Continue.dev Pricing, Model Economics & Free Extension Guide (2026)
Continue.dev is the premier open-source AI pair programmer for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs. Calculate your BYOK cloud token costs or configure free local offline Ollama models.
Quick Answer: Continue.dev is 100% free and open-source forever. It does not sell subscriptions. For cloud models (Claude 3.7 Sonnet, GPT-4o, DeepSeek V3), you pay standard API provider rates via your own API keys (BYOK). For zero API costs, Continue seamlessly connects to local Ollama instances (e.g. Qwen 2.5 Coder) for $0/month.
Using local Ollama (StarCoder2) for tab autocomplete and DeepSeek V3 for chat keeps your monthly bill under $8.
Recommended Continue.dev Model Configurations & Cost Math
How configuring split models for Tab Autocomplete vs Chat maximizes developer velocity.
| Setup Strategy | Autocomplete Model | Chat / Edit Model | Monthly Token Cost | Privacy Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% Local (Free) | StarCoder2 3B (Ollama) | Qwen 2.5 Coder 14B (Ollama) | $0.00 / month | 100% Air-Gapped Local |
| Hybrid Budget | StarCoder2 3B (Local) | DeepSeek V3 (Cloud API) | $4.00 – $9.00 / mo | Cloud API (Zero Training) |
| Frontier Quality | Codestral (Mistral API) | Claude 3.7 Sonnet (Anthropic) | $18.00 – $35.00 / mo | Commercial Cloud API |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Continue.dev deployment and cost.
Open-Source IDE Extension Architecture, BYOK Economics & Enterprise TCO vs Copilot
Continue is the leading open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs. Built on a modular, vendor-agnostic architecture, Continue gives developers complete control over model routing: autocomplete, inline code edits, codebase indexing, and multi-file chat can each be assigned to different model backends (e.g., local Ollama for free autocomplete, Claude 3.5 Sonnet for deep architectural refactoring, and DeepSeek-V3 for fast unit test generation). Continue charges zero licensing fees, eliminating SaaS per-seat subscriptions in favor of pure utility API billing.
Continue BYOK Model vs Proprietary Enterprise Tools (100 Engineers)
| Development Setup | Monthly Cost / Seat | Monthly Spend (100 Devs) | Telemetry / Privacy | Model Customizability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continue + Local Autocomplete + DeepSeek-V3 | ~$4.50 (Avg API) | $450.00 / mo | 100% Private (No Middleman) | Full control (Any model) |
| GitHub Copilot Business | $19.00 / seat | $1,900.00 / mo | Microsoft Cloud Telemetry | Fixed (GPT-4o / Claude) |
| Cursor Enterprise | $40.00 / seat | $4,000.00 / mo | Proprietary Cloud Proxy | Restricted to Cursor pool |
Enterprise Configuration in `config.json`
Configure split model execution routing local autocomplete to Ollama and chat to DeepSeek:
{
"models": [
{
"title": "DeepSeek-V3 Chat",
"provider": "deepseek",
"model": "deepseek-chat",
"apiKey": "${env:DEEPSEEK_API_KEY}"
}
],
"tabAutocompleteModel": {
"title": "Local Qwen 2.5 Coder 7B",
"provider": "ollama",
"model": "qwen2.5-coder:7b-base",
"apiBase": "http://localhost:11434"
},
"allowAnonymousTelemetry": false
}Zero Telemetry & Corporate Air-Gapped Security
Unlike closed-source proprietary editors, Continue's codebase is fully auditable under the Apache-2.0 license. Setting `"allowAnonymousTelemetry": false` guarantees that zero telemetry packets, prompt completions, or file snippets leave developer workstations, satisfying stringent defense, banking, and ISO 27001 compliance standards.
Enterprise Model Gateway & Secret Masking
When deploying Continue across large enterprise engineering teams, organizations can route all IDE completion and chat traffic through an internal LiteLLM or Portkey model gateway. This allows centralized cost attribution, dynamic budget quotas per developer team, and automated regex masking that strips confidential API tokens, passwords, and PII before prompts leave company infrastructure.
This architecture delivers complete enterprise security compliance while slashing overall coding tool spend by up to 80% compared to closed SaaS subscriptions.
Continue Workspace Context Rules & Local Privacy Audits
Enterprise security administrators can distribute `.continueignore` configurations across software repositories. Excluding confidential configuration files and private certificates prevents sensitive credentials from entering context windows, guaranteeing complete data sovereignty for corporate development teams.
Open-Source Copilot Architecture: 100% Free IDE Assistant Economics
Continue.dev is the leading open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm). Unlike proprietary commercial coding assistants (GitHub Copilot at $10-$19/mo, Cursor at $20/mo) that lock developers into closed model routing and telemetry tracking, Continue.dev is 100% free and open-source under the Apache 2.0 license.
Continue operates as an unbundled modular client: developers connect their own wholesale API keys (Anthropic, DeepSeek, OpenAI) or connect to a local Ollama daemon on their workstation. A developer using Continue paired with local Qwen 2.5 Coder 7B achieves instant tab-autocomplete and inline code chat for $0.00 per month with complete air-gapped code privacy.
Monthly TCO Benchmark Across Continue Configurations
| Continue Setup | Model Backend | Monthly Cost (1,500 Queries) | Codebase Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continue + Local Ollama | Qwen 2.5 Coder 7B / Llama 3.2 | $0.00 / mo (Local GPU) | 100% Air-Gapped / Zero Cloud Data |
| Continue + DeepSeek-V3 API | DeepSeek-V3 ($0.14/$0.28 per 1M) | ~$0.65 / mo | Direct DeepSeek API connection |
| Continue + Claude 3.7 Sonnet | Anthropic API (Prompt Cached) | ~$6.50 / mo | Direct Anthropic API (Zero retention) |
| Cursor Pro (Proprietary) | Closed proprietary routing | $20.00 / mo | Proprietary telemetry logging |