JetBrains AI AssistantvsKilo Code
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
JetBrains AI Assistant
JetBrains · IDE extension
#18MCP
Panel
7.11 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.8
- Usefulness
- 6.7
- Cost
- 6.8
- Longevity
- 8.2
“Writes your commit messages, which is the only part of the job most of us actually wanted automated.”
Kilo Code
Kilo Code (Anaconda) · IDE extension
#26OSSMCP
Panel
6.56 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.0
- Usefulness
- 7.2
- Cost
- 7.0
- Longevity
- 5.8
“A fork of Roo Code carrying a fork of OpenCode, acquired by Anaconda, so the dependency tree finally has a parent.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | JetBrains AI Assistant | Kilo Code |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | IDE extension | IDE extension |
| Runs | local | local, cloud |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows, web |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | NoNo browser or Playwright tool; the built-in tools cover code analysis, debugging, files, databases and Jupyter only. | YesA Playwright-backed browser tool that navigates, clicks, fills forms, drags and screenshots after each action; it needs a high-capability agentic model to work reliably. |
| Sandboxed execution | No | YesCloud Agents run in isolated Linux containers, and the local CLI has an opt-in OS-level sandbox using macOS Seatbelt via sandbox-exec or Linux bubblewrap (not available on Windows). |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | NoAI Assistant runs only inside a JetBrains IDE and has no CLI or non-interactive mode; JetBrains' scriptable agent is the separate Junie CLI. | Yes`kilo run --auto` auto-approves permissions for fully non-interactive CI/CD runs. |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude, Gemini, GPT, Grok | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, LM Studio |
| Bring your own model | YesBYOK accepts any OpenAI-compatible provider by base URL, plus Google Vertex AI via Express mode or Application Default Credentials. | Yes |
| Local models | YesOllama and LM Studio are first-class BYOK providers configured by the base URL of the local instance. | Yes |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | mixed | mixed |
| Starts at | $10/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | YesYour own provider key or Vertex AI credentials, and BYOK plus local models work without a paid JetBrains AI subscription. | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | No | Yes |
| License | proprietary | MIT |
| GitHub stars | n/a | 27,467 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | JetBrains AI Assistant | Kilo Code | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 7.3 | JetBrains AI Assistant — Pick it if you already pay for a JetBrains IDE and want chat, refactoring and a coding agent without leaving it; pick Junie, also from JetBrains, when you want the agent to take the whole task. |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 6.0 | JetBrains AI Assistant — Brave mode runs shell commands and run configurations without confirmation, and the docs otherwise describe no per-call approval model for MCP tools. |
| El Profesor | 6.8 | 5.5 | JetBrains AI Assistant — Context is bounded to files within the project directory, and since 2025.2 the IDE exposes its own MCP server, so the design assumes external agents will read the IDE, not only the reverse. |
| La Inversora | 7.8 | 6.3 | JetBrains AI Assistant — JetBrains sells this as a layer on IDEs developers already pay for, AI Pro at $10 and Ultimate at $30 with a credit that equals one dollar; pricing so legible it barely needs a sales team. |
| La Jefa | 7.5 | 6.8 | JetBrains AI Assistant — AI Enterprise is $60 per user, $3,600 a month for sixty, admins can preconfigure MCP servers and block engineers from adding their own, and the IDE is already on the invoice. |
| El Hacker | 6.8 | 7.3 | Kilo Code — MIT, Ollama and LM Studio documented, MCP servers in JSON with a per-server timeout, and a CLI that is OpenCode under the hood, so I can read both halves. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.