Claude Code: score, price and alternatives in 2026

Terminal-native coding agent with a permission-gated execution loop. Claude Code is made by Anthropic and ranks #3 of 100 in our ranking of AI agents, with a score of 87/100.

Score

87/100

Overall rank

#3

Coding rank

#2 of 27

Company

Anthropic

Claude Code pricing

Pro $20/mo ($17 billed annually); Max $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo.

Checked against the vendor's page on 2026-10-31. Official pricing page.

How Claude Code scores

Highest autonomy among coding tools, with permission gates and public pricing; momentum is strong. It does best on autonomy, pricing transparency and momentum.

• Adoption 16/20
• Autonomy 15/15
• Reliability 12/15
• Security & governance 8/10
• Integrations 8/10
• Ease of access 8/10
• Pricing transparency 10/10
• Momentum 10/10

Scores are editorial judgments on a 1 to 5 scale per criterion, weighted to a total out of 100. How the scoring works.

Claude Code alternatives

• GitHub Copilot (coding agent) (90/100, #2): Cloud coding agent and code review, the safest enterprise default for many teams.
• OpenAI Codex (84/100, #6): Delegates coding tasks to cloud and local agents inside ChatGPT plans.
• Cursor (78/100, #12): AI-first IDE with a multi-file agent; the most cited daily driver for developers.
• Cline (75/100, #22): Open-source coding agent that runs inside the editor.

See the full ranking of 100 AI agents, with search and filters.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Claude Code cost?

Pro $20/mo ($17 billed annually); Max $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo. We checked this on the vendor's official page on 2026-10-31; prices change often, so confirm there before you buy.

Does Claude Code have a free plan?

We did not find a free plan on the official page. Listed pricing: Pro $20/mo ($17 billed annually); Max $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo.

What is Claude Code?

Terminal-native coding agent with a permission-gated execution loop. It is made by Anthropic and sits in our Coding category.

How good is Claude Code compared with other AI agents?

It scores 87/100, which is #3 of 100 agents overall and #2 of 27 in Coding. Closest alternatives: GitHub Copilot (coding agent) (90/100), OpenAI Codex (84/100) and Cursor (78/100).

How is the score calculated?

Each agent gets 1 to 5 on 8 weighted criteria; the points add up to a total out of 100. The scores are Deyron Labs editorial judgments, not benchmarks.

Our independence

Scores and positions are never for sale, and vendors do not review or edit this page. There are no sponsored or affiliate links on it. If that ever changes, the links will be labeled. Spotted a wrong detail? Suggest a correction and include the official page that shows it. Visit Claude Code's official site.