CodeGeeX
Zhipu AI's free Copilot alternative, big in China's dev scene
Overview
CodeGeeX is Zhipu AI's free multilingual coding assistant — completion, code translation and chat via VS Code and JetBrains plugins, now running the open-sourced CodeGeeX4-ALL-9B model. Hugely popular with Chinese developers; parent Zhipu listed on the Hong Kong exchange in January 2026.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 11 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- Code completion & generation
- Inline chat & code review
- 100+ programming languages
- Private & on-prem deployment
- High-concurrency API access
- Custom integration & support
Use cases
ASEAN Perspective
CodeGeeX in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Free with no usage caps is CodeGeeX's whole argument, and it's a decent one: completion, code translation and in-IDE chat via VS Code (1.1M+ installs) and JetBrains plugins, running on the open-sourced CodeGeeX4-ALL-9B model. Zhipu AI — which listed on the Hong Kong exchange in January 2026, the first major Chinese generative-AI startup to go public — keeps the individual tier free while selling enterprise deployments. The limits are equally clear: a 9B-parameter model trails Copilot, Cursor and Claude-backed tools on complex logic, there's no real agentic capability, and docs and support are China-first. Some organisations will also weigh data-handling questions given the Chinese hosting. For ASEAN students and cost-sensitive developers the English plugin works fine; teams needing frontier accuracy should pay for a leader.
What people say
The corporate backdrop shifted in January 2026: Zhipu AI, the company behind CodeGeeX, became the first major Chinese generative-AI startup to go public, raising about US$558M on the Hong Kong exchange at a roughly US$7.1B valuation. That matters for a free tool — the individual tier stays free because Zhipu monetises enterprise GLM deployments, not plugin users, and 2025 revenue of RMB 7.24B (up 132% year on year) suggests the subsidy isn't going anywhere.
The current model is CodeGeeX4-ALL-9B, open-sourced in July 2024 on a GLM-4-9B base, which scored 82.3% on HumanEval — the strongest sub-10B code model at release, and two generations past the CodeGeeX2/ChatGLM2 setup much third-party coverage still describes. It reaches developers through VS Code (1.1M+ installs) and JetBrains plugins, still actively maintained — a December 2025 release added agent features.
User sentiment splits exactly where you'd expect. On budget it's hard to beat: genuinely free for individuals, no usage caps. On quality, reviewers find completions noticeably less refined than Copilot or Cursor on complex logic — a 9B model has a reasoning ceiling — and there's no real agentic, multi-step capability. Documentation and community support are strongest in Chinese; the English plugin works fine, but the product is unmistakably China-first, and some organisations weigh data-handling questions given the Chinese hosting.
The fit: students, hobbyists and cost-sensitive developers across Asia who want capable code completion without a subscription. Teams that need frontier accuracy or repo-wide agents should pay for a leader.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
Notable facts
- CodeGeeX was the first major AI code assistant developed by a Chinese university research group and publicly released, predating most commercial Chinese AI coding tools.
- The model trained on 850 billion tokens of code across 23 programming languages — one of the largest code-specific training sets for an academic model.
- Tsinghua University's Knowledge Engineering Group has contributed multiple influential AI models including GLM and CodeGeeX.
Frequently asked questions
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including CodeGeeX's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with CodeGeeX unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to CodeGeeX directly →
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