Continue Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get
Continue is free and open source — you pay for models, not the tool. Solo is $0, the Models add-on is $20 a month, and Teams is $10 per user.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-08T16:23:21+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-08T16:23:21+00:00
Continue is a free, open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. It is free to use. You pay nothing for the extension itself. The cost comes from the language model you connect, plus optional paid add-ons. This guide explains Continue pricing in plain terms: what is free, what the paid options cost, and what you actually pay each month.
Prices in this continue pricing guide come from Continue's own pages and recent checks of them. Continue changes its packaging often, so confirm the figure on the pricing page before you pay.
Continue pricing at a glance
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Solo (free) | $0 | Full IDE extension, chat, autocomplete, edit and agent modes, bring your own model |
| Models add-on | $20 a month | Access to frontier models such as Claude and GPT-4o, no API key setup |
| Teams | $10 per user a month | Continue Hub, shared prompts and rules, MCP tool management, API key proxy |
| Enterprise | Custom | Single sign-on, allow and block list governance, on-premises data plane, audit controls |
Continue pricing: the free Solo plan
The Solo plan costs nothing. It includes the full extension with chat, autocomplete, edit mode and agent mode. It also includes context providers, which let the assistant read your codebase, docs and terminal output. There is no feature paywall on the core tool.
The catch is models. Solo does not include model access. You bring your own API keys or run local models. That means you pay the model provider directly. If you use a cheap model, your monthly cost can stay under $5. If you use a frontier model heavily, the bill grows with your usage. Local models through Ollama cost nothing beyond electricity.
For continue pricing, Solo suits individual developers who already have API keys, or who prefer local models for privacy. It also suits anyone who wants to try Continue without spending money. Setup takes longer than a managed tool, because you configure models and keys yourself.
Continue pricing: the Models add-on
The Models add-on costs $20 a month. It gives you access to frontier models such as Claude and GPT-4o without setting up API keys. You pay a flat monthly fee instead of a usage-based API bill. It is designed to cover typical developer usage.
This add-on suits developers who want simplicity. You skip key management, billing setup and per-token math. You also skip surprise API bills. The trade-off is control. You use the models Continue offers, at the limits Continue sets. Heavy users may still hit limits and need their own keys.
Compare this with bundled rivals. GitHub Copilot and Cursor charge about $20 a month for a similar bundle. Continue's add-on matches that price, but the base tool stays free. If you stop paying, you keep the extension and switch back to your own keys.
Continue pricing: the Teams plan
The Teams plan costs $10 per user a month. It adds Continue Hub, which centralises configuration for the whole team. Admins can share prompts, rules and model settings from one place. It also adds MCP tool management and an API key proxy, so the team shares keys safely instead of passing them around.
Teams suits engineering groups that want consistent setup. New hires get the same config on day one. Leads can set rules once and apply them everywhere. The plan is cheap next to rivals. A ten-person team pays $100 a month, before model costs.
Note that Teams is about management, not models. Your team still pays for model usage, either through API keys or the Models add-on. Budget for both lines when you plan the real monthly cost.
Continue pricing: Enterprise
Enterprise pricing is custom. It adds single sign-on with SAML or OIDC, allow and block list governance, an on-premises data plane and audit controls. It also includes custom contracts and service level agreements. Contact Continue sales for a quote. Enterprise suits large organisations with compliance needs and strict data rules.
Continue pricing: what it actually costs per month
Your real monthly cost has two parts: the Continue plan and the model bill. Work through three examples.
- Light user, local models: Solo at $0, plus Ollama locally at $0. Total: $0 a month.
- Regular user, own keys: Solo at $0, plus API spend of roughly $5 to $30 a month, based on usage. Total: $5 to $30 a month.
- Regular user, managed models: Solo at $0, plus the Models add-on at $20 a month. Total: $20 a month, with no separate API bill.
- Small team of five: Teams at $50 a month, plus model spend. With the Models add-on for each seat, that is $150 a month all in.
The open-source model is the key point. Continue never charges you for the tool itself. You pay for convenience or for team management. If your budget is tight, Solo with local models is genuinely free. If you want zero setup, $20 a month buys the managed route.
Continue pricing vs rivals
GitHub Copilot costs about $19 to $39 per user a month, with models included. Cursor charges about $20 a month for its Pro plan. Continue's Solo plan undercuts both at $0, but you pay the model provider separately. For light users, Continue is clearly cheaper. For heavy users of frontier models, the total can end up similar. The difference is control. Continue lets you pick any model, switch providers, or run everything locally. Rivals lock you into their model menu.
How to choose the right Continue plan
- Start with Solo. Install the extension, connect a model you already use, and work with it for a week.
- Track your API spend. Check your provider bill after a normal week. That number decides whether the $20 Models add-on saves you money.
- Add Teams when you share config. If your team pastes the same prompts and rules into chat, Hub will pay for itself.
- Talk to sales only for compliance. Enterprise is for single sign-on, audit logs and on-premises deployment, not for extra features.
Bottom line
Continue pricing is simple: the tool is free, and you pay only for models or management. Solo costs $0 and suits developers who bring their own keys or run local models. The Models add-on at $20 a month suits developers who want frontier models without key management. Teams at $10 per user a month suits groups that need shared configuration. Enterprise is custom and suits large organisations with compliance needs. For most solo developers, Solo plus a small API bill is the cheapest capable setup in the AI coding assistant market.