Continue vs HuggingChat (2026)
A head-to-head comparison to help you pick the right tool
Continue
Continue is an open-source AI code assistant that integrates into VS Code and JetBrains, letting you use any LLM as your coding assistant.
Get Pricing →HuggingChat
HuggingChat is Hugging Face's open-source AI chat interface giving free access to powerful open-source language models.
Get Pricing →Pros
- ✓Open source and free
- ✓Use any LLM including local models
- ✓Good IDE integration
- ✓Privacy-friendly local model option
Cons
- ✗Requires LLM API keys
- ✗Less polished than Copilot
- ✗Setup required
Pros
- ✓Completely free
- ✓Open source models
- ✓No account required
- ✓Privacy-friendly options
Cons
- ✗Less polished than ChatGPT
- ✗Inconsistent quality across models
- ✗No built-in tools like web search
Our Take
Choose Continue if privacy-conscious developers who want to use their own llm with ai coding assistance. Choose HuggingChat if developers and researchers who want free access to open-source language models for experimentation.