Trae: Free AI IDE by ByteDance | hokai.io
Trae is ByteDance's AI IDE with Builder Mode for full-project scaffolding. Free plan available; Pro is $10/month. Supports Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o, Gemini.
Trae is an AI-native code editor built by ByteDance, launched in January 2025 as a VS Code fork. It offers Builder Mode for full-project scaffolding from natural language, with access to Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o, DeepSeek R1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro. The free plan includes unlimited autocomplete; the Pro plan costs $10/month (first month $3). Privacy researchers confirmed Trae collects detailed telemetry with no opt-out, which limits its suitability for proprietary codebases.
Pricing
Free plan: unlimited autocomplete and slow model requests. Pro plan: $3 first month, then $10/month; includes 600 fast premium model requests/month (Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o). Additional fast requests available on pay-as-you-go basis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Trae AI and what does it do?
Trae (The Real AI Engineer) is an AI-native code editor released by ByteDance in January 2025, built as a fork of Visual Studio Code. It provides AI-assisted code completion, inline chat for explaining and fixing code, and Builder Mode, an autonomous agent that scaffolds full-stack projects from a natural-language description. It supports Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o, DeepSeek R1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro as selectable AI backends.
How much does Trae cost?
Trae's base plan is completely free, offering unlimited autocomplete and slow model requests with no credit card required. The Pro plan costs $3 for the first month and $10/month thereafter, adding 600 fast requests to premium models like Claude Sonnet 4 and GPT-4o monthly, with no queue wait times. Additional fast requests beyond the 600 monthly allocation are available on a pay-as-you-go basis at rates listed in the billing portal.
What are the main features of Trae?
Trae's core features include Builder Mode (autonomous agent that writes full project file structures from natural language), multi-model switching between Claude Sonnet 4, GPT-4o, DeepSeek R1, and Gemini 2.5 Pro, an MCP marketplace for one-click external tool integration, VS Code extension compatibility, and inline AI chat for code explanation and bug fixes. Trae also claimed the top SWE-bench Verified leaderboard position in July 2025.
Is Trae free to use?
Yes, Trae has a permanent free plan that includes unlimited autocomplete and slow-speed AI requests across all supported models. The free plan has no credit card requirement and no time limit. Speed-limited responses mean premium model requests queue behind paid users, which becomes noticeable during peak usage hours. The Pro plan at $10/month removes queue wait times and adds 600 fast requests monthly.
What are the best alternatives to Trae?
The primary alternatives are Cursor ($20/month), Windsurf ($15/month), and GitHub Copilot ($10/month). Cursor is preferred for large codebases where its full-repo indexer provides more accurate multi-file context than Trae's just-in-time scanning. Windsurf is better for teams needing collaborative context sharing across multiple developers. GitHub Copilot integrates directly into VS Code without requiring a separate application install. Choose Trae when price is the deciding factor and data privacy is not a concern.
Who is Trae best for?
Trae is best for indie developers and vibe coders who want full-stack project scaffolding at the lowest possible price, and for VS Code users who want AI features without switching editors or reinstalling extensions. It is particularly strong for greenfield projects under 100,000 lines. Trae is not suitable for developers at companies with ByteDance product restrictions, or for anyone working on proprietary or regulated codebases, given confirmed telemetry collection that cannot be disabled.
Does Trae have an API?
Trae itself does not expose a public API for external integrations, but it supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing external tools and data sources to be connected to the AI agent via a one-click marketplace. The open-source Trae Agent project on GitHub provides a CLI-based LLM agent for software engineering tasks that can be integrated into scripts and pipelines. VS Code extensions work natively inside Trae, expanding its connectivity to source control, deployment tools, and language servers.