Refact.ai vs. Competitors: Choosing the best AI for coding
What AI Coding Agent to use in 2025?
Recent IBM research shows that 41% of developers save 1-2 hours daily using AI coding tools. But what about the rest?
The reality is, not all AI tools truly boost productivity — while some speed up development, others create even more work with inaccurate suggestions and AI-generated mistakes.
When it comes to AI Agents for software development, there are a few well-known solutions. But how do they compare to Refact.ai?
This guide breaks down the features, pricing, and real-world impact of 5 best AI Agents, so you can choose the right AI coding helper for you and your team.
Functionalities
| Functionality | Refact.ai | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Codeium | Devin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI code completions | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Chat assistance | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| ⭐️ AI Agent | ✅ Independently completes engineering tasks end-to-end, integrating with your workflow. | ✅❌ Limited task completions, e.g. detect lint errors. | ❌✅ Limited to iterating on its own code and fixing errors. | ✅❌ agentic features are in a separate app with complex pricing. | ✅ |
| ⭐️ Full repository context-awareness | ✅ Deeply understands codebase, documentation, and architecture — for exceptional precision in autocompletions, chat, and AI Agent work. | ✅❌ Good for basic completions, but chat context is often inaccurate or lost, making AI responses and the Agent unreliable. | ❌ Prone to errors, lacks deep repo analysis. Context is mostly useful for completions and explanation. | ✅ Has a deep context awareness system. | ❌✅ Claims to have it, but details are not generally disclosed. |
| ⭐️ Optimized for large projects | ✅ Handles large, complex repositories effectively. | ✅❌ Struggles with big monorepos or legacy systems. | ✅❌ Has a limited context window and lacks deep project-wide awareness and analysis. | ✅❌ Effective for individuals, but has a “limited context to generate suggestions”, making it less suitable for large projects. | ✅ Positions as an enterprise-grade tool, though the details are not generally disclosed. |
| ⭐️ Open-source | ✅ Refact.ai GitHub. | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| ⭐️ On-premise | ✅ Enterprises and Individual users can deploy AI Agent on local infrastructure | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| ⭐️ Fine-tuning | ✅ Train AI on your stack to match coding style & best practices. | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Code generation | ✅ Accurate AI-generated code from natural language requests | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Code refactoring | ✅ Delivers refactoring suggestions or executes them autonomously in AI Agent mode | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tests generation | ✅ Generates tests by developer request or autonomously in AI Agent mode | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bug fixing | ✅ Suggests fixes and resolves issues automatically | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom system prompts | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| IDEs | ✅ VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio Code, and all major IDEs. | ❌ PC app. | ✅ All major IDEs. | ✅❌ All major IDEs; a separate PC app needed to use Agent. | ❌ A Slack-based workflow. |
| Supported languages | ✅ All popular programming languages. | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❓ |
AI Agent
Want just AI suggestions while you code? Great. Want to delegate entire tasks to an autonomous, independently working AI Agent? Even greater. Refact.ai does both, right in your IDE — just choose the Agent mode in chat.
- Completes task step-by-step with reasoning: plans, executes, test and deploys
- Searches and analyzes repository for accurate execution
- Connects with GitHub, databases, CI/CD pipelines, and more
- Simple, intuitive UX
| Agent feature | Refact.ai | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Codeium | Devin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomous task completion | ✅ | ✅ Limited. | ❌✅ Limited. | ✅❌ Separate PC App needed. | ✅ |
| Integrations with dev tools | ✅ Connects with GitHub, GitLab, PostgreSQL, Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and more. | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Memory & Learning | ✅ Learns from every interaction and feedback, becoming smarter over time. | ❓ Not disclosed. | ✅ | ❌ | ❓ Not disclosed. |
| Rollbacks | ✅ Allows users to revert AI-made changes. | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| MCP | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Organizes experience into a knowledge base | ✅ Builds shared memory, applying best AI practices across a company. | ❌ | ❌ | ❓ Not disclosed. | ❌ |
Refact.ai is the only AI Agent for coding that works in your IDE, while competitors rely on separate apps or provide limited automation.
It deeply understands and adapts to your repositories, seamlessly integrates with development tools, and learns your style and needs — allowing you to delegate more with confidence.
