# AI coding assistants: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "AI coding assistant" and as "AI pair programming tool", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/developer/ai-coding-assistants

**Standing:** GitHub Copilot leads with 80% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 45 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [GitHub Copilot](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/github-copilot/index.md) | 80% | 12% | 80 |
| 2 | [Windsurf](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/windsurf/index.md) | 4% | 11% | 27 |
| 3 | [Tabnine](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tabnine/index.md) | 2% | 3% | 39 |
| 4 | [Cursor](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cursor/index.md) | 2% | 25% | 63 |
| 5 | [Aider](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/aider/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 14 |
| 7 | [Cline](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/cline/index.md) | 2% | 9% | 11 |
| 10 | [Amazon Q Developer](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-q-developer/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 43 |
| 11 | [Claude Code](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/claude-code/index.md) | 0% | 21% | 29 |
| 12 | [Sourcegraph Cody](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/sourcegraph-cody/index.md) | 0% | 8% | 12 |
| 13 | [JetBrains AI Assistant](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/jetbrains-ai-assistant/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 15 | [Gemini Code Assist](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/gemini-code-assist/index.md) | 0% | 20% | 10 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 72 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Claude, GitHub Copilot
- GPT-5.4 mini: GitHub Copilot Business or Enterprise; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Cursor
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Cursor, Tabnine, Windsurf
- Perplexity Sonar: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Claude Code, Cursor, Tabnine
- Grok 4.20: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Anthropic, Claude Code, Cursor
- Mistral Small: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Claude Code, Cursor, Superblocks
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Sourcegraph Cody
- Llama 4 Maverick: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Anthropic, Augment Code, Claude Code, Cursor
- Kimi K2: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Tabnine
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Tabnine, Windsurf
- MiniMax M2.5: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code, Cursor, Sourcegraph Cody
- GPT-6 Luna: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Claude Code, Cursor
- Muse Glimmer 30B: GitHub Copilot; alternatives Amazon Q Developer, Cursor, Tabnine

## Sources the answers cite

71 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- github.com: 22 answers, 50 citations
- dev.to: 19 answers, 28 citations
- gane.ai/index: 18 answers, 19 citations
- superblocks.com: 17 answers, 22 citations
- docs.github.com: 13 answers, 27 citations
- sourcegraph.com: 12 answers, 13 citations
- daily.dev: 11 answers, 12 citations
- jellyfish.co: 11 answers, 11 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://gane.ai/index/it/developer/ai-coding-assistants (14 answers)
- https://jellyfish.co/library/how-to-choose-an-ai-coding-assistant (11 answers)
- https://superblocks.com/blog/best-ai-coding-assistants (10 answers)
- https://superblocks.com/blog/best-ai-coding-tools (10 answers)
- https://bsi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/BSI/KI/ANSSI_BSI_AI_Coding_Assistants.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=7 (9 answers)
- https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Secure_Coding_with_AI_Cheat_Sheet.html (9 answers)
- https://sourcegraph.com/blog/best-ai-coding-assistant (9 answers)
- https://zapier.com/blog/ai-coding-tools (8 answers)
- https://daily.dev/blog/best-ai-coding-assistants-comparison (7 answers)
- https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/get-started/plans (6 answers)

## Warned against

- Cursor: 16 of 63 labels negative. "Verdict: Use with extreme caution, especially without enterprise controls and Privacy Mode explicitly enabled." (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- GitHub Copilot: 10 of 80 labels negative. "GitHub explicitly warns that Copilot CLI and cloud-agent workflows need extra caution around command execution, sensitive information, and inaccurate code." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)
- Amazon Q Developer: 4 of 43 labels negative. "Shut down and folded into Amazon Q Developer in 2024... Avoid entirely: Discontinued tools (CodeWhisperer, Kite, Builder.ai)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Claude Code: 6 of 29 labels negative. "Verdict: Avoid for sensitive or regulated environments; geopolitical concerns add extra risk layer." (Kimi K2, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: GitHub Copilot at 80%.

- Windsurf: 14% to 4%, −10. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 of 72, unchanged.
- GitHub Copilot: 75% to 80%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 72, unchanged.
- Amazon Q Developer: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 4 → 10 of 72.
- Cursor: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 3 → 4 of 72.
- Aider: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 16 → 5 of 72.
- Continue: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 6 of 72.
- Cline: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 15 → 7 of 72.
- Tabnine: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 → 3 of 72.
- Claude Code: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 11 of 72.
- Sourcegraph Cody: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 8 → 12 of 72.
- JetBrains AI Assistant: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 13 of 72.
- Gemini Code Assist: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 15 of 72.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.