Amp Free
Amp Free is the $0 Hobby tier of Amp, an agentic coding agent with orbs, subagents, and Puck voice control — you supply the model keys.
Amp Free is unusual among free tiers because it isn't a stripped build — you get the same agent, orbs, subagents, and Dial modes as Megawatt, and the paid tier buys orbin' minutes rather than capability. If you already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Pro, or you're willing to bring your own keys and run a local runner, this is the cheapest route into a real agentic coding loop. It is not the right pick when a queued or capacity-limited agent costs you a release; at that point Megawatt's $20/mo for 45,000 orbin' minutes is the honest purchase. Compare against Cursor's paid plans or Claude Code if you want model access bundled rather than assembled yourself.
Verified 5d ago · liveness 81/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/amp-free
- Developers who already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Pro and want to reuse those tokens with an agent
- Individuals testing agentic coding workflows before committing to the $20/mo Megawatt plan
- Side-project builders whose workloads can absorb occasional capacity waits
- Teams that want members on mixed Hobby/Megawatt/Gigawatt tiers under one workspace
- Deadline-driven production work where a throttled or queued agent costs you a release
- Heavy orb users who need guaranteed orbin' minutes rather than pay-as-you-go metering
- Buyers who want model access bundled in and don't want to manage BYOK or their own runners
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- Honest verdict, not marketing
- Real pros & cons from real users
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Skip Amp Free if you need guaranteed, unthrottled agent capacity for deadline work — the Hobby tier meters orbs pay-as-you-go and is capacity-limited, so Megawatt at $20/mo for 45,000 orbin' minutes is the plan that actually fits that job.
Orb time is metered pay-as-you-go on Hobby, so a long autonomous run bills minutes even though the tier is free.
Hobby at $0 is the cheapest way into Amp and competes with any BYOK coding agent on entry price. Megawatt at $20/mo for 45,000 orbin' minutes sits in the same range as Cursor and Copilot's individual paid plans, but here the money buys compute rather than model access. Teams adds no extra charge on top of member tiers, which is cheaper than most seats-priced team plans. Enterprise is custom with pooled credits and no paid user seats.
In short
Amp Free — Amp Free is the $0 Hobby tier of Amp, an agentic coding agent with orbs, subagents, and Puck voice control — you supply the model keys. Best for Developers who already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Pro and want to reuse those tokens with an agent, Individuals testing agentic coding workflows before committing to the $20/mo Megawatt plan, Side-project builders whose workloads can absorb occasional capacity waits. Free to start; paid plans from $20/mo.
What's new in Amp Free
Checked 5 days agoAcross the latest 5 updates: 4 feature updates and 1 pricing change.
Plaid Speed: 6x faster inference for GPT-6 Astra
Amp ships 6x faster inference for GPT-6 Astra, cutting latency on model responses inside threads and orbs.
Opus 5.5 now powers medium mode
The medium Dial mode now runs on Opus 5.5, which Amp says solves more tasks for less and is easier to steer.
Shared Runners across your workspace
Runners can be shared with a workspace — start one with --share and any workspace member can start threads on that machine from ampcode.com.
Amp for macOS starts a runner for you
The macOS app now starts a runner automatically, so you add a folder in settings and run threads on your Mac with no terminal.
Amp is now free with your own compute and keys
Amp became free to use when you bring your own compute and model subscriptions or keys, establishing the Hobby tier at $0.
What people actually say about Amp Free — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
60 mentions across 4 sources (Hacker News, Product Hunt, Bluesky, Lemmy) · researched Jul 4, 2026.
Average across the 4 sources that answered — each source counts once, not each post.
- +Free daily credits give real access to frontier models.
- +Multi-model orchestration optimizes cost and speed.
- +Subagents like Oracle and Code Review extend capabilities.
- +Works across VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, JetBrains, CLI.
- +Threads system allows saving and sharing complex sessions.
- −Frequent capacity caps block free user access.
- −New applications have been closed due to demand.
- −Forced to switch tools when Amp Free is full.
- −Ads in free tier (despite 'ad-free' claims) may appear.
- −Ergonomics differences from Claude/Copilot are jarring.
- • Excessive usage on paid tier can generate large bills (usage-based).
- • Free tier may show ads even though called 'ad-free'.