Models
| Refact.ai | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Codeium | Devin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selection of models | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Access & limits | Free plan: 8 AI Agent requests/day (240 requests/month) Pro plan: 40 AI Agent requests/day (1,200 requests/month) Unlimited access to GPT-4o mini for all users in chat. | Free plan: 50 slow requests (one-time credit) Pro plan: 500 requests/month | Free plan: 50 requests/month Pro: unlimited. | Free plan: ~50 requests (one-time credit). Pro: 500 requests/month. | No free plan. Details on models are not generally available. |
| BYOK | ✅ Connect your API key and use any model (e.g., Gemini, Groq, OpenAI, Deepseek). | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Enterprise models | 25+ | 10+ | 5+ | ❓ | ❓ |
Deployment
| Refact.ai | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Codeium | Devin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| On-premise | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| In VPC | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AWS Hardware | ✅ The 1st AI assistant that runs on AWS Infrentia2 chip. | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Self-hosted option for individuals | ✅ Local deployment is generally available both for Enterprise users and individuals. | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Pricing
| Refact.ai | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Codeium | Devin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic plan | ⭐️ 0$
| 0$
| 0$
| 0$
| ❌ |
| Pro plan | ⭐️ 10$
| 20$
| 10$
| 15$
| $500/mo |
| Enterprise plan | Custom | $40/user/mo | $58,25/user/mo | >$35/user/mo | Custom |
Refact.ai offers the most comprehensive, developer-ready AI coding solution for its price. Plus, it has a full-powered Free plan to explore the product and AI Agent capabilities.
Refact.ai vs. Cursor
We genuinely like what the Cursor team is building! However, when it comes to deep context-awareness, accuracy, and real AI autonomy users can trust, Refact.ai stands out.
For software teams, Cursor misses enterprise-level codebase handling, on-premise deployment, and many customization options such as fine-tuning to meet unique organizational needs.
Features
Refact.ai:
- AI Agent: Handles tasks end-to-end, from planning to deployment, directly in your IDE.
- Full repository context: Deeply understands your codebase for accurate, relevant AI work.
- On-premise deployment: Keep your data private with on-premise or private cloud options.
- Customization: Fine-tune models, create custom prompts, and adapt AI to your workflow.
- Open-source: Transparent and verifiably secure.
- Integrations: Connects with GitHub, Docker, PostgreSQL, CI/CD pipelines, MCP servers, and more for a cohesive development experience.
Cursor:
- Less powerful AI Agent: Limited to basic tasks like linting and error detection.
- Less context awareness: Lacks deep repository context, leading to less relevant suggestions.
- No on-premise: Not suitable for companies with strict data security needs.
- Limited customization: No fine-tuning or custom prompt support.
- No integrations: Without direct tool connections, developers should constantly switch between platforms, slowing down workflows and increasing manual effort.
Limits
Refact.ai: Unlimited completions for all plans. Pro plan includes 1,200 requests/mo to AI Agent and chat, Free plan — 240 requests/mo.
Cursor: 2000 completions per month on Free plan. Pro plan includes 500 requests to chat, Free plan — one-time credit of 50 requests/mo.
Pricing
Refact.ai: Full-powered Free plan with affordable Pro and Enterprise options.
Cursor: Limited free tier. Pro plan is 2x more expensive than Refact.ai, while offering fewer requests to SOTA AI models.
User Interface
Refact.ai: Integrates seamlessly with VS Code, JetBrains, and other major IDEs developers use.
Cursor: Requires using a dedicated app, forcing you to adjust to a new environment and breaking your workflow.
Final thoughts. Why choose Refact.ai over Cursor?
Our users report that Refact.ai has more accurate code generation and better task understanding, compared to Cursor. The power of AI lies in its ability to adapt to your codebase — without deep repository awareness, AI-generated code and task completions often miss the mark.
Plus, Cursor is twice the price but offers only half the AI chat requests of Refact.ai (500 vs 1,200).
✅ Refact.ai automates multi-step development tasks and delivers accurate AI assistance, understanding the full repositories context — no matter how big and specific they are — and integrating with your tools.
For enterprise teams, Refact.ai offers on-premise deployment and fine-tuning. It handles large, production-level codebases, aligns with project architecture and standards, and speeds up code generation, bug fixing, testing, and delivery.
