Updated for 2026

AI Coding Agents Compared: 2026 Guide

Cursor vs Copilot vs Devin vs Claude Code — features, pricing, and ROI for engineering teams

Compare Agents Estimate ROI
6
Agents compared
1.5–8×
ROI range
$0–$500
Price range /mo
2026
Latest data

Compare AI Coding Agents

Select up to two agents to see a side-by-side comparison. Use filters to find the right tool for your team.

Cursor

Anysphere

$20–40/mo3–5× developer productivity
IDE

Custom (VS Code fork)

Autonomy
4/5

High (Agent mode)

Best For

Full-stack dev, agent-assisted coding

Best ValueIndividual DeveloperMost Autonomous

GitHub Copilot

GitHub / Microsoft

$10–39/mo1.5–3× productivity
IDE

VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim

Autonomy
3/5

Medium (suggestions + chat)

Best For

Code completion, pair programming

Best ValueEnterprise ReadyIndividual Developer

Devin

Cognition

~$500/mo2–8× for routine tasks
IDE

Standalone browser agent

Autonomy
5/5

Very High (autonomous)

Best For

Autonomous task completion

Most Autonomous

Claude Code

Anthropic

Usage-based (~$50–200/mo)3–6× for complex tasks
IDE

Terminal / CLI

Autonomy
4/5

High (agentic)

Best For

Complex refactoring, codebase analysis

Most AutonomousIndividual Developer

Windsurf

Codeium

$15–30/mo2–4× productivity
IDE

Custom (VS Code fork)

Autonomy
4/5

High (Cascade agent)

Best For

Flow-based coding, context-aware

Best ValueIndividual Developer

Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Web Services

Free–$25/mo1.5–3× for AWS teams
IDE

VS Code, JetBrains

Autonomy
3/5

Medium

Best For

AWS development, cloud-native

Best ValueEnterprise Ready
Quick ROI Estimator

Estimate Your Team's AI Coding Savings

Input your team size and average developer salary. We calculate estimated annual savings based on each tool's productivity multiplier (30% of work is code-related).

DevinTop ROI
$1.7M /year net
5× multiplier · ~$500/mo
Claude Code
$1.6M /year net
4.5× multiplier · Usage-based (~$50–200/mo)
Cursor
$1.3M /year net
4× multiplier · $20–40/mo
Windsurf
$897K /year net
3× multiplier · $15–30/mo
Amazon Q Developer
$561K /year net
2.25× multiplier · Free–$25/mo
GitHub Copilot
$560K /year net
2.25× multiplier · $10–39/mo

Formula: team_size × avg_salary × (productivity_multiplier − 1) × 0.3, minus annual tool cost. Uses midpoint of each tool's ROI range.

Calculate your engineering team's AI ROI
Evidence-Based Analysis

Will AI Coding Agents Replace Software Engineers?

A balanced, data-driven look at how AI agents are transforming — not replacing — engineering teams.

AI Automates Routine Coding

AI agents handle 40–60% of routine coding tasks like boilerplate, tests, and simple feature implementation — freeing engineers for higher-value work.

Engineers Shift to Architecture

Engineers are moving to system design, architecture decisions, AI orchestration, and complex problem-solving — areas where human judgment is irreplaceable.

2–5× More Output, Not Fewer Engineers

Companies using AI agents see dramatically higher output per engineer. Teams ship faster while headcount stays stable or grows to tackle new projects.

New Roles Are Emerging

AI-augmented engineer, prompt engineer, and agent orchestrator are becoming standard roles. The profession evolves — it doesn't disappear.

“Companies using coding agents report 55% faster feature delivery but 0% reduction in engineering headcount.”

— 2025 Developer Productivity Survey Data

Ready to Quantify Your AI Coding ROI?

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Frequently Asked Questions