Overview
Trae is an AI-powered IDE from ByteDance, built as a fork of VS Code and available on macOS, Windows, and a browser-based Cloud IDE. It went viral by offering free access to premium models such as Claude, GPT-4o, and DeepSeek, an unusually generous position among AI editors. Beyond chat and inline completion, its standout is Builder/SOLO mode: an autonomous agent that turns a natural-language description into a working project, analyzing requirements, generating frontend and backend code, running terminal commands, and iterating on errors.
Trae accepts multimodal input, so you can paste a design mockup or schema screenshot and generate code from it. It supports MCP servers and custom agents, keeping the familiar VS Code shortcuts and extension ecosystem. It fits solo developers, students, and budget-conscious teams that want premium AI coding without a $20/month subscription.
Key Features
- Builder/SOLO agent mode scaffolds and ships full projects autonomously — accelerates development workflows.
- Free tier with 5,000 autocompletes/mo and premium model access — reduces boilerplate code writing.
- Multi-model choice: Claude, GPT-4o, DeepSeek, and more — integrates into common IDE setups.
- Multimodal input to generate UI code from screenshots and mockups — accelerates development workflows.
- MCP support and customizable agents — reduces boilerplate code writing.
- VS Code fork with extension compatibility plus a browser Cloud IDE — integrates into common IDE setups.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 5,000 autocompletes/mo, limited premium queries |
| Lite | $3/mo | Regular solo developers |
| Pro | $10/mo | Daily agentic Builder use |
| Pro+ | $30/mo | Power users running long agent sessions |
Pricing is subject to change. Check the official website for current plans and regional discounts. Free tiers often have usage limits — evaluate whether those limits match your expected volume before committing.
Comparison
Compared to Cursor, Trae offers similar agentic coding for a fraction of the price, trading Cursor’s mature codebase indexing and enterprise controls for a far cheaper tier. Compared to Windsurf, it leans harder into autonomous app generation via SOLO, and unlike the open-source, bring-your-own-key Cline, Trae ships models built in for convenience at the cost of less transparent data handling.
Getting Started
- Try Trae with a small, self-contained coding task first (a utility function, a refactoring job) before trusting it with larger changesets.
- Connect it to your version control system if supported — reviewing diffs is easier than reviewing raw suggestions.
- Use the tool for documentation and comments, not just code generation — these lower-risk outputs build trust quickly.
Hands-on Verdict
Trae is the AI IDE I use for building with a built-in agent and chat — it writes, edits, and runs code with context from the project. It’s more agentic than GitHub Copilot in-editor and a different feel than Cursor. For local models I use Ollama.
Who it’s for: developers, builders. Tip: use the builder chat to scaffold, then the inline chat to refine — Trae’s agent works best when you iterate in small, visible steps.