Stop Paying $20/Month for AI Coding: This Open Source Tool Just Changed Everything

I looked at my credit card statement yesterday and almost threw up.

Cursor: $20. Claude Pro: $20. ChatGPT Plus: $20. GitHub Copilot: $10.

It’s the "AI Tax." We’re all paying it because we’re terrified of falling behind. We justify it by saying, "It makes me more productive." And it does. But deep down, you know it’s getting ridiculous. You’re paying four different landlords for the same plot of digital land.

Well, I have good news. You can stop.

I just found a tool that feels illegal, but it’s actually open source, fully legitimate, and if you already have GitHub Copilot, completely free to use with the most powerful models on the planet.

It’s called OpenCode.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, you will. It has quietly amassed 60,000 GitHub stars and 650,000 active developers according to opencode.ai. While everyone was arguing about whether Cursor or Claude Code was better, OpenCode just ate everyone’s lunch.

Here is why you need to download this thing immediately, and how it’s going to save you hundreds of dollars a year.

The "Secret" That Isn't a Secret Anymore

Most people think GitHub Copilot is just that little ghost text in VS Code that suggests the next line of code.

"That’s like using a Ferrari to deliver Uber Eats."

Under the hood, your Copilot subscription gives you access to a massive amount of compute power. But GitHub’s default interface bottlenecks it. They limit what you can do.

OpenCode removes the bottleneck.

It’s a terminal based AI agent that connects directly to your existing GitHub Copilot authentication. Once you link them, OpenCode unlocks the full roster of premium models: Claude Sonic 4, GPT 4.1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro.

You read that right. No usage caps. No extra $20 subscription for Anthropic. No "message limit reached" errors. Just raw, unadulterated access to the smartest models in existence, running directly in your terminal.

This Is "Agentic" Coding (And Why It Matters)

"Okay," you’re thinking. "So it’s a chat bot in my terminal. Big deal."

No. It’s not a chatbot. It’s an agent.

There is a massive difference.

Chatbots (ChatGPT, Claude Web): You paste code in. They give you a suggestion. You copy it back. You fix the indentation errors. You realize they forgot to import the library. You cry a little.

Agents (OpenCode): You tell it what to do. It opens your files. It writes the code. It runs the terminal commands to install the packages. It runs the tests. If the test fails, it reads the error message and fixes the code itself.

It’s like having a junior developer who types 1,000 words per minute, never sleeps, and doesn't complain when you ask them to write unit tests at 3 AM.

How to Set It Up (It Takes 30 Seconds)

I’m not exaggerating about the speed. Here is the exact workflow:

Install it.
Go to opencode.ai or just use Homebrew if you’re on a Mac.

brew install opencode

Authenticate.
Type opencode in your terminal. It will ask you to sign in.
Select "GitHub Copilot" as your provider.
This is the magic step. If you are logged into GitHub on your machine, it just works.

Pick Your Brain.
It will ask you which model you want to drive the car.

Need complex logic and reasoning? Choose Claude Sonic 4.

Need creative architectural ideas? Go with GPT 4.1.

Need raw speed for a massive codebase? Gemini 2.5 Pro is your beast.

You can switch between them mid session. It’s absurdly flexible.

I Built a Real Business Tool in 4 Minutes

Let’s stop talking theory. I wanted to see if this thing could actually build something useful, or if it was just hype.

I challenged it to build a Lead Generation API for my business. I wanted a Node.js Express server that could:

Capture emails.

Validate them (no fake @test.com emails).

Store them in a database.

Fire a webhook to notify me on Slack.

The Prompt:

"Build a Node.js Express API for lead capture. Include email validation, SQLite storage, and a webhook notification. Make it production ready with tests and error handling."

I hit enter. I took a sip of coffee.

By the time I put the mug down, OpenCode was already flying.

It scanned my directory.

It created the server.js file.

It wrote the routes.

It installed express, sqlite3, and axios.

It created a tests folder.

It ran the tests.

Here is the crazy part: The first test failed. I didn't touch anything. OpenCode saw the red text in the terminal, analyzed the stack trace, realized it missed a middleware configuration, edited the file, and ran the test again.

Green.

It didn’t ask for permission. It just fixed it.

If I had hired a freelancer on Upwork to do this, it would have cost me $200 and taken three days. OpenCode did it in four minutes for free.

Don't Forget the Visuals

While OpenCode handles the backend logic and the terminal commands, you eventually need to make your tool look good. OpenCode is amazing at code, but it doesn't generate image assets.

For the frontend assets, logos, and UI concepts to match this high speed coding workflow, I use OpenArt.

It pairs perfectly with this "agentic" workflow because it allows you to generate consistent, production quality assets in seconds. Just as OpenCode removes the friction from coding, OpenArt removes the friction from design. I use it to generate everything from the favicon to the hero images for the landing pages OpenCode builds for me.

Why It Beats Cursor and Claude Code

I know what you're thinking. "I love Cursor. Why would I switch?"

I love Cursor too. But OpenCode has three distinct advantages that are making me reconsider my entire workflow.

1. The "Non Interactive" Mode
   This is a game changer for automation. You can run OpenCode in "headless" mode using the -p flag.
   Imagine a script that runs every morning, scrapes your competitor's pricing page, analyzes the changes using GPT 4.1, and emails you a summary. You can schedule OpenCode to do that entirely in the background. It’s not just a coding tool; it’s an automation worker.

2. Privacy & Control
   Because it runs in your terminal, your code stays local. You aren’t pasting proprietary business logic into a web browser. For anyone working on sensitive projects or under strict NDAs, this is non negotiable.

3. The Price Tag
   Cursor is $20/month.
   Claude Code (Anthropic’s tool) has usage limits that you hit surprisingly fast.
   OpenCode piggybacks off the GitHub Copilot subscription you (probably) already have. It turns a $10/month sunk cost into a superpower.

The "Junior Developer" Effect

The most underrated feature is the Web UI.

OpenCode spins up a local server (opencode.ai in your browser) that visualizes what the agent is doing. You can share this link.

If you are training a real junior developer, or you want to show a client progress, you can send them the session link. They can watch the AI write the code in real time. It’s a fantastic way to collaborate without jumping on a Zoom call to screen share.

Final Thoughts: The Gap Is Widening

There is a widening gap between developers who use AI as a fancy spellchecker and developers who use AI as an employee.

The former get 10% faster. The latter get 10x faster.

OpenCode is the first tool I’ve seen that truly democratizes the "Agentic" workflow. It gives you the power of the most expensive enterprise tools, but it keeps the open source ethos and price point.

If you are running a business, you can use this to build internal tools like CRMs, scrapers, or landing page generators without hiring a dev team.
If you are a coder, you can offload the boring boilerplate work and focus on the architecture.

The barrier to entry just dropped to zero. Go download it. Give it a spin. And please, for the love of your bank account, cancel a few of those $20 subscriptions.