Continue vs LangSmith
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Continue if you want open-source ai code assistant and agent for vs code and jetbrains (Supervised agent, freemium); choose LangSmith if you want framework-agnostic platform to trace, evaluate, and deploy llm agents (Assistant, freemium).
| Continue | LangSmith | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source AI code assistant and agent for VS Code and JetBrains | Framework-agnostic platform to trace, evaluate, and deploy LLM agents |
| Type | agent | platform |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Assistant |
| Pricing | freemium · Free (open source); Hub from $10/mo (reported) | freemium · Free Developer tier (5k traces/mo); Plus $39/seat/mo |
| Best for | developers, mid-market, enterprise | developers, mid-market, enterprise |
| Deployment | self-hosted, saas | saas, self-hosted, api |
| Modalities | text, code | text, code, api |
| Models | model-agnostic | model-agnostic, gpt, claude, gemini, open-source |
| Protocols | mcp, function-calling, rest-api | mcp, a2a, function-calling, rest-api |
| Integrations | VS Code, JetBrains, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Ollama | LangChain, LangGraph, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenTelemetry, Vercel AI SDK |
| Capabilities | 4 documented | 4 documented |
Continue
- +Open source and model-agnostic, including fully local models for private coding
- +Covers autocomplete, edit, chat, and agent in one configurable plugin
- +Continue Hub adds team rules, governance, and shareable assistant blocks
- -Acquired by Cursor in 2026 with the original repo reported read-only; standalone future is uncertain
- -Heavily configuration-driven, which adds setup overhead versus turnkey tools
LangSmith
- +Framework-agnostic tracing via SDKs and OpenTelemetry, not locked to LangChain
- +Combines observability and evaluation in one platform with dataset-based regression testing
- +Self-hosted and hybrid (BYOC) deployment for data-residency and compliance needs
- -Usage-based trace pricing can grow quickly at production volume
- -Deepest integration is with LangChain/LangGraph; other stacks need OTEL or SDK setup
Which should you choose?
Continue is open-source ai code assistant and agent for vs code and jetbrains, best for developers, mid-market, enterprise. LangSmith is framework-agnostic platform to trace, evaluate, and deploy llm agents, best for developers, mid-market, enterprise. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.
This comparison is generated from the sourced Continue and LangSmith profiles. Open either profile to review its evidence and last-reviewed date.