Aider vs Claude Cowork: Side-by-Side Comparison 2026
Aider vs Claude Cowork comparison 2026. Side-by-side features, pricing & capabilities.
| Feature | Aider | Claude Cowork |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Agent | Agent |
| Starting Price | Free | $20/mo |
| Model Family | Multi-model (any) | Claude |
| Context Window | Depends on model | 1M (beta) |
| Code Completion | ✗ | ✓ |
| Chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inline Editing | ✗ | ✗ |
| Agentic Mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-File Editing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terminal Commands | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser Use | ✗ | ✗ |
| Test Generation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Debugging | ✓ | ✗ |
| Refactoring | ✓ | ✗ |
| Code Review | ✗ | ✗ |
| PR Review | ✗ | ✗ |
| Documentation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Image to Code | ✗ | ✗ |
| Voice Input | ✓ | ✗ |
| App Generation | ✗ | ✗ |
| Deployment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Git Integration | ✗ | ✗ |
| Supported IDEs | Terminal (editor-agnostic) | N/A (Desktop app) |
| Open Source | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No |
Pricing verified 2026-02-05. Aider pricing | Claude Cowork pricing
Overview
Aider is ai agent from Paul Gauthier (Open Source). Claude Cowork is ai agent from Anthropic. Both tools are actively maintained as of 2026.
Aider: What You Get
Open-source CLI tool for AI pair programming. Works with OpenAI, Claude, and other models to edit code in your local git repo.
- Git-aware editing
- Multi-file editing
- Model agnostic
- Voice coding
- Image support
- Linting integration
Pricing: Free. 1 plan available.
Models: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o, GPT-4, Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, local (Ollama), any OpenAI-compatible
Claude Cowork: What You Get
Claude Cowork — AI Desktop Agent from Anthropic. Autonomous File/Task Agent.
- Code completions
- AI chat
- Agentic mode
- Multi-file editing
- Terminal commands
Pricing: $20/mo. 5 plans available.
Models: Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Haiku 4.5
Key Differences
- Category: Aider is ai agent, Claude Cowork is ai agent.
- Free tier: Aider has a free tier; Claude Cowork does not.
- Model family: Aider uses Multi-model (any); Claude Cowork uses Claude.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Aider if you want Fully open-source with transparent development. Choose Claude Cowork if you want Claude Cowork handles multi-step tasks independently. Both tools are strong options — the right choice depends on your workflow and priorities.
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