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Amp Free? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Agentic coding agent that reasons, edits code, and completes tasks autonomously
- Multi-model: GPT-5.6, Claude Fable 5.1, and fast models used for what each does best
- Opus 5.5 now powers medium mode
- 6x faster inference for GPT-6 Astra
- Orbs run agents on machines Amp creates per thread, with your code, tools, and plugins preconfigured
- Pay-as-you-go for orb time, or use your own runners for free
- Runners can serve many directories, create Git worktrees, and resolve your secrets
- Shared runners across a workspace via --share
- Amp for macOS starts a runner automatically from a folder in settings
- Subagents: Oracle, Librarian, Painter, and Code Review
- Dial with four agent modes: low, medium, high, and ultra
- Customize Your Dial: choose the models behind your modes or put your own agents on it
- Realtime voice control of agents through Puck
- iOS and macOS apps with threads, orbs, notifications, dictation, and sharing
- Plugin system for custom agents and skills, plus global plugins
About Amp Free
Amp Free is the $0 entry tier of Amp, a coding agent and development environment built by the Amp team. You get the full product surface — the same agent, threads, subagents, plugins, and orbs that paying customers use — without a monthly subscription. Amp describes itself as multi-model, running GPT-5.6, Claude Fable 5.1, and fast models against whatever each is best at, and recent releases added Opus 5.5 as the model behind medium mode plus 6x faster inference for GPT-6 Astra. The architecture is the differentiator. Orbs are machines Amp creates per thread with your code, tools, and plugins already set up, so you can send a prompt, close your laptop, and let the agent keep working. Runners let you point Amp at your own hardware: a single runner can now serve many directories, create Git worktrees from the thread composer, and be shared with your workspace via --share. The macOS app starts a runner for you, so you can add a folder in settings and run threads on your Mac without touching a terminal. The Dial exposes modes (low, medium, high, ultra), and you can now choose which models back each mode or put your own agents on the Dial. Puck adds voice control, and the iOS and macOS apps bring threads, orbs, and notifications to mobile and desktop, alongside Slack summoning, MCP servers, and file attachments covering videos, logs, PDFs, and datasets. On the Hobby tier you pay for orbs as you go or bring your own runners, and you supply model access yourself — your ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription works for OpenAI models in Amp, or you bring your own keys. There are no Amp token fees or limits. The trade-off is capacity: you're on a free product tier, and if you need guaranteed orbin' minutes you move to Megawatt at $20/mo for 45,000 minutes. Amp Free suits developers who already pay for a model subscription and want a genuinely agentic workflow on top of it without adding a second bill.
Behind the Verdict
Amp Free's value proposition rests on a clean split: the software is free, the compute and the tokens are yours. Amp gives you the same agent everywhere — web at ampcode.com with no install, macOS and iOS apps with notifications, dictation and cross-app sharing, and a CLI that runs in your editor's terminal or from scripts — and threads follow you across all of them. The agent layer is where the engineering shows. Orbs are per-thread machines provisioned with your code, tools, and plugins, which is what lets you fire a prompt and walk away. Runners extend that to your own hardware, and the last few months of releases have made them far more practical: one runner now serves many directories, discovers your Git repositories, creates worktrees from the thread composer, resolves your secrets, and can be shared with your entire workspace with a --share flag. The macOS app starting a runner automatically removes the terminal step entirely for Mac users. The Dial is Amp's answer to model selection fatigue. Modes (low, medium, high, ultra) trade depth against spend per task, and Customize Your Dial lets you choose the models behind your modes or mount your own agents on it. Opus 5.5 now powers medium, and Amp ships 6x faster inference for GPT-6 Astra. Subagents — Oracle for review, Librarian, Painter, and Code Review — split work across specialist roles, Threads save and share conversations, and plugins and skills (including global plugins) extend the agent. What you tolerate on the free tier is capacity. You pay as you go for orb time or bring your own runners, and access is capped. Amp's own framing is that you should bring your own compute and keys, which is honest but also means the total cost is your ChatGPT subscription plus any orb minutes plus your own runner hardware. Buyers who want model access, compute, and orchestration on one invoice should look elsewhere or step up to Megawatt. The team also ships aggressively and says so: "no backward compatibility, no legacy features." That is good for capability and bad for stability — the TUI sidebar was removed for a simpler interface, and interface churn is part of the deal. Teams get shared runners, team thread sharing, multiplayer, and permissions at no extra charge, with members allowed to sit on different tiers. Enterprise adds SCIM, audit logs, IP allowlisting, and pooled credits only.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Amp Free actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Signs in with ChatGPT, creates a project from a Git repo, and gives Amp a task in a fresh orb with the code already set up.
Outcome: Agent work happens on tokens the developer already pays for, with no additional Amp token fees or limits.
Installs the macOS app, adds a folder in settings, and lets Amp start a runner automatically without opening a terminal.
Outcome: Threads run on local hardware for free instead of metered orb minutes, and the same thread can be checked from an iPhone.
Admins create a workspace, keep members on mixed Hobby and Megawatt tiers, and share a runner with the workspace via --share so anyone can start threads on that machine.
Outcome: Shared portals, plugins, skills, thread sharing, permissions, and pooled billing arrive without moving everyone to the same tier.
Use Cases
- Fix all TypeScript errors in a file automatically with one command.
- Run tests and fix failures iteratively using deep reasoning modes.
- Add a dark mode toggle to a React component from a single prompt.
- Review API design and suggest improvements using the Oracle subagent.
- Run an agent on a headless remote machine via orbs for CI/CD work.
- Start a thread on your iPhone and check on it from your Mac while notifications keep you posted.
- Create a custom agent via plugin for a specialized workflow.
- Share a runner with your workspace so teammates can start threads on your machine.
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-10-02
Limitations
- Amp Free is a $0 product tier: it is free when you bring your own compute runners and your own model keys or subscription.
- If you use Amp's orbs instead of your own runners, you pay as you go for orb time.
