Index › Developer platform › September 2026 Edition

AI coding assistants

Asked as “AI coding assistant”, and as “AI pair programming tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 48 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

GitHub Copilot

Clear leader

67% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

GitHub Copilot65%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-market

GitHub Copilot67%Clear leaderThis page Enterprise

GitHub Copilot95%ConsensusStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

GitHub Copilot13%70endorsed leader

Windsurf19%26accepted challenger

Cursor19%52accepted challenger

Cline8%12accepted challenger

Amazon Q Developer17%35accepted challenger

Aider17%12accepted challenger

Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Claude Code14%28accepted challenger

Tabnine5%39accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf GitHub Copilot vs Cursor Windsurf vs Cursor

One product takes 67% of first choices here, so the chart would put seven markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Zero products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category. Jump to the standing

02What they warned about

Eight of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Mistral Small and Llama 4 Maverick changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Cursor

19%

10 of 52 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“avoid** standard free-tier or public instances of major AI coding assistants (such as GitHub Copilot standard, Cursor, or Windsurf)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

GitHub Copilot

13%

9 of 70 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“You should generally **avoid** standard free-tier or public instances of major AI coding assistants (such as GitHub Copilot standard, Cursor, or Windsurf)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

Windsurf

19%

5 of 26 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“avoid** standard free-tier or public instances of major AI coding assistants (such as GitHub Copilot standard, Cursor, or Windsurf)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

Amazon Q Developer

17%

6 of 35 labels negative · 5 of 12 models

“Exercise **caution** when using any AI assistant (including GitHub Copilot, JetBrains AI, or Amazon Q)” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

64 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 734 links across 277 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

axify.io

24 answers · 24 citations · 10 models

dev.to

20 answers · 25 citations · 10 models

memeburn.com

18 answers · 18 citations · 9 models

augmentcode.com

vendor site · Augment Code16 answers · 26 citations · 6 models

daily.dev

12 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

learn.g2.com

12 answers · 12 citations · 7 models

layer3labs.io

11 answers · 12 citations · 8 models

zapier.com

vendor site · Zapier11 answers · 11 citations · 5 models

docs.github.com

vendor site · GitHub10 answers · 20 citations · 6 models

pricepertoken.com

10 answers · 10 citations · 8 models

tech-insider.org

10 answers · 10 citations · 8 models

gartner.com

8 answers · 8 citations · 6 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

axify.io/blog/the-best-ai-coding-assistants-a-full-comparison-of-20-tools

24 answers · 10 models

memeburn.com/best-ai-coding-tools

18 answers · 9 models

learn.g2.com/best-ai-coding-assistants

12 answers · 7 models

daily.dev/blog/best-ai-coding-assistants-comparison

10 answers · 8 models

pricepertoken.com/coding-assistants

10 answers · 8 models

zapier.com/blog/ai-coding-tools

10 answers · 5 models

layer3labs.io/guides/best-ai-coding-tools-for-business

9 answers · 8 models

tech-insider.org/best-ai-coding-assistants-2026

9 answers · 7 models

gartner.com/reviews/market/ai-code-assistants

8 answers · 6 models

cledara.com/blog/best-ai-tools-for-business

7 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best AI coding assistant for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which AI pair programming tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top AI coding assistants and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best AI coding assistant for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an AI coding assistant. What should we look at?”Negative“Which AI coding assistants should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Claude, GitHub CopilotGitHub Copilot, WindsurfChangedClaude Code, Cursor

Two alternatives

Aider, GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot, Windsurf

Three alternatives

Aider, Cline, opencode

no first choicenothing named

GPT-5.4 miniGitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor

GitHub CopilotHeld

One alternative

Tabnine

GitHub Copilot

Five alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex

GitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Tabnine, Windsurf

no first choiceagainst: Cursor, GitHub Copilot

Gemini 3.5 FlashAugment Code

Two alternatives

GitHub Copilot, Tabnine

against: CursorGitHub CopilotChanged

Two alternatives

Cursor, Tabnine

Cursor

Four alternatives

Claude Code, Cline, Devin, GitHub Copilot

Cline

Six alternatives

Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Goose, Ollama, Windsurf, opencode

no first choice

Three alternatives

Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot

against: ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, Devin, Google Gemini, Kite, Windsurf

Perplexity SonarGitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Cursor, Sourcegraph Cody

GitHub CopilotHeld

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Tabnine

GitHub Copilot

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Tabnine

GitHub Copilot

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cline, Replit AI, Tabnine

no first choiceagainst: Cursor, GitHub Copilot, JetBrains Junie, Roo Code

Grok 4.1 FastGitHub Copilot

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Gemini Code Assist, Tabnine

GitHub CopilotHeld

Three alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine

Cursor

Four alternatives

Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Tabnine, Windsurf

Windsurf

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cline, Continue, GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor

against: Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Replit AI

Mistral SmallCursor, GitHub Copilot

One alternative

Claude Code

GitHub CopilotChanged

Three alternatives

Aider, Amazon Q Developer, Cursor

GitHub Copilot

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Replit AI, Sourcegraph Cody, Tabnine

GitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Cursor, Windsurf

no first choicenothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashGitHub Copilot

