01In plain English
Open-source software publishes its code under a licence that lets anyone read it, change it and run it. Some companies release everything this way. Others open part of the product and sell the rest.
02Why it matters when you are choosing
Open source means you are not locked in: if the vendor changes course, the code is still yours to run. It also lets your team check exactly what the software does.
03What to check
Ask the vendor
Check the licence (some limit commercial use), which features are in the open version, and how active the project is.
04The tools
6of 53 checked
6 of the 53 tools we checked are open source. Each one is checked against the vendor's own pages. A tool missing from this list may not have been checked yet, which is not the same as a no.
Zed
7.2
Rank #6 of 11 AI coding assistants
Best:Pricing10
Weakest:Agents and your codebase5
Agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests: no
From $0Free plan
100% from published facts · checked 14 Sep
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Cline
7.2
Rank #6 of 11 AI coding assistants
Best:Pricing10
Weakest:Agents and your codebase4.5
Agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests: no
FreeFree plan
100% from published facts · checked 14 Sep
→
Aider
6.4
Rank #10 of 11 AI coding assistants
Best:Pricing10
Weakest:Agents and your codebase2.5
Agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests: no
FreeFree plan
96% from published facts · checked 14 Sep
→
Warp
7.4
Rank #5 of 11 AI coding assistants
Best:Pricing8.9
Weakest:Privacy and security5
Agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests: yes
From $20Free plan
94% from published facts · checked 14 Sep
→
GIMP
5.9
Rank #4 of 4 image editors
Best:Pricing10
Weakest:What it adds beyond the basics2.2
Free plan: yesFree trial: noAPI: yes
FreeFree plan
100% from published facts · checked 21 Sep
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Inkscape
6.7
Rank #2 of 3 vector editors
Best:Pricing8.5
Weakest:Workflow and output4.7
Free plan: yesFree trial: noAPI: yes
FreeFree plan
91% from published facts · checked 21 Sep
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