AI coding assistants · #4 of 34 · ↑ Claude Code · ↓ OpenAI Codex
Aider
Aider ranks #4 of 34 in ai coding assistants in the week of 12 October 2026, with a visibility score of 23 across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. It was named in 41% of the answers we sampled.
Aider lands an overall score of 22 out of 100, showing up in 27 of 70 answers across AI assistants. The picture varies a lot by assistant: Claude rates it 45, while ChatGPT and Gemini put it much lower at 11 and 12. Aider shows up most for local-privacy setups, terminal use, whole-codebase work and open-source questions, each named in 3 of 3 or 3 of 4 answers, plus 2 of 4 for free options. It's never named for beginner coding, pull-request review, VS Code, or mobile app building questions.
this is mine claim it, free, forever. We also check whether ChatGPT and Claude can read aider.chat.
Who's talking about you
| assistant | score | named in, this week | usual spot, this week |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 15 | 25% of answers | #3.8 |
| Claude | 45 | 75% of answers | #5.8 |
| Gemini | 15 | 36% of answers | #9.0 |
| Perplexity | 16 | 26% of answers | #5.0 |
Questions you win
| question | named in | best spot |
|---|---|---|
| What's the best open-source AI coding assistant? | 4 of 4 | #1 |
| What are the best alternatives to Claude Code? | 4 of 4 | #1 |
| What's the best AI coding assistant that works in the terminal? | 3 of 3 | #2 |
| What are the best free AI coding assistants? | 3 of 3 | #4 |
| What are the best alternatives to Cursor? | 4 of 4 | #6 |
| What are the best AI coding agents that can work across a whole codebase? | 2 of 3 | #3 |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for Python? | 2 of 3 | #4 |
| What are the best alternatives to Windsurf? | 2 of 3 | #6 |
| What's the best AI coding assistant I can run locally for privacy? | 2 of 4 | #3 |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for a solo developer building a SaaS? | 2 of 4 | #4 |
| What are the top AI coding assistants in 2026? | 2 of 4 | #4 |
| What are the best alternatives to GitHub Copilot? | 2 of 4 | #5 |
| What are the best AI coding assistants? | 2 of 4 | #6 |
| Which AI coding assistant is best for professional developers? | 2 of 4 | #6 |
| Which AI coding assistant is best for large codebases? | 1 of 3 | #5 |
| Which AI coding assistant gives the best value for the money? | 1 of 3 | #6 |
| What's the best AI code editor right now? | 1 of 3 | #10 |
| Which AI coding tool is best for writing tests? | 1 of 4 | #4 |
| Which AI coding tool writes the most reliable code? | 1 of 4 | #8 |
Questions you lose
| question | who got named instead |
|---|---|
| What's the best AI coding assistant for beginners learning to code? | GitHub Copilot, Cursor |
| What's the best AI tool for writing and fixing React and Next.js code? | Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot |
| What's the best AI tool to review pull requests automatically? | CodeRabbit, Greptile, GitHub Copilot |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for VS Code? | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Cline |
| What's the best AI coding assistant for building mobile apps? | Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code |
Assistants cited 13 pages for questions in this category that name your rivals and not you. Claim to see them. See all sources for AI coding assistants.
In their words
- ChatGPT“!Aider: AI Pair Programming in Your Terminal | Product Hunt”
- Gemini“Aider (Top Pick for Terminal Users)”
- Claude“Aider's niche is distinctive — open-source, terminal-based, bring-your-own-model, with automatic git commits — so the best alternative depends on which of those properties matter most to you.”
Closest rivals
- Aider vs OpenAI Codex22
- Aider vs Windsurf21
- Aider vs Cline20
- Aider vs Continue15
- Aider vs JetBrains AI Assistant11
All Aider alternatives · Full AI coding assistants leaderboard · Sources