Question 1

Is Continue.dev better than LM Studio?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your use case. Continue.dev is known for Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains, while LM Studio Beautiful desktop app for running local LLMs. See our full comparison above for a detailed breakdown.

Question 2

Is Continue.dev free?

Accepted Answer

Continue.dev pricing: Free (open-source).

Question 3

Is LM Studio free?

Accepted Answer

LM Studio pricing: Free.

Question 4

What are the main differences between Continue.dev and LM Studio?

Accepted Answer

Continue.dev and LM Studio differ in features, pricing, and platform support. Continue.dev: Open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. LM Studio: Beautiful desktop app for running local LLMs. See the full side-by-side comparison above for details.

Feature	Continue.dev	LM Studio
Category	Coding Assistants	Local AI Infrastructure
Pricing	Free (open-source)	Free
GitHub Stars	✓ More stars 20k	—
Platforms	macOS, Linux, Windows	macOS, Linux, Windows
Key Features	✓ Code completion ✓ Chat ✓ Multi-model ✓ Custom commands ✓ Context providers	✓ Model discovery ✓ One-click download ✓ Chat UI ✓ OpenAI-compatible API ✓ GPU acceleration ✓ GGUF support
Pros	+ Open-source Copilot alternative + Works with any model + Custom commands and context + VS Code + JetBrains support + Privacy-friendly	+ Beautiful desktop UI + One-click model downloads + OpenAI-compatible local server + Automatic GPU optimization + Great for beginners
Cons	− Less polished than Copilot − Setup required for best experience − Completion quality depends on model − Smaller community	− macOS/Windows only (no Linux GUI) − Closed-source − Limited advanced configuration − Slower than Ollama for API use
Tags	codingopen-sourcevscodejetbrains	localllmdesktopinferenceprivacy

Continue.devvsLM Studio

Continue.dev

LM Studio

Related Comparisons