Continue vs Avery Software: a comparison and Continue alternatives
· Avery NXR
Continue is one of the most prominent open-source AI coding assistants, popular with developers who want IDE-integrated AI without locking into a single vendor or paying for a commercial product. Avery Software builds local-first specialized agents for specific workflows. The two products live at different layers of the developer AI tooling landscape.
This post is an honest comparison for teams evaluating their options.
What Continue is
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that runs as an extension in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs. It provides chat, autocomplete, and increasingly agent-like capabilities, with strong support for using local models alongside cloud LLMs.
Continue emphasizes:
- Open-source (Apache 2.0 license)
- IDE extension model (VS Code and JetBrains)
- Strong support for local models (Ollama, vLLM, others) alongside cloud LLMs
- Highly customizable through configuration files
- Self-hostable for enterprise deployments
- Active developer community
- Free to use (with optional commercial offerings for teams)
It is designed for developers who want an open-source, customizable, locally-deployable AI coding assistant inside their existing IDE.
What Avery Software is
Avery Software builds packaged AI agents with local inference. The first product, Avery NXR, focuses on scaffolding production-ready Next.js + Prisma + TypeScript applications from a prompt.
Avery emphasizes:
- Specialized agents fine-tuned for specific workflows
- Local inference (the model runs on the user's machine)
- Flat-rate perpetual licensing
- Built-in audit ledger
- Signed plugin ecosystem
The products solve different problems within the developer AI category.
Editor extension vs specialized agent
Continue lives in your IDE as an extension. It provides AI capabilities throughout your editing experience — chat about code, autocomplete suggestions, and agent-based multi-step work, all within the editor you already use.
Avery NXR is a specialized agent for project scaffolding. You use it at the start of a new project to generate a complete Next.js application from a prompt.
These are different developer needs. A common pattern: use Continue for daily AI assistance in your editor, then reach for Avery NXR when starting a new Next.js project.
Open-source flexibility vs packaged product
Continue's open-source nature is part of its appeal. You can read the code, customize the behavior, configure it for your team's specific needs, and self-host it without vendor dependencies.
Avery is a commercial product with a polished UX and a fine-tuned model bundled in. You don't customize the underlying behavior; you use the agent as it ships.
For developers who want maximum control and customization, Continue's approach fits. For developers who want a polished tool that works without configuration, Avery's approach fits.
Local model support
Continue has strong support for local model deployments — Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp, and others. You can configure Continue to use any local model you have running, with full control over the model selection.
Avery ships its own fine-tuned model bundled with the agent. The model is part of the product; you don't configure model selection.
For developers who want to run their own choice of local model (or experiment with many models), Continue's flexibility helps. For developers who want a model that's specifically tuned for the agent's job without configuration effort, Avery's bundled approach fits.
Pricing comparison
Continue is free for individual use. Continue for teams has commercial pricing. The underlying LLM costs depend on which models you use — local models are free to run after setup; cloud LLM usage has its own per-call costs.
Avery is flat-rate perpetual licensing per agent product.
When Continue wins
Continue is the right choice when:
You want an open-source AI coding assistant integrated into your existing IDE (VS Code or JetBrains).
You want strong local model support with flexibility to choose your model.
You want to read the source, modify it, and contribute back.
You want self-hosting for enterprise deployments.
You're comfortable with the configuration effort that customization requires.
You're working primarily in existing codebases rather than scaffolding new projects.
When Avery Software wins
Avery is the right choice when:
You want a specialized agent for Next.js scaffolding specifically.
You want a packaged product with a fine-tuned model bundled in, requiring no configuration.
You want flat-rate perpetual licensing.
You want a tool for the project-start moment that complements your existing editor (which can absolutely include Continue).
You want the audit ledger as a built-in record of how the application was generated.
Other Continue alternatives worth considering
Beyond Avery Software (which lives at a different layer), the other meaningful Continue alternatives include:
Cline (formerly Claude Dev) — open-source autonomous coding agent in VS Code, more agent-focused than Continue.
Aider — open-source command-line AI pair programmer.
Tabby — open-source coding assistant with strong self-hosted deployment.
Twinny — open-source VS Code AI extension with local model support.
GitHub Copilot — commercial counterpart to open-source assistants.
Cursor / Windsurf — full AI-first IDEs rather than extensions.
Each has different positioning. Continue is generally considered the most flexible and developer-friendly of the open-source IDE extension options.
How to decide
The decision is usually about workflow preferences and customization needs.
If you want open-source AI assistance integrated into your existing IDE with strong local model support and customization flexibility, Continue is an excellent fit.
If you want a specialized agent for Next.js scaffolding with a fine-tuned model bundled in, Avery NXR is built for that.
Many developers will use both: Continue for daily AI assistance in their editor, Avery NXR for project scaffolding moments. The tools complement each other across different parts of the workflow.