The 11 Best AI Coding Assistants in 2024

In 2024, Large Language Models (LLMs) based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) have matured and become an integral part of our workflow. One of AI's most widely used applications is a coding assistant, which is an essential tool that helps developers write more efficient, accurate, and error-free code, saving them valuable time and resources.

With numerous options available in the market, it can be overwhelming to choose the right AI coding assistant. In this blog, we explore the top 11 AI coding assistants, highlighting their unique features, capabilities, and accuracy in responding to the developer's queries.

What is an AI Coding Assistant?

AI coding assistant is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to help you write code more efficiently and accurately. It's like having a super-smart code reviewer, autocomplete, and integrated chat tool all in one.

The new code assistant, powered by the latest large language models, can assist you with:

1. Code suggestion: As you type, an AI coding assistant can suggest code snippets and functions that are relevant to the context of what you're working on.
2. Fix bugs: It can help you identify bugs and errors in your code before actually running it. It analyzes your code and provides suggestions to fix any errors.
3. Multi-language support: You don't need to learn a new programming language. You can generate and run code in any language.
4. Refactoring: An AI coding assistant can help you clean up your code and make it more readable. It can generate docstrings, add comments, format the code, generate unit tests, and more.
5. Natural language queries: You can chat with your AI assistant using natural language, much like with a human. This can assist with generating complex code or understanding code functionality.
6. Security guard: An AI coding assistant can look for security vulnerabilities in your code and provide suggestions for how to fix them.
7. Fix errors: If you encounter an error when running your code, an AI assistant can help you diagnose and fix the issue quickly.

AI coding assistants are essential for developers as they help them quickly write better and more accurate code. They are not here to replace developers but to help them be more productive and efficient in building products or fixing issues.

Free AI Coding Assistants

Free tools are proprietary tools that offer almost all features to individuals for free. They let you have the full experience of every feature, and some of them are on par with paid tools, especially autocomplete.

1. DataLab AI Assistant

Datalab is a cloud-based Jupyter Notebook that uses the latest AI technology to assist users with insights generation, writing code, debugging, and autocompletion. It can also identify errors and offer solutions within a matter of seconds, meaning that generating a proper data analysis report, which would usually take hours for a professional data scientist, can now be done in just a few minutes.

Within a few seconds, you can load your data and start asking the AI to generate interactive visualizations or analyze it. It will automatically generate the code and run it for you. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for DataLab for free!

Read DataCamp AI Assistant documentation to learn more about its features and use cases.

2. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is well-known for its use as an AI coding assistant that helps with generating code snippets, solving issues, and brainstorming project ideas. It is fast, reliable, and available for free to everyone.

The best way to use ChatGPT is to provide code context or a detailed description of your project before asking technical questions. By offering context, you enable ChatGPT to generate more accurate and relevant responses, helping you write and test your code more effectively. ChatGPT's primary goal is to assist users in their inquiries and tasks, making it an invaluable resource for developers and learners alike.

Follow A Guide to Using ChatGPT For Data Science Projects to build an end-to-end data science project using ChatGPT.

3. Codeium

Codeium is the most popular and free solution for enhancing your development experience with intelligent autocomplete, AI chatbot, context-aware code generation, and more developer features. It is secure and provides a faster response similar to GitHub copilot.

It also provides a paid option that allows access to the advanced GPT-4 model and other administrator tools. Overall, this is a good AI coding assistant if you are starting out and want fast and accurate code generation.

4. Blackbox AI

Blackbox AI is a coding assistant that uses artificial intelligence to help developers write better code. It provides real-time suggestions for code completion, documentation, and debugging. Additionally, it integrates with a variety of developer tools, making it easy to use within your existing workflow.

Blackbox AI comes with several features, including autocomplete, AI chat, AI commit, AI code suggestion and generation, and file difference comparison.

Open Source AI Coding Assistants

Prior to the release of the Llama models by Meta AI, most coding assistants were proprietary, and users had to rely on online services. This posed a significant concern for companies that prioritize security and privacy.

However, with the availability of open-source AI coding assistants, we can now run our own large language model locally and integrate it into our workspace.

5. GPT4ALL

GPT4ALL is an open-source chat user interface that runs open-source language models locally using consumer-grade CPUs and GPUs. Just download and install the software, and you are good to go.

This chatbot is context-aware, meaning you can provide it with the location of your coding project and ask the AI questions to understand and improve the existing code. Additionally, you can use GPT4ALL, an API server that you can integrate into your Integrated Developer Environment (IDE) using open-source extensions.