Cursor is a good AI coding tool, however, it struggles with deep context-awareness, accuracy, and dev tools integration, limiting its effectiveness. It also lacks advanced AI Agent capabilities for fully autonomous task handling.
Without on-premise deployment and customization, Cursor is less suitable for enterprise-level security needs and complex development workflows.
Refact.ai vs. GitHub Copilot
While GitHub Copilot is popular, it falls short in accuracy, context-awareness, AI Agent features, and data security — areas where Refact.ai excels.
Features
GitHub Copilot
- Limited AI Agent: Can iterate on its own code and fix errors, but can’t handle end-to-end tasks or deeply integrate with your workflow — that’s what Refact.ai can do.
- Frequent mistakes: Without deep repo analysis, AI suggestions often don’t match existing code and your requirement.
- No integrations: Refact.ai connects with tools like GitHub, Docker, PostgreSQL, CI/CD pipelines, and more, right inside your IDE. It manages multiple instances at once, making your workflow smooth and automated. Copilot, on the other hand, only integrates with GitHub and web search, leaving developers stuck switching between tools, copy-pasting data, and dealing with unnecessary friction.
- Limited customization: No fine-tuning, BYOK, or custom prompts support.
Privacy
Refact.ai:
- Open-source: Developers can review the source code on Refact.ai’s GitHub to ensure their data is handled safely.
- Privacy-first approach: Whether writing code, accessing databases, running tests, or working with external tools, Refact.ai ensures your information stays private and secure.
- On-premise deployment: Ideal for Enterprises with strict data privacy requirements. Your data never leaves your infrastructure.
- Self-hosted option for individuals: Respecting the right for data privacy for everyone, Refact.ai can be deployed locally by individual users, too.
GitHub Copilot:
- Closed-source: Lack of transparency makes it difficult to verify how data is handled or secure.
- Data privacy concerns: All data is processed on GitHub’s servers, which may not be suitable for sensitive or proprietary projects.
- No on-premise option: Enterprises with strict security requirements can not use GitHub Copilot.
Pricing
For individual users, both Refact.ai and Copilot offer free plans, with Pro plans at $10/month.
For enterprises, the difference is huge — GitHub Copilot costs $58.25 per user per month, but lacks many key enterprise features. Refact.ai Enterprise offers an AI coding Agent with team-level customization, and organization-wide memory, fine-tuning, and more at a significantly lower cost.
User Interface
Refact.ai: Integrates seamlessly with VS Code, JetBrains, and other major IDEs developers use.
GitHub Copilot: While it has extensions for all popular IDEs, users need separate apps for chat and for code completion, which can be inconvenient.
Final thoughts. Why choose Refact.ai over GitHub Copilot?
✅ Refact.ai is built for real-world software development, assisting across the entire SDLC and handling end-to-end engineering tasks inside your IDE. It can plan, generate, test, and deploy code autonomously, adapting to your codebase, project structure, and integrating with needed development tools.
With on-premise deployment, fine-tuning, deep codebase awareness, and team-level customization, Refact.ai provides quality-first, secure, and scalable AI coding experience.
GitHub Copilot introduced developers to AI-powered coding. But the most popular option isn’t always the best. Copilot is good for generating single-line or function-based completions, but it has poor context awareness — struggling with accuracy, relevant answers in chat, and autonomy.
For software companies, security risks, no on-premise deployment, limited AI customization, and high costs make Copilot a weaker choice — especially for teams working with sensitive data, large-scale codebases, or diverse tech stacks.
What makes Refact.ai a better choice as AI code helper?
- AI Agent: Compared to other solutions, Refact.ai is the only full-powered AI Agent that works directly in your IDE. No separate apps or half-baked features.
- Open-source: Transparent and verifiably secure — check out Refact.ai GitHub and contribute too
- Full context-awareness: Best in class understanding of your entire project, so suggestions are accurate and relevant.
- Customization: Switch between LLMs, bring your own API key, create custom system prompts to adapt AI for how you need your work to be done.
- On-premise support: 100% privacy of data and telemetry.
- Clear pricing: No hidden fees, just real value.
We believe AI should be smart, predictable, and reliable. Refact.ai is built for the future of coding — handling end-to-end tasks, making multi-file edits, writing accurate code that matches your workflow, and integrating seamlessly with your tools.
Bring an AI-driven digital twin to your software development — get started with Refact.ai today!
