12; Claude Haiku 5.5, same fingerprint since oct 19; GLM 5.3, same fingerprint since oct 12; DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, same fingerprint since oct 12; Kimi K3, same fingerprint since oct 12, live from the proof page.

OpenCode is an open-source terminal agent (MIT, read 2026-10-19) with a desktop app, built to be model-agnostic: a provider block in opencode.json names a base URL and the ids you want, and they show up in its /models picker (OpenCode providers docs). Claude Code is Anthropic's own agent, closed source, with the deepest Claude integration: prompt caching, subagents, hooks, and a plan that includes it.

Models: Claude Code runs Claude ids in the Anthropic format. OpenCode runs any id on the key, Claude included, through the OpenAI format. Billing: neither tool bills on a key. OpenCode also sells OpenCode Zen, its tested model list at the developer's list price plus a 4.4% + $0.30 card fee from a $20 balance (read 2026-10-19); the OpenCode guide puts Zen's rates next to ours for the same ids.

Pick Claude Code for the Claude models with Anthropic's harness and a plan. Pick OpenCode for GLM, DeepSeek, Kimi and GPT next to Claude in one terminal, open source, on a key.

Cline is the open-source VS Code agent (Apache-2.0, read 2026-10-19) the other two editor tools on this page forked from. It lives in the editor sidebar, shows diffs before they land, runs terminal commands and takes an OpenAI Compatible provider: base URL, key, one model id at a time. There is no caching switch; cached input bills at the cached rate on its own.

Pick Cline when the work happens in VS Code and you want to approve each change. Pick Claude Code when you want a terminal agent that runs longer tasks on its own. Both bill the same tokens on the same key; the Cline guide has the panel.

The Roo Code extension shut down on May 15, 2026; its Marketplace listing says so and points to Zoo Code, the community fork (Zoo-Code-Org on GitHub, Apache-2.0), and to Cline. Roo Code, Inc. moved to Roomote, a paid cloud agent (read 2026-10-19). Zoo Code keeps Roo's modes (Code, Architect, Ask, Debug) and the same OpenAI Compatible panel, and uses native tool calls only, which every chat model on this key returns.

Pick Zoo Code if you ran Roo Code and want the same panel and modes in VS Code. Pick Claude Code for the terminal and the Claude harness. The Zoo Code guide covers the shutdown and the setup.

Kilo Code is a fork of Roo and Cline (Apache-2.0, read 2026-10-19) for VS Code, JetBrains and the terminal, owned by Anaconda since July 2026. A custom provider fetches /v1/models from the base URL and shows a searchable picker, so every id on the key appears without typing. Kilo also sells inference itself: Kilo Gateway at provider rates plus 5% on credit purchases, and Kilo Pass from $19 a month (read 2026-10-19).

Pick Kilo Code for JetBrains, a model picker across many ids, or a team that wants one custom provider shared as BYOK. Pick Claude Code for the Claude harness. Is Kilo Code better than Cursor? They are different shapes, an extension on your key against an editor with a subscription; the Kilo Code guide works the per-token bill.

Three closed tools share the search results with the four above, and none of them is an on-key tool here, so this section states only how each bills. GitHub Copilot is a per-seat subscription inside the editor, with premium requests metered on top of the seat. OpenAI Codex is a terminal and cloud agent sold through ChatGPT plans and OpenAI's API. Gemini Code Assist is Google's editor assistant with a free tier and per-seat plans (all read 2026-10-19 on the pages linked).

None of them takes a base URL to another gateway, which is the line this post draws: the GPT and Gemini models themselves run in OpenCode, Kilo, Cline and Zoo Code from this key, in the OpenAI format, at the rates on the Models page. The tools do not.

OpenCode (MIT), Cline, Zoo Code and Kilo Code (Apache-2.0) are free to install and open source, licenses read 2026-10-19 on their repositories. Claude Code's CLI is on GitHub for issues and releases; the Free Claude plan does not include it.

What costs money in every one of them is the model, per token. A steady day of 150 turns is $0.17 on Claude Haiku 5.5 and $1.94 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 here, against $0.26 and $4.05 at Anthropic's list. There is no free tier on this key; the smallest top-up is $10, and the free AI API post works what $10 buys per model.

One base URL and one key. Claude Code takes two variables in the Anthropic format (Claude Code setup docs); the other four take an OpenAI-compatible provider.

