> Kilo Code
Kilo Code is an open-source (MIT-licensed) agentic coding assistant that runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a CLI, and cloud agents, now branded at kilo.ai after kilocode.ai redirects there. The platform itself is free for individuals: the pricing page lists the Individual plan at $0 with "Usage is billed separately", Teams at $15/user/month and Enterprise as custom, with a 14-day Enterprise trial. Inference is deliberately provider-agnostic - you can use free models, local models via Ollama or LM Studio, or bring your own Anthropic/OpenAI/Google/Azure/AWS keys at $0/mo with "No hosted credit required" - while hosted inference is either pay-as-you-go through Kilo Gateway or a Kilo Pass subscription starting at $19/mo with up to 50% bonus credits.
Kilo Code (open-source IDE agent)
// pros
- The editor platform costs nothing for individuals ($0 plan, usage billed separately), so the tool itself never blocks adoption.
- Fully open source and MIT-licensed with public prompt and context visibility, forkable and self-hostable via github.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode.
- Immediate free path with no card: Auto Free, BYOK or local models runs at $0/mo with "No hosted credit required", and local models are supported through Ollama and LM Studio.
- Model breadth without lock-in: 500+ models, "zero AI inference markup", BYOK, and Auto Model's Free tier routing to free and experimental options.
- Published cloud compute rates billed per second with no minimum: Code Review $0.33/hour, Cloud Agent Docker or Small $0.60/hour, Cloud Agent Standard and Gas Town $1.20/hour.
// cons
- Free usage depends on third parties: the Free tier only routes to free models "where available" and to "free and experimental" models providers choose to offer at no cost, so quality and availability are outside Kilo's control.
- Real usage costs money through Gateway or Pass, and credit purchases carry a 5% processing fee.
- Teams ($15/user/month) is required for shared billing, shared BYOK, analytics and team management, so collaboration has no free path.
- Cloud compute is charged separately from inference, and Kilo Pass bonus credits are tier- and streak-dependent rather than flat (Starter $19 up to $26.60/mo, Pro $49 up to $68.60, Expert $199 up to $278.60).
- Free-model access can change with upstream provider policies, so "free" is not a contractual guarantee at the platform level.
Kilo Code is a sensible default for developers who want an agentic coding tool without a subscription and without surrendering model choice - start on the $0 individual plan with BYOK or local models and only add Kilo Gateway credits when you want hosted routing. Pair it with a free or low-cost inference endpoint for routine work and reserve paid frontier models for hard sessions. Anyone evaluating coding agents should weigh its open-source auditability against closed alternatives that bundle inference into the price.
written by Mike Fleming, Uprouter editorial · verified against official sources September 16, 2026
Free tier present — value not quantified
This provider offers a free tier, but its terms don’t convert cleanly into a USD figure (e.g. request-count limits or capacity-dependent pools). We refuse to print a misleading zero here. See the note below and the official pricing page for the exact limits.
note: No free tier stated on official pages (checked 2026-09-16): Kilo publishes a $0 individual plan and a $0/mo free/BYOK/local inference path, but no dollar credit grant; Kilo Pass bonus credits are tied to a paid subscription from $19/mo.
| Plan | Type | Monthly | Input /1M | Output /1M | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform (individuals) | free | — | — | — | Kilo platform free for individuals; costs depend on inference choice. |
| Kilo Gateway | payg | — | — | — | Pay-as-you-go inference at upstream list prices, zero markup. |
| Kilo Pass | subscription | — | — | — | Subscription usage pass; tier pricing on kilo.ai/pricing. |
| Cloud compute - Gas Town | payg | — | — | — | USD 1.20/hr cloud compute. |
| Cloud compute - Code Review | payg | — | — | — | USD 0.33/hr cloud compute. |
| Cloud compute - Cloud Agent | payg | — | — | — | USD 0.60-1.20/hr cloud compute (listed from USD 0.60/hr). |
Pricing normalized from public sources — always verify with the provider.
$ Does Kilo Code have a free tier?
Yes — Kilo Code offers a free tier. Always confirm current limits on Kilo Code's official pricing page — free tiers change without notice.
$ How much does Kilo Code cost per 1M tokens?
Kilo Code does not publish simple per-1M-token pricing (it may bill per request, per output, or via a subscription plan). Check their official pricing page for exact figures.
$ Is Kilo Code safe to use?
Uprouter rates Kilo Code as low risk. Risk is low-to-moderate. Kilo is an established open-source project with a public MIT-licensed repository, a large user base claim (5M+ users, 10T+ tokens monthly), a real company behind it (Kilo Code, with Teams and Enterprise contracts, EU inference available on Enterprise, and published status, abuse and terms pages), so continuity risk is low. The free tier is genuinely free because it costs the vendor nothing extra: you either run models locally or on your own provider keys, or you use models upstream providers supply at no charge, so there is no promotional credit that can expire or be clawed back. The residual risks are that free-model availability is dictated by third-party providers and can change without notice, that credit top-ups carry a 5% non-refundable processing fee, and that data handling on hosted routes depends on which provider a request lands on - which Kilo addresses with an enterprise-level filter for whether providers train on data or retain prompts. Risk ratings are editorial, evidence-based, and never influenced by affiliate relationships.
Raw community sentiment, shown unblended. Votes never feed into objective data fields like price, risk, or status — and never into sort order.
No published reviews yet — be the first.
// more_informationprice history · live status · risk & confidence · code snippets
price_history
No recorded changes yet.
live_status
current: unknownNo probes recorded yet.
Uprouter runs its own probes; best-effort, not a guarantee. Probe results depend on our network location and cadence — for production, always use the provider’s own status page.
risk_&_confidence
Risk is low-to-moderate. Kilo is an established open-source project with a public MIT-licensed repository, a large user base claim (5M+ users, 10T+ tokens monthly), a real company behind it (Kilo Code, with Teams and Enterprise contracts, EU inference available on Enterprise, and published status, abuse and terms pages), so continuity risk is low. The free tier is genuinely free because it costs the vendor nothing extra: you either run models locally or on your own provider keys, or you use models upstream providers supply at no charge, so there is no promotional credit that can expire or be clawed back. The residual risks are that free-model availability is dictated by third-party providers and can change without notice, that credit top-ups carry a 5% non-refundable processing fee, and that data handling on hosted routes depends on which provider a request lands on - which Kilo addresses with an enterprise-level filter for whether providers train on data or retain prompts.
Confidence reflects how much verifiable evidence (official docs, probe history, community reports) backs this entry. Risk is our editorial assessment of operator reliability and terms — not financial advice.
code_snippets
# Kilo Code's own API — get a key from their dashboard
curl https://kilocode.ai/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer THEIR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "MODEL_NAME",
"messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Hello" }]
}'Direct to the provider — Uprouter receives nothing; verify their current pricing before purchasing.
Ranked by neutral similarity signals only — live status, free-tier shape and free-credit proximity. Commercial relationships never influence this list.