Continue vs Roo Code
Compare Continue and Roo Code by workflow, pricing, privacy, model support, and best use cases.
Continue
Choose Continue when model control, open-source extensibility, and repository-defined AI checks matter more than a fully managed AI editor experience.
Roo Code
Choose Roo Code when you want a powerful, open-source VS Code agent with modes, MCP, provider flexibility, local-model options, and deep customization. Choose a hosted AI IDE or CLI agent instead if you want simpler billing, a more polished all-in-one editor, or a terminal-only Git workflow.
Key Differences
Workflow
Continue is an open-source AI coding agent and IDE extension ecosystem focused on configurable model access, repository-defined AI checks, and team-controlled coding workflows.
Roo Code is a powerful open-source VS Code coding agent for developers who want model choice, deep customization, local control, and multi-step agentic workflows inside their editor.
Pricing
freemium
open-source
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Continue | Roo Code |
|---|---|---|
| Primary workflow | Continue is an open-source AI coding agent and IDE extension ecosystem focused on configurable model access, repository-defined AI checks, and team-controlled coding workflows. | Roo Code is a powerful open-source VS Code coding agent for developers who want model choice, deep customization, local control, and multi-step agentic workflows inside their editor. |
| Type | extension | extension |
| Editor base | VS Code | VS Code |
| Pricing model | freemium | open-source |
| Starting price | $3 | $0 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | Yes | Yes |
| BYOK | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, CLI, GitHub | VS Code, VS Code-compatible editors, macOS, Windows, Linux, Local development environments, Roomote cloud agent workflows |
| Models | Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure, Amazon Bedrock, Ollama, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, xAI, Vertex AI, Inception, HuggingFace, Groq, Together AI, DeepInfra, OpenRouter, ClawRouter, Tetrate Agent Router Service, Cohere, NVIDIA, Cloudflare, MiniMax, LM Studio, llama.cpp, LlamaStack, llamafile, SambaNova, Watson x, Sagemaker, Nebius | Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Requesty, Google Gemini, Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, MiniMax, Cerebras, Moonshot AI, Chutes AI, Ollama, LM Studio, OpenAI-compatible providers |
| Enterprise features | Shared private agents, Team agent controls, Gmail/GitHub SSO on Team, SAML or OIDC SSO on Company, BYOK on Company, Commitment, invoicing, and SLA on Company, GitHub PR check integration, Centralized Mission Control management | Open-source self-managed usage, Custom modes for team roles, .roorules project guidance, Skills for reusable workflows, MCP integrations, Local model option, BYOK provider control, Semantic codebase indexing, Roomote cloud-agent workflow for Slack, GitHub, logs, tickets, and PR handoff |
| Best for | Developers who want AI coding assistance inside VS Code without switching to a full AI-native editor., Teams that want AI review rules stored in the repository and enforced as PR status checks., Organizations that need model flexibility across cloud, local, self-hosted, and gateway providers., Developers building custom coding agents with YAML configuration, rules, prompts, models, and tools., Engineering teams experimenting with AI quality gates before adopting larger autonomous coding systems. | VS Code users who want an open-source AI coding agent, Developers who want provider choice and BYOK control, Multi-file refactoring, Debugging and test repair, Architecture planning with dedicated modes, Custom workflow automation, MCP-connected development tasks, Local model experiments, Large codebases that benefit from semantic indexing, Teams that want project-specific rules and custom agent personas |
| Not best for | Users who want a polished all-in-one AI IDE with minimal configuration., Teams that prefer a single vendor-managed model and billing experience., JetBrains-heavy teams that need the IDE plugin to be the primary supported path., Users who do not want token-based billing for hosted model usage., Organizations that are uncomfortable with the current read-only status of the legacy main GitHub repository. | Users who want a fully managed fixed-price AI IDE, Developers whose main need is inline autocomplete, Non-technical users looking for prompt-to-app builders, Teams that cannot allow agentic tools to run terminal commands, Users who do not want to manage API keys or provider billing, Workflows that require enterprise governance out of the box without custom setup |
Use Case Winners
Both Continue and Roo Code have comparable signals here.
Both Continue and Roo Code have comparable signals here.
Roo Code lists more team or enterprise controls.
Both Continue and Roo Code have comparable signals here.
Continue supports more model/provider options or BYOK-style workflows.
Both Continue and Roo Code have comparable signals here.
Pricing Comparison
Continue
- Open-source Extension / CLI$0
Apache-2.0 codebase with VS Code extension, CLI, and JetBrains plugin artifacts available from official channels.
- Starter$3 / million tokens
Pay-as-you-go usage for creating and running agents, integrations, and frontier model credits.
- Team$20 / seat/month
Team management, private shared agents, agent controls, Gmail/GitHub SSO, and $10 credits per seat.
- CompanyCustom
Enterprise plan with SAML or OIDC SSO, BYOK, commitments, invoicing, and SLA.
Roo Code
- Roo Code Extension$0
Free and open-source VS Code extension. Users pay only for the model provider or infrastructure they choose.
- Bring Your Own API KeyUsage-based
Use external inference providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Requesty, Google, and others; costs depend on provider token pricing.
- Local Models$0
Use local models through supported setups such as Ollama or LM Studio; actual cost depends on local hardware.
- Codebase IndexingUsage-based
Optional semantic indexing may require embedding API usage and a Qdrant vector database; cost depends on repository size.
- Roomote Cloud Agent$899 / month
Cloud agent product made by the creators of Roo Code; priced per parallel Roomote after a 7-day trial with included token allowance.
Privacy & Security
Continue
Continue documents anonymous telemetry in the open-source extensions, says it strips personally identifiable information, and provides opt-out controls for IDE extensions and the CLI. Local and offline setups are documented, but privacy also depends on the chosen model provider, GitHub integration, telemetry settings, and any configured data destinations.
Roo Code
Roo Code runs locally inside the developer’s VS Code environment, but prompts, file context, terminal output, MCP tool results, embeddings, and generated edits may be sent to whichever model or embedding provider the user configures. Local-model setups reduce external data exposure, while BYOK setups inherit the privacy and retention terms of the selected provider. Users should avoid exposing secrets, credentials, production data, customer data, private keys, or sensitive terminal output, and should be especially cautious with auto-approval, web browsing, MCP servers, and untrusted repositories.
Choose Continue if...
- Developers who want AI coding assistance inside VS Code without switching to a full AI-native editor.
- Teams that want AI review rules stored in the repository and enforced as PR status checks.
- Organizations that need model flexibility across cloud, local, self-hosted, and gateway providers.
- Developers building custom coding agents with YAML configuration, rules, prompts, models, and tools.
- Engineering teams experimenting with AI quality gates before adopting larger autonomous coding systems.
Choose Roo Code if...
- VS Code users who want an open-source AI coding agent
- Developers who want provider choice and BYOK control
- Multi-file refactoring
- Debugging and test repair
- Architecture planning with dedicated modes
Avoid Continue if...
- Users who want a polished all-in-one AI IDE with minimal configuration.
- Teams that prefer a single vendor-managed model and billing experience.
- JetBrains-heavy teams that need the IDE plugin to be the primary supported path.
- Users who do not want token-based billing for hosted model usage.
- Organizations that are uncomfortable with the current read-only status of the legacy main GitHub repository.
Avoid Roo Code if...
- Users who want a fully managed fixed-price AI IDE
- Developers whose main need is inline autocomplete
- Non-technical users looking for prompt-to-app builders
- Teams that cannot allow agentic tools to run terminal commands
- Users who do not want to manage API keys or provider billing