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.uplinkswitch.com/v1"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="sk-uplink-live-..."
claude

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "provider": {
    "uplinkswitch": {
      "npm": "@ai-sdk/openai-compatible",
      "name": "UplinkSwitch",
      "options": {
        "baseURL": "https://api.uplinkswitch.com/v1",
        "apiKey": "{env:UPLINKSWITCH_API_KEY}"
      },
      "models": {
        "claude-sonnet-5-5": { "name": "Claude Sonnet 5.5" },
        "glm-5.3": { "name": "GLM 5.3" },
        "deepseek-v4-pro-0813": { "name": "DeepSeek V4 Pro" },
        "kimi-k3": { "name": "Kimi K3" }
      }
    }
  },
  "model": "uplinkswitch/claude-sonnet-5-5",
  "small_model": "uplinkswitch/claude-haiku-5-5"
}

API Provider: OpenAI Compatible
Base URL:     https://api.uplinkswitch.com/v1
API Key:      sk-uplink-live-...
Model:        claude-sonnet-5-5     (or glm-5.3, deepseek-v4-pro-0813, kimi-k3)

{
  "provider": {
    "uplinkswitch": {
      "npm": "@ai-sdk/openai-compatible",
      "env": ["UPLINKSWITCH_API_KEY"],
      "models": {
        "claude-sonnet-5-5": { "name": "Claude Sonnet 5.5" },
        "glm-5.3": { "name": "GLM 5.3" }
      },
      "options": { "baseURL": "https://api.uplinkswitch.com/v1" }
    }
  },
  "model": "uplinkswitch/claude-sonnet-5-5"
}

Create one key per tool in the console, so each shows its own line in the usage log, and give each a monthly spend limit, so a loop in one tool stops at a number you chose. Every key on the account draws on the same prepaid balance. To run GLM, DeepSeek or Kimi inside Claude Code itself, which sends only the Anthropic format, see Claude Code Router setup with one API key.

The search results want alternatives, and the five tools above are them. The other way out of a Claude Code bill is to keep the tool and change the key: Claude Code on this base URL bills the Claude models under Anthropic's list, with prompt caching intact and no plan. The Claude Code pricing post works a day and a month against the Pro and Max prices, and coding plans vs pay-per-token API does the same for the Kimi, GLM and Qwen plans. Reviews are on Product Hunt.

Is there anything better than Claude Code? Better depends on what you measure. For Claude models with Anthropic’s own harness, Claude Code is the reference. For other models in the same job, OpenCode and Kilo Code run GLM, DeepSeek and Kimi from one picker, and Cline and Zoo Code do it inside VS Code. On cost, the tool matters less than the per-token rate: every tool on this page bills the same tokens on the same key.

What are some free alternatives to Claude Code? OpenCode, Cline, Zoo Code and Kilo Code are free and open source (licenses read 2026-10-19 on their repositories). What costs money is the model, per token. A steady day of 150 agent turns on Claude Haiku 5.5 is $0.17 here, $0.26 at Anthropic's list.

Is Claude Code still the best for coding? Anthropic’s harness and the Claude models are still the pairing most of the comparison articles in the search results favour, and nothing on this page changes that. What the alternatives add is choice: other models, open source, VS Code instead of a terminal, and no plan. Pick by where you work and which models you want; the key and the bill are the same.

Is there a ChatGPT alternative to Claude Code? OpenAI’s equivalent is Codex, a terminal and cloud agent sold through ChatGPT plans and its API. It is not an on-key tool here. OpenCode, Kilo Code, Cline and Zoo Code run GPT ids from this key in the OpenAI format, so the GPT models work in any of them without Codex.

OpenCode vs Claude Code: which costs less per task? Neither tool bills anything on a key; the model does, and the same model costs the same per token in both. The difference per task comes from how much context each tool re-sends and how much of it hits the cache, which depends on the task. We have not published measured runs; the table above prices one fixed turn shape instead.

Can Cline use Claude models? Yes. Cline’s OpenAI Compatible provider takes any id on the key, Claude ids included, since the Claude models answer the OpenAI format here. Type one id in the Model field; switch models by editing it.

Is Roo Code still active? No. The Roo Code extension was shut down on May 15, 2026; its Marketplace listing and archived repository point to Zoo Code, the community fork, and to Cline (read 2026-10-19). Zoo Code keeps the same OpenAI Compatible panel, so the same base URL, key and model ids work. See the Zoo Code setup.

Is Kilo Code free or paid? The extension and CLI are free for individuals. Inference is separate: Kilo Gateway bills provider rates plus a 5% fee on credit purchases, Kilo Pass is a $19 to $199 monthly credit plan, and a custom provider takes your own key with no fee (kilo.ai/pricing, read 2026-10-19). See the Kilo Code guide.

Is Claude Code better than GitHub Copilot? They bill differently and run differently. Copilot is a per-seat subscription inside the editor with premium requests on top; Claude Code is a terminal agent on a plan or a per-token key. This page measured neither against the other, so the honest answer is the billing model: a seat for Copilot, tokens for Claude Code and every tool above.