The GPT4ALL is a private chatbot that supports all types of open-source models and runs seamlessly on any machine.

6. Tabby

Tabby is an AI coding assistant that can be hosted on your local machine using Docker, providing an open-source and on-premises option to GitHub Copilot.

It offers several significant features, such as being self-contained and not requiring any database management system or cloud service. Its OpenAPI interface allows for easy integration with existing infrastructure, such as cloud IDE. Additionally, it supports consumer-grade GPUs.

The Tabby offers a large language model server service that you can self-host. It also comes with extensions that you can use on VSCode, Vim/NVim, and IntelliJ Platform. To get started, you need to follow a simple guide that will help you set up the server. Once you've done that, you can install the extension into your VSCode and connect it with the server using an API.

7. Code GPT

CodeGPT VSCode extension is a reliable tool that assists you in coding more efficiently by offering AI chat assistance, auto-completion, code explanation, error-checking, and much more.

It also allows you to use various AI models from different providers, thereby enhancing your coding experience. Although it is not an open-source tool, you can use this extension to access open-source models online and locally. It supports Ollama and LM Studio, which are private software that can run your LLMs locally.

You can connect LLM models using API keys provided by OpenAI, Microsoft Azure, Google, Anthropic, Cohere, Mistral, and Huggingface.

8. Cody

Cody is a powerful open-source AI coding assistant designed to help developers write and debug code more efficiently. You can start using it by installing the extensions in VSCode and JetBrains.

Cody uses state-of-the-art AI models (Claude 2, GPT-4) to provide autocomplete and answer various coding questions about your project. It helps you write better code by fetching relevant code context from your entire codebase.

Cody also has an inline chat feature that allows you to ask Cody to fix or refactor code from anywhere in a file. Additionally, you can use commands such as "Document code," "Explain code," or "Generate Unit Tests" to further improve your coding experience.

Paid AI Coding Assistants

Paid AI coding assistants are commercial tools designed to enhance developers' productivity and coding experience by offering high-quality responses and code generation. These advanced AI-powered assistants use top-of-the-line models, such as GPT-4, Claude 2, and others, providing precise and accurate assistance for various programming tasks.

9. GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is a coding AI assistant that made waves when it was launched, as it was the first of its kind to use the advanced GPT-3.5 model. Its initial release showcased impressive speed and accuracy, surpassing many other tools available in the market. Over time, GitHub Copilot has continued to improve and now offers an even better experience for developers.

The latest version of GitHub Copilot has various features, including AI chatbot, inline chatbox, code generation, autocomplete, CLI autocomplete, and other GitHub-based features to help with code search and understanding.

Learn how to analyze data with GitHub Copilot pair programming, by following a video tutorial: Pair Programming with GitHub Copilot.

10. Tabnine

Tabnine is the leading AI coding assistant that prioritizes privacy, security, and compliance while accelerating and simplifying software development.

In addition to code completion and debugging, it includes a real-time chat feature that allows you to write code more quickly. It also generates unit testing, refactors your code, helps you understand your code, and generates documentation. It is faster at generating code than most other tools out there.

11. Replit AI

Replit AI is a cloud-based IDE that uses artificial intelligence to enhance the development experience. While some AI features are available for free, the complete set of features is only available through a subscription to Replit Core. With Replit Core, users can access unlimited AI chat responses, advanced AI models, additional features, and unlimited private projects.

You can chat with AI-powered assistants like ChatGPT or use In-line AI for code editing and generation. This is a perfect platform for kids and beginners who want to learn and build new and exciting things without having to pay a ton of money for cloud services.

Conclusion

When choosing an AI coding assistant, there are several important factors to consider. These include features, capabilities, privacy, ease of use, and cost. Paid tools often provide more advanced functionalities using state-of-the-art models, while free services generally offer more basic features. Open-source assistants prioritize transparency, security, and local hosting.

AI coding assistants provide intelligent support across various coding tasks, such as autocomplete, error checking, code generation, and chat assistance. They help reduce repetitive work, save time, and allow developers to focus on solving complex problems. With continuous improvements in AI models, these assistants are expected to become even smarter and more beneficial over time.

If you're new to AI and want to learn about how coding assistants work and generate code, then take the AI Fundamentals skill track. You'll gain actionable knowledge on popular AI topics like ChatGPT, large language models, generative AI, and more. Otherwise, get started with DataLab to make use of its coding assistant.