What a lot of people don’t mention here is the choice of an AI model.
The key word in the OP post is “Claude”. Anthropic has 2 amazing AI models (Sonnet, Opus), however they’re just a part of a much bigger picture.
When using AI for programming, you’re essentially interacting with AI models. The quality of output you get really depends on the model at the end of the day.
Claude Code is optimized for models from Anthropic. You also have model-agnostic agents like Cursor and Kilo Code (disclaimer: I work at Kilo) where you can easily switch up models and see which one works the best for you converting an old jQuery + Django project into SvelteKit.
This area is moving at a crazy rate. Just the last 2 weeks alone, there were 3 main AI model versions released (first Gemini 3, then Opus 4.5, then GPT-5.2). I wrote a piece comparing their performance across 3 coding tasks [1]
So my advice is to also experiment a lot with the models because the quality can vary wildly depending on your stack.
I am constantly surprised how seldom aider is mentioned in threads like this. I understand that it's not directly integrated into the editor, but the "editor + parallel CLI tool chain" paradigm feels so natural to me because we drop to terminal for so many other parts of building software. If you haven't tried it (particularly the architect/editor modality), it's worth a couple of hours of experimenting.
Aider doesn’t provide any interface that’s integrated into the editor tool, as you point out. That might be true for other similar side-by-side tools that I am not aware of.
But, if you tell aider to watch your files, you can drop a specially formatted comment into your file, and aider will see that and use it as a prompt.
So the integration is sort of “implicit”. Which sounds kinda like the cheap way to go, in comparison to the current brand name tools that have their own chat boxes, dropdowns with mode selectors (ask, edit, agent), and so on.
But look further into the future and an ambient interface is probably where we end up. Something where the Ai agent is just watching what you do, maybe even watching your eyes and seeing what you’re attending to, and then harmonizing its attention to what you are attending to.
Tight editor integration means better diffs (right in your editor), easier context manager, and other convenience features that CLI-only tools can't have.
This doesn't mean that aider, claude code, etc. aren't very good tools, but it does make sense to distinguish between built-in tools vs external ones. A similar non-AI example is debugging or linting: IDE integration makes it much easier than using a separate tool.
Our plan is to be a superset of Cline and Roo's features (we already have all the major features from both) [0]
We also have our own provider, which means no need to bring your own API keys (you can if you like, but it is batteries included by default) and we're not charging anything on top of the API pricing. Instead of monetizing on individual developers, we want it to be free for them and make money eventually off enterprise contracts [1]
Yes - with our built-in provider, we provide all the models that OpenRouter provides but without OpenRouter's 5% markup. We provide them at cost (the AI provider cost)
maybe you could answer a question about kilo usage: If I choose Google Gemini as the API provider and give it my Gemini API key, why does it say that I'm low on credits (and I get API request failures immediately)? As far as I understand gemini 2.5 pro preview is free to use. (and in Cline I'm able to choose Google Gemini as the API provider & provide my API key and it will successfully make API requests)
The entire workflow for "AI coding agents" boils down to:
1. You write a prompt
2. The agent wraps it in a system prompt and sends it to the LLM
3. The LLM sends back a response
4. The agent performs specific actions based on that response (editing files, creating new ones, etc.)
I don't see why anyone would ditch their current (non-AI) IDE for Cursor just to get this functionality (especially if you're getting hit with a monthly subscription fee on top of it.)
P.S. I maintain a VS Code extension that does the 4 steps above as a baseline[1]
1) Popularity. While there are plenty of die-on-a-hill users for ____ app, there are just as many people who will step away to try something and find they like it. Lots of devs use VScode, but its only been around for 10 years. Some people still swear by Notepad++
2) Demand from on-high: When the non-tech boss shows up and says "Everyone use this now". I don't know how much this happens, but it does happen. Technical dictates from someone who shouldn't be making the decision, probably for a non-technical reason.
3) I hesitate to bring this one up, but here we go: People don't know any better. There is a new generation of developers coming up who are leaning hard into vibe coding. And just when I was young, there are plenty of seasoned developers crying out about it's validity. The new generation will pick their own tools - in part to distance themselves from the current generation.
As someone who has basically been told by the boss "I'm the one pushing for AI, so we all have to make it a success" I can see 2 being a thing because it lets them point at the desks and say "see, they're all using the tools."
We're a JetBrains shop, so they showed us Cursor and how to set up Claude in a terminal window, and I think most of our team has been using Claude because we don't want to give up the experience we're used to for the non-AI parts of the day.
I've been very happy with VSCode + Gemini 2.5 (a recentish integration). I will re-evaluate Cursor again but I can't imagine they're going to be able to beat Microsoft to the punch.
After trying a lot of them, the need for a real ide is even stronger. Every single tool I've tried creates bugs, unrequired code, mistakes, hallucinations. Currently playing with Junie and Augment, and CoPilot holds up surprisingly well, not sure why people are so eager to ditch it.
Why do people pay for water bottles when it comes out of the sink for free? Why do people use Dropbox when you could just mount a filesystem with curlftpfs? Why do people pay for Docusign or Postman or Duolingo?
Cursor has consistently felt faster and easier to use with better inline auto-complete and faster large edits in chat than VSCode ever did. The way suggestions and chat is shown is just a bit easier to read and more elegantly presented.
There's definitely a negative sentiment around "vibe coding" on HN. I remember a few days ago seeing a story [1] on the home page which immediately got downvoted/flagged.
I think you're right. A price of 183 means that the seller is offering it to potential buyers at 183, not that it has sold at 183. So your calculation is correct.
The key word in the OP post is “Claude”. Anthropic has 2 amazing AI models (Sonnet, Opus), however they’re just a part of a much bigger picture.
When using AI for programming, you’re essentially interacting with AI models. The quality of output you get really depends on the model at the end of the day. Claude Code is optimized for models from Anthropic. You also have model-agnostic agents like Cursor and Kilo Code (disclaimer: I work at Kilo) where you can easily switch up models and see which one works the best for you converting an old jQuery + Django project into SvelteKit.
This area is moving at a crazy rate. Just the last 2 weeks alone, there were 3 main AI model versions released (first Gemini 3, then Opus 4.5, then GPT-5.2). I wrote a piece comparing their performance across 3 coding tasks [1]
So my advice is to also experiment a lot with the models because the quality can vary wildly depending on your stack.
[1] https://blog.kilo.ai/p/we-tested-gpt-52pro-vs-opus-45-vs