Best AI code generators to write code easier and faster

AI tools have improved the development process's efficiency and speed by allowing developers to generate, auto-complete, or review code using prompts. 

In this article, we’ll cover some of the most popular AI code generators along with their pros and cons. 

Our review is solely based on testing and trying, reading reviews from such sources as G2, Reddit, dev communities, and sharing personal experiences. 

Hope it’ll be helpful!

TL;DR

Best free AI code generators:

1. Pieces for developers: AI Copilot that can be run locally and can help you code and research with multiple LLM support. Along with removing context switching, and capturing live context from browsers, IDEs, and collaboration tools. 

2. GitHub Copilot: The AI code assistant by GitHub that can be integrated with popular IDEs to help you code with contextual awareness of the files you are working on.

3. Codiga: The AI code assistant built to help you with code reviews and detecting vulnerabilities. 

4. ChatGPT:  The AI chat assistant by OpenAI that can help you write code, research, and also solve bugs.

Amazon Q Developer: AI assistant by Amazon that you can integrate with your IDE of choice to code faster and it can also help you with AWS-specific queries.

Best paid AI code generators:

1. Tabnine:  The deep learning-based AI assistant that can adapt to your style of coding and suggest accordingly.

2. Replit: The browser-based AI code assistant that can auto-complete code, look for bugs, and recommend ways to correct it.

3. CodeWP: The AI chat and coding tool for WordPress developers.

4. PyCharm: The code editor for Python developers with an AI assistant integrated that is contextually aware and can assist in coding. 

Cursor: The AI-powered code editor that has familiarity with VSCode, and can help you with code completion, ask questions based on your codebase, and access the web.

Pieces for Developers

Pieces for Developers is a hugely underrated option when discussing the best AI for generating code. Its capabilities in code generation, as well as code management, with the ability to save, share, and reuse snippets, and contextualized copilot interactions, is what makes it the best in the market.

The copilot allows you to talk about your code, ask technical questions, check for errors, add inline comments, and generate code based on your saved snippets. 

It can automatically identify errors and provide explanations without the need for writing prompts. The Pieces Copilot can also shadow your day-to-day workflow using its long-term memory feature, use that as context, and give you more accurate results, along with these, you also have the option to use your LLM of choice.

For instance, if you try to create a dictionary without commas between the items, Pieces Copilot will detect this mistake, correct it, and add explanations about the error.

In sum: Pieces for Developers has the most extensive feature set compared to other AI code generation tools. With Pieces, you get a coding assistant that can be your memory with its snippet saving and sharing feature, topped with the Pieces Copilot that has a chat-like interface and can help you write code and fix issues in real-time without even having to prompt. It also offers the flexibility to choose your models, run them in any IDE of your choice, and even locally or on the browser.

With Pieces OS, you can run LLMs locally on your machine. This leads to all operations, processing, and data handling being performed on your own device without having to rely on external servers. While this helps with privacy and security, it is also resource-intensive, and people with slower or older machines can face system slowdowns or unresponsiveness. 

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is among the first and most popular AI tools that has emerged as one of the best code-generating AI because of its ability to generate code, and documentation, and also help in PR reviews. 

Take a look at this Python snippet provided by GitHub Copilot for an example of a good prompt:

import datetimedef parse_expenses(expenses_string): 
Parse the list of expenses and return the list of triples (date, value, currency). Ignore lines starting with #. Parse the date using datetime. Example expenses_string:   2016-01-02 -34.01 USD   2016-01-03 2.59 DKK   2016-01-03 -2.72 EUR

Here's the corresponding output:

expenses = []for line in expenses_string.splitlines(): if line.startswith("#"):   continue date, value, currency = line.split(" ") expenses.append((datetime.datetime.strptime(date, "%Y-%m-%d"),          float(value),          currency))return expenses

As you can see, all you need to do is describe clearly what you're trying to accomplish. 

In this example, Copilot generates a function that does exactly what the comment specifies.

To make better use of GitHub Copilot, combine it with Pieces. For example, ask Pieces to summarise a ticket using the Pieces Long-Term Memory feature, add project context, and then use GitHub Copilot to fill in any missing code.

This is possible, since GitHub Copilot focuses on the context of the current project you have open in your IDE, whereas Pieces is more of a workflow assistant that focuses on all your context that you can access from all of your tools.

On the other hand, Copilot is one of the few AI code generation tools that doesn't have a free version (with certain exceptions, such as for students and teachers). Its price ranges from $10 per month for individuals to $19 per month for businesses.

