AI-powered IDEs: which one to use in 2025 for development and scripting
VS Code with Continue or Copilot, Cursor, Zed AI, JetBrains AI, Windsurf: a practical comparison for people who write code or scripts every day. Pricing, pros, integration with local models.
Published: June 3, 2025
Before choosing an AI-powered IDE, understand the difference that actually matters: autocomplete vs agent. Autocomplete (Copilot, Codeium) suggests the next line — useful, but limited. An agent (Cursor Composer, Claude Code, Windsurf Cascade) understands the project, reads multiple files, and can modify the entire codebase on your instruction. These are two different things. Choose based on what you actually need.
VS Code: two paths
VS Code + Continue.dev is the choice if you want total freedom. Continue is open source, free, and installs as an extension:
# From the VS Code command palette
ext install Continue.Continue
The main advantage: it supports local models via Ollama and cloud APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral) from a single interface. You can use Qwen2.5 locally for code and Claude for explanations, configuring everything in a JSON file. It does require some initial setup though.
VS Code + GitHub Copilot is the choice if you want something that works right away and you’re already in the Microsoft/GitHub ecosystem. It costs $10/month (included with GitHub Education and many Enterprise plans). The most battle-tested option, with GitHub Copilot Chat integration in the side panel and excellent inline experience. It doesn’t support local models — everything goes through Microsoft’s servers.
Cursor and Windsurf: the agents
Cursor is a VS Code fork that added Composer, the agent mode. Describe what you want to do — “add JWT authentication to this API” — and it reads the relevant files, proposes changes across multiple files, and applies them after your approval. It works with Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet and GPT-4o as backends. Costs $20/month, with a free tier of 2000 completions. It’s the go-to for people who develop full-time with AI.
Windsurf by Codeium does the same thing with Cascade mode. It has a more generous free tier than Cursor (monthly credits without a daily cap), is somewhat lighter, but has a smaller context window when working on large projects. An excellent entry point if you want to try the agent workflow without paying upfront.
Zed AI and JetBrains: the alternatives
Zed AI is a minimalist, fast editor written in Rust with native AI built in. If you find VS Code heavy or slow, Zed is noticeably more responsive. The plugin ecosystem is still small, but for people who primarily work in one or two languages it works great. Available on macOS and Linux.
JetBrains AI Assistant makes sense almost exclusively if you already use IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, or another JetBrains IDE. It’s included in JetBrains plans starting from €7.90/month (or in the All Products plan). Switching IDEs just for AI isn’t worth it — but if you’re already there, it’s well integrated with the native refactoring tools and static analysis.
Summary table
| IDE | Price | AI type | Local models | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VS Code + Continue | Free | Autocomplete + Chat | Yes (Ollama) | Those who want full control |
| VS Code + Copilot | $10/month | Autocomplete + Chat | No | Microsoft/GitHub ecosystem |
| Cursor | $20/month | Agent + Autocomplete | No (cloud API only) | Full-time AI development |
| Windsurf | Free + plans | Agent + Autocomplete | No | First step into agent workflow |
| Zed AI | Free (AI paid) | Integrated chat | Partial | Those who want speed and simplicity |
| JetBrains AI | €7.90/month | Autocomplete + Chat | No | Existing JetBrains users |
What to do
- If you’re just starting out, try Cursor on a free tier for a week on a real project — the productivity jump from agent mode is hard to understand without experiencing it.
- If data privacy is a constraint (proprietary code, sensitive data), VS Code + Continue + Ollama is the only solution that sends nothing outside your network.
- Don’t switch IDEs just for AI: if you’re on JetBrains or Zed and you’re happy there, add AI where you can without migrating everything.