# How V3Code compares

Most AI editors are a chat box bolted onto VS Code. V3Code is built around the parts that actually make an agent good at *your* codebase: local structural intelligence, memory that survives, and tools that go past autocomplete. The editor itself is **free**.

## The short version

|                             | Typical AI editor                                        | V3Code                                                                                                          |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Where your code lives**   | Often uploaded to the cloud to be indexed                | **Indexed locally on your machine**; nothing uploaded                                                           |
| **How the agent sees code** | Text + grep, then guesses                                | **Context Bridge** — LSP-backed symbols, callers, call graphs, types                                            |
| **Across sessions**         | Starts cold, you re-explain                              | **Remembers** — pull-on-demand memory that never loses anything                                                 |
| **In-editor prediction**    | Autocomplete and, in some products, next-edit prediction | **V3Code Tab + V Go + Turbo Draft** — cursor completion, next-edit prediction, and reviewable whole-file drafts |
| **Models**                  | Usually one provider's models                            | **BYOK + hosted + an auto router** that escalates when needed                                                   |
| **Browser**                 | None, or basic click/screenshot                          | **Playwright-grade browser** that can inspect, clone pixel-perfect, and drive flows                             |
| **Design**                  | —                                                        | **Discover + web builder** — hundreds of designs any agent can build                                            |
| **Your other agents**       | Locked out                                               | **Any agent can borrow V3Code's brain** — index, call graphs, memory, served over MCP                           |
| **Theming**                 | Install a theme extension                                | **Built-in color picker**, no extension                                                                         |
| **Price of the editor**     | Subscription to use it                                   | **Free** — you pay only for hosted extras                                                                       |

## What actually makes the difference

**Your code stays yours.** V3Code indexes locally and is BYOK-friendly. Ask "what breaks if I change this?" and it answers from a local structural map — see [Context Bridge](/editor/context-bridge) and the [semantic index](/editor/semantic-index).

**It remembers.** Close it, come back, and the agent still knows your project — without stuffing the context window. See [Memory](/editor/memory).

**It keeps the small work in flow.** [V3Code Tab and V Go](/editor/tab-and-v-go)
cover autocomplete and next-edit prediction; [Turbo Draft](/editor/turbo-draft) turns
the unfinished intent already in a file into a complete diff you review hunk by hunk.

**It reaches past the editor.** A [browser](/studio/browser) the agent drives like a developer, a [design platform](/studio/web-builder) to build from, and the ability to expose all of V3Code's tools to [any other agent over MCP](/connect/other-agents).

**You're not locked to one model.** Bring your own keys, or let the [auto router](/models/overview) pick and escalate — tuned to keep prompt caching intact so it stays cheap.

## The sentence nobody else can say

Other AI editors compete on whose agent is smarter. **V3Code also makes every other
agent smarter.** The intelligence layer — the local index, the call graphs, the
persistent memory — is served over a local MCP endpoint, so Claude Code, Cursor, or any
MCP client can use *V3Code's brain with their own hands*: they bring their editing and
terminal tools, and borrow the structural understanding of your codebase. Write tools
are deliberately not exposed — brains out, hands stay home. See
[Bring V3Code to any agent](/connect/other-agents), including the drop-in skill that
makes an agent actually reach for it.

## On pricing

The editor is free. Paid plans add the hosted pieces — the auto router and cloud indexing — with more coming over time. And if your local index ever breaks, cloud indexing kicks in **free** so you're never stuck. See [Plans](/models/plans-and-trials).