In sum: Since it is a product of GitHub, its integration with the entire ecosystem is helpful in speeding up the development process. It still needs some work to be done in code management. While using Copilot, you cannot save, search, share, or transform code snippets as Pieces does.

Codiga

Code reviews form a major part of the software development lifecycle. While most AI tools only help in generating code, Codiga with its AI abilities can also help you with code reviews.

In addition to code reviews and vulnerability detection, it can also be used for generating code. Coding can be used for free as well as with a $10/month subscription.

In sum: Codiga provides instant feedback on security flaws and code quality. It can also automatically detect complex functions, duplicates, and code violations throughout the code review process. Codiga is a sophisticated tool and can be difficult for beginners to use. Additionally, it only supports a few languages, which can be problematic while coding.

ChatGPT

When it first came out, ChatGPT shook the world with its instant popularity, and GPT-3 was known as the best AI model for code generation, since it was the first time we were seeing all that AI could do with just some prompts. 

Similar to GitHub Copilot, you don't have to simply accept ChatGPT's code if you're not satisfied with it. Instead, you can iteratively improve on the generated code. 

Once the code is generated, you can ask ChatGPT to modify it, giving it instructions regarding the direction in which you want it to change the code. 

You can do this multiple times until ChatGPT finally produces code that completely meets your expectations.

ChatGPT is completely free to use, but for $20 a month, you can upgrade to ChatGPT Plus.

It also recently launched a $200 ChatGPT Pro plan that enables scaled access to the best of OpenAI’s models and tools.

ChatGPT can be used both from the browser and mobile and can be considered as one of the best and most stable code-generating applications for Android and iOS.

In sum:  It is super easy to get started with ChatGPT. It has a generous free tier that can help you code, research, and debug, and with its ability to search the internet, it is less prone to hallucination. ChatGPT may occasionally provide inaccurate solutions, particularly for complex problems. Additionally, it lacks contextual awareness and cannot currently be directly integrated into IDEs

Tabnine

Tabnine is a very popular, deep-learning-based AI code generator. 

Like many of the tools on the list, it's able to auto-complete your code and give you code suggestions. The code it outputs will be written in the same style as your code. 

It's generally accurate and fast, and it will work with many different programming languages. Another advantage is that it's very easy to integrate with the most popular IDEs.

But the thing that really sets Tabnine apart from other future AI tools is how much the company is dedicated to keeping your data private. You can use it for free, although for completing functions and whole lines of code, you'll need to get the Pro version, which is currently priced at $12/month.

In sum: One of the biggest concerns that most people have with AI tools is privacy and data security. The biggest perk of using Tabnine is that they don't use your data to train their models. It takes some time for the tool to learn your coding style and provide good suggestions. In addition, though it works with many programming languages, its accuracy varies a lot between different languages.

Replit

Replit Agent is a browser-based AI tool that can help you write code. According to Sourceforge, it is one of the best AI tools for generating Java code and comes with zero installation steps. It has a chat-like interface where you can give prompts or even upload images.

The Replit Agent suggests auto-completing your code as you write. It will also automatically check your code for bugs, detect mistakes, and even recommend ways to correct the code. As you're typing, it can comprehend the context of your code, and provide relevant suggestions accordingly. Replit Agent has a free tier along with a core, teams, and enterprise tier.

To further improve your development workflow with Replit Agent, you can integrate it with Pieces to save/share/store snippets, and use the stored snippet as context to make better code suggestions.

CodeWP

CodeWP is an AI coding assistant for WordPress developers. It can be used to generate code for WordPress plugins and features. Additionally, you can copy and paste the built-in code snippets.

CodeWP offers a free tier with a monthly restriction of 10 generations and a paid tier with more sophisticated features and limitless generations for $12.

In sum: If you are a WordPress developer, CodeWP is the finest tool for you because it is the only one designed with WordPress in mind. It frequently needs human interaction to obtain the correct code and is not particularly accurate.

Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Q Developer, developed by Amazon, is a great AI tool if you're working with the AWS API or the Amazon Suite in general. Similar to other AI code generation tools on the list, you can use natural language in a comment to generate code from CodeWhisperer.

In addition, it scans your code to find security vulnerabilities, it can auto-complete your code while you're typing, and it works with many different programming languages. is pretty accurate, easy to use, fast enough, compatible with popular IDEs such as Visual Studio Code and JetBrains, and can provide both short snippets of code and whole functions. 

