Alternative AI Coding Agents After Claude's Plan Removal

Testing Results for Claude Coding Plan Alternatives

A Reddit user on r/openclaw shared results from testing AI coding agent alternatives after Claude discontinued its coding plan. The testing focused on practical alternatives for OpenClaw users who need reliable tool calling and context handling.

Monthly Subscription Options

• Kimi: $20/month plan, described as solid for multi-step tasks with reliable tool calling
• Minimax: $10/month, surprisingly capable with good value for budget-conscious users
• Z.AI GLM: $10/month, underrated and handles agentic loops well according to the user's experience
• Stepfun: $6-10/month, cheapest option with decent performance for lighter workflows
• Mistral: $15/month, probably the most consistent for coding tasks and GDPR friendly

API-Based Option

Arcee Trinity: API-based with no subscription. Trinity-Mini costs $0.045 input / $0.15 output per 1M tokens, described as insanely cheap. Trinity-Large-Thinking at $0.25/$0.90 per 1M tokens is worth considering for reasoning tasks.

Bundled Service

OpenCode Go plan: $10/month includes GLM, Mimo (Xiaomi), MiniMax and Kimi all in one, described as probably the best value if you want multiple models without paying separately for each.

The user notes that none of these are perfect 1:1 replacements for Claude's coding plan, but some work better for OpenClaw specifically due to how they handle context and tool calls.