Three alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine

GitHub CopilotHeld

One alternative

Cursor

Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf

Three alternatives

Devin, GitHub Copilot, Tabnine

against: Amazon Q Developer / AWS KiroGemini Code Assist, GitHub Copilot

Six alternatives

Aider, Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cline, Continue, opencode

against: Cursor, Tabnineno first choiceagainst: Aider, Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cline, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Roo Code, Windsurf

Llama 4 MaverickCursor, GitHub Copilot

One alternative

Claude

GitHub CopilotChanged

One alternative

Cursor

no first choiceGitHub Copilot, Google Gemini, Replit AI

Four alternatives

Aider, Cline, Windsurf, Zed

GitHub Copilot

One alternative

Claude Code

nothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashGitHub Copilot

One alternative

Cursor

GitHub CopilotHeld

Two alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Tabnine

against: CursorGitHub Copilot

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Tabnine

Windsurf

One alternative

Cline

against: GitHub CopilotGitHub Copilot

Three alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, JetBrains AI, Tabnine

against: Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, JetBrains AI, OpenClaw/Claude Code, Windsurf

Kimi K2GitHub Copilot

Two alternatives

Tabnine, Windsurf

GitHub CopilotHeld

Three alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine

GitHub Copilot

Five alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini Code Assist, Tabnine

Windsurf

One alternative

GitHub Copilot

against: Amazon Q Developer, Tabnineno first choiceagainst: Amazon Q / Amazon Kiro, Claude Code / Claude Cowork, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Google Antigravity IDE, Replit Agent, Windsurf

GLM 4.7 FlashXGitHub Copilot

Three alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine

GitHub CopilotHeld

Four alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine, Windsurf

Cursor, GitHub Copilot

Six alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Replit AI, Tabnine, Windsurf

Aider, Cline

Four alternatives

Continue, GitHub Copilot, Tabby, Windsurf

no first choiceagainst: Aider, Amazon Q Developer, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Copilot Workspace, Cursor, Devin, GitHub Copilot, JetBrains Junie, Kiro.dev, OpenClaw / ClawHub, Roo Code, Windsurf, Zed

MiniMax M2.5GitHub Copilot

Three alternatives

Claude, Claude Code, Cursor

GitHub CopilotHeld

Three alternatives

Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf

GitHub Copilot

Five alternatives

Amazon Q Developer, Augment Code, Claude Code, Cursor, Tabnine

Amazon Q Developer

Three alternatives

Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Tabnine

no first choice

One alternative

GitHub Copilot

nothing named

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 08:42	no	0	6 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 09:03	yes	4	6 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 08:29	yes	16	26 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 08:53	yes	20	7 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:25	yes	18	15 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 09:09	yes	5	4 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 08:34	yes	20	18 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 08:39	yes	5	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 08:31	yes	10	30 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 08:19	yes	10	137 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 09:01	yes	12	113 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:38	yes	5	18 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 08:53	no	0	5 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 08:36	yes	3	4 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 08:54	yes	14	21 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 08:53	yes	20	6 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:54	yes	20	9 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 08:27	yes	5	5 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 09:12	yes	19	21 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 08:48	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 09:04	yes	5	50 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 09:10	yes	15	36 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 08:53	yes	14	19 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:34	yes	5	18 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 08:42	yes	9	8 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 08:30	yes	9	10 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 09:04	yes	17	31 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 08:20	yes	20	9 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:39	yes	14	9 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 09:09	yes	10	10 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 08:37	yes	18	19 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 08:45	yes	5	3 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 08:31	yes	5	23 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 08:57	yes	15	40 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 08:46	yes	10	141 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:30	yes	14	38 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 08:45	yes	9	9 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 08:26	no	0	3 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 08:45	yes	25	24 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 08:30	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:32	yes	19	10 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 08:20	yes	13	8 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 08:27	yes	9	15 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 09:09	yes	7	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 08:38	yes	5	22 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 08:34	yes	20	27 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 09:03	yes	24	81 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:18	no	0	11 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 08:17	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 08:25	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 08:28	yes	10	25 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 09:02	yes	20	7 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:32	yes	15	9 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 08:37	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 08:38	yes	9	16 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 08:19	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 08:52	no	0	39 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 08:23	yes	9	23 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 08:47	yes	14	47 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:42	yes	5	15 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 09:03	yes	16	10 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 08:56	yes	5	5 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 09:12	yes	18	26 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 08:53	yes	20	5 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 08:49	yes	39	15 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 08:54	yes	5	8 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 09:10	yes	30	31 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 08:54	yes	5	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 08:41	yes	5	48 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 08:23	yes	25	62 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 09:12	yes	27	89 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 08:48	yes	5	14 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

Amazon Q read as Amazon Q Developer

Copilot read as GitHub Copilot

GitHub read as GitHub Copilot

Replit read as Replit AI

Unresolved, counted raw

Amazon Q / Amazon Kiro

Amazon Q Developer / AWS Kiro

ChatGPT Business with Codex

ChatGPT/GPT-4

Claude Code / Claude Cowork (Anthropic)

Copilot Workspace

Goose

Kiro.dev

Kite

Llama 3/Coder local

OpenClaw / ClawHub

OpenClaw/Claude Code

Replit Agent / browser builders

Tabby

Windsurf / Devin-style agents

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

AI coding assistants

By buyer segment

01The standing

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in developer platform