In sum: Amazon Q Developer can be used with most IDEs, which makes it suitable for all developers, along with that you can also access it in the AWS Console, even in mobile applications for iOS and Android. It has a limited free tier that only allows up to 50 interactions per month, and developers have also complained about it not being accurate and having slower response times.

PyCharm

If you're a Python developer, you're probably already familiar with PyCharm. It's not just an AI for generating code, but a very popular Python IDE. 

However, you may not be aware that it also has an AI coding assistant among its many features. It can auto-complete your code, identify and notify you of errors, and facilitate code testing. Since many Python developers use PyCharm anyway, it's very easy for them to use its AI-based code generation tools.

If you're already using PyCharm, you don't have to pay for a separate code generation tool. If you aren't a current user, PyCharm is more expensive than the other tools on this list (given that it's much more than an AI code tool) and costs $25 a month.

In sum: PyCharm’s AI is integrated within its own IDE, so it is more contextually aware and can help developers do more with prompting, especially for Python developers. It can be considered the best AI for generating Python code. PyCharm's AI Assistant often generates generic responses, which makes it harder to use for complex tasks.

Cursor

If you are a developer, you have probably heard about Cursor multiple times. It is something like ChatGPT+VScode in one.

It is contextually aware and can help in code generation, code refactoring, codebase search and queries, inline AI chat, and bug fixes and debugging. Currently, it is available in free, pro, and business tiers.

In sum: Since it is a fork of VS Code, developers are familiar with the UI, making it easier to build with it. There have been bug reports on crashes in Linux systems.

How to use AI to generate code

Yes, we’re showcasing the simplest path using Pieces as an example. While some might view this as biased, the truth is that most apps are straightforward if you take a little time to explore their documentation or check them out on GitHub.

As for Pieces, it’s genuinely the easiest AI companion I’ve come across. I haven’t seen any other tool that runs on your OS so seamlessly and effortlessly. Honestly, I’d say it’s worth giving it a shot, considering that it’s free. And most of the devs I’ve came across in communities, at least heard and used it. 

Anyway, here is the path:

1. Install the Desktop App, which is a visual GUI. 

   • If you would like to use Pieces on your own IDEs or browsers, there are integrations with JetBrains IDE, Visual Studio Code, or JupyterLab, along with extensions for Google Chrome, Edge, and Microsoft Teams.

2. To start generating code, click the + Add Snippets button. 

   • You'll be presented with various ways to add a snippet, as shown in the picture below. 

3. Since you want to generate a piece of code, click Describe a Snippet to Generate. 

   • Alternatively, you can open the same window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P.

4. Alternatively, you can open the same window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P.

5. Now, enter a prompt explaining what you want to do. Following the example in the Pieces documentation, type the following prompt: `Create a function that arranges a string in alphabetical order`.

Don't forget to choose the language you want your output to be in, which is set right before the prompt:

This prompt will give the following output:

```
def sort_string(input_str):
    return ''.join(sorted(input_str))
```

Save this code

This output only takes a few seconds to generate because Pieces uses local machine learning models, making your data completely private and secure. What sets Pieces for Developers apart from other AI-based code generators on this list is its code management suite.

For example, you can store useful code snippets by simply clicking Save to Pieces:

You'll now be able to see the snippet in the app. 

Not only is this snippet saved, but it also auto-updates it with a smart description, tags, and related links:

In addition, you can easily share the saved snippet. From the options on the right, simply click Generate Shareable Link:

You'll need to connect to either a Google, GitHub, or Microsoft account. Once you connect an account, a link will be generated to the saved snippet.

Wrapping it up

Depending on your use case, you can choose any one, or even a mix of two (like we show how you can use Pieces with GitHub Copilot).

If you ask me, here are my top three favorite tools from the list:

Pieces for developers is one of those rare AI code generation tools that is contextually aware, can run locally, and can take snippets, and save or share them. 

GitHub Copilot has the goodness of OpenAI integrated within VSCode and other popular IDEs, and along with code generation, it helps with writing comments, documentation, and reviewing PRs.

Tabnine can help you with accurate code suggestions, along with support for multiple languages and IDEs, and the added advantage of Tabnine is that it can adapt to your coding style.

Which ones are you going to use for your next coding project?

This article was first published on August 4th, 2023, and was improved by Haimantika Mitra as of January 3rd, 2025, to improve your experience and share the latest information.