- The Megawatt tier at $20/mo includes 45,000 minutes of orbin' time and unlimited public/private repositories; Hobby lists public/private repositories without the unlimited qualifier.
- Teams is described as no extra charge on top of member tiers, and Enterprise is custom.
- Capacity limits apply on the free tier.
- Note that this run's scrape of the Amp changelog and release-notes pages returned only sign-in prompts, so dated changelog entries could not be verified from vendor pages; model and release details above come from the docs introduction and the vendor blog.
as of 2026-10-02
Verification history
We have re-verified Amp Free 9 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 9 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Amp Free tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Hobby
$0
Ideal for
Solo developer who already pays for a model subscription and has a machine to run a runner on, or who is fine metering orb time.
What this tier adds
Free entry point: all product features, pay-as-you-go orbs or your own runners, BYOK, and no Amp token fees.
Megawatt
$20/mo
Ideal for
Individual or professional who needs unthrottled agent capacity without standing up their own runner hardware.
What this tier adds
Adds 45,000 minutes of orbin' time, unlimited public/private repositories, custom portal domains, and a sticker pack for $20/mo.
Teams
No extra charge
Ideal for
Small to mid-size engineering teams that want shared context without forcing everyone onto the same paid tier.
What this tier adds
Adds team thread sharing, multiplayer, permissions, shared portals, plugins and skills, SSO, user management, shared billing, and pooled credits at no extra charge.
Enterprise
Custom
Ideal for
Organizations with procurement, security review, and directory-management requirements.
What this tier adds
Adds SCIM directory sync, audit logs, network and MCP access controls, IP allowlisting, regional endpoints, higher quotas, pooled credits only, and forward-deployed engineering help.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Amp Free's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Hobby at $0 is the cheapest way into Amp and competes with any BYOK coding agent on entry price. Megawatt at $20/mo for 45,000 orbin' minutes sits in the same range as Cursor and Copilot's individual paid plans, but here the money buys compute rather than model access. Teams adds no extra charge on top of member tiers, which is cheaper than most seats-priced team plans. Enterprise is custom with pooled credits and no paid user seats.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Amp Free — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Solo developers: a few minutes — sign up, optionally sign in with ChatGPT, add a Git repo or start without one, and run a first agent in an orb. Mac users running their own compute: a few more minutes, since the macOS app now starts a runner automatically once you add a folder in settings. CLI users: install the CLI and work from your terminal or editor. Teams: workspace creation is free, but
Switching to or from Amp Free
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Cursor: keep Cursor as an editor and run Amp's CLI inside its terminal, pointing a runner at the same repositories.
- →From Claude Code: sign in, add the repo as a project, and move long-running tasks into orbs so they survive closing your laptop.
- →From Copilot: sign in with ChatGPT or bring keys, then re-create routine edits as Amp threads and plugins.
- →From ChatGPT in the browser: sign in with your ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription and give the agent a real codebase inside an orb.
- →From a self-hosted agent setup: point an Amp runner at the directories and secrets you already use instead of adopting orb compute.
- ↗To Cursor or Windsurf: keep your Git remotes, since Amp projects are built from repositories and threads are not tied to a proprietary editor.
- ↗To Claude Code: export nothing proprietary — your model access was always yours via BYOK or your ChatGPT subscription.
- ↗To Megawatt inside Amp: no migration needed, since it is the same agent and threads with orbin' minutes added.
- ↗To a bundled model-access tool: expect to give up BYOK flexibility in exchange for one invoice covering models and compute.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Documentationampcode.com
Docs · Amp Free
Full product docs from ampcode.com
- Documentationampcode.com
Orbs · Amp Free
Full product docs from ampcode.com
- Documentationampcode.com
Puck · Amp Free
Full product docs from ampcode.com
- API Referenceampcode.com
Cli · Amp Free
Methods, params, types from ampcode.com
- API Referenceampcode.com
Sdk · Amp Free
Methods, params, types from ampcode.com
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Amp Free”, and we withheld 6: 6 did not mention Amp Free. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Amp Free.
Tools that pair well with Amp Free
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Amp Free, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Amp Free vs Bito
Choose Bito if your team works across multiple repos and needs system-wide architectural context for AI coding agents — its knowledge graph, feasibility analysis, and auto-scoping turn vague epics into actionable stories. Choose Amp Free if you're an individual developer who wants a powerful, ad-free agentic coding experience with cutting-edge models and custom agent workflows, all at no cost.
Amp Free vs Poolside Ai
Choose Poolside AI if you're an enterprise in a regulated industry needing on-prem deployment, auditability, and custom models. Choose Amp Free if you're an individual developer wanting free, frontier-code assistance with advanced agentic workflows. Poolside wins on security and governance; Amp Free wins on accessibility and cost.
Amp Free vs Cognition Ai
If you're an enterprise team needing an autonomous engineer that handles end-to-end production tasks and offers a productivity guarantee, choose Cognition AI's Devin. If you're an individual developer or hobbyist wanting free, ad-free access to frontier coding agents with flexible modes and the ability to run agents remotely, Amp Free is the better pick. For most solo devs and small projects, Amp Free provides more immediate value without cost.
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