Codeium Review: Does Free AI Code Completion Actually Work?

It's Free, But You Wonder How Long That'll Last

Here's the thing that keeps nagging at me: Codeium is completely free for individual developers. No token limits, no premium features locked behind paywalls, no "upgrade now" popups every five minutes. Coming from GitHub Copilot where you're constantly reminded you're paying $10/month, this feels... suspicious? Like, how the hell are they making money?

I've been using it for 8 months and haven't hit a single limit. Compare that to Cursor's $20/month or even the "free" tier of most AI tools that give you like 10 completions before begging for your credit card. The cynical developer in me keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far? Actually free.

Setup That Doesn't Want to Murder You

Installation is shockingly painless. No GitHub OAuth dance, no corporate account setup, just install the VS Code extension and you're coding. Took me literally 2 minutes, which is a fucking miracle in the world of developer tooling.

The extension works in JetBrains IDEs, Vim, and Neovim too. I tested it in IntelliJ and it didn't slow everything down to a crawl like some extensions do. Actual competent engineering.

But here's where it gets weird - they also launched Windsurf, which is basically VS Code but with their AI baked in deeper. It's like they got impatient waiting for Microsoft to make Copilot not suck, so they just forked VS Code and did it themselves. Bold move.

When It Works, It's Fucking Magic

The autocomplete is genuinely impressive. Not "holy shit the future is here" impressive, but more like "damn, it actually understood what I was trying to do" impressive. It picks up on patterns in your codebase, remembers function names you defined 3 files ago, and occasionally suggests exactly the boring boilerplate you were about to type.

Best example: I was working on a React TypeScript project and needed to write yet another form handler. Codeium suggested the entire useState hook setup, the event handler, and even the proper TypeScript interfaces. Saved me maybe 2 minutes of typing, but more importantly, it saved me from having to think about the tedious shit so I could focus on the actual logic.

It supports 70+ languages supposedly, but let's be real - it's great with JavaScript, Python, and TypeScript. Decent with Java and C++. Everything else? Your mileage may vary. I tried it with some Rust code and it was... fine. Not terrible, not amazing. Like having a junior developer pair with you who's enthusiastic but still learning.

The Frustrating Moments (And There Are Many)

Sometimes it just loses its goddamn mind. I'll be writing perfectly normal JavaScript and it starts suggesting Python syntax. Or I'm in a React component and it tries to complete my JSX with jQuery from 2015. These aren't edge cases - this happens multiple times per coding session.

The chat feature exists, but it's basically ChatGPT with worse formatting. I tried asking it to refactor some complex logic and got back code that looked like it was written by someone who learned programming from StackOverflow answers. Technically correct, but you can tell no human would ever structure it that way.

And don't get me started on the latency issues. Most of the time it's instant, but sometimes it just hangs for 5-10 seconds and you're sitting there like an idiot wondering if your internet died. No loading indicator, no "processing..." message, just... nothing. Then suddenly 3 suggestions appear at once.

The Architecture Thing Everyone Pretends to Understand

They make a big deal about having their own AI models instead of using OpenAI's stuff. Cool, I guess? As someone who just wants code suggestions that don't suck, I don't really care whose GPU cluster is running the inference.

What I do care about is that it means they're not at the mercy of OpenAI's API limits or pricing changes. Remember when Copilot got slow as shit for like a month? That probably won't happen here because they control their own infrastructure. Assuming they don't run out of money and shut down, which brings us back to the "how are they making money" question.

When Codeium Goes Full Derp Mode

Let me tell you about the time Codeium cost me 3 hours. I was refactoring a Next.js component and it kept suggesting componentDidMount instead of useEffect. Every. Single. Time. I'd delete the suggestion, type use, and it would immediately suggest the class component lifecycle method again.

This wasn't a one-time thing. Codeium has this weird brain fart where it gets stuck in the wrong paradigm and just... stays there. I've seen it suggest jQuery in React projects, Python syntax in JavaScript files, and my personal favorite: trying to import Node.js modules in browser-side code.

The fix? Restart VS Code. That's it. That's the sophisticated debugging technique that works 90% of the time. Very confidence-inspiring.

Large Codebase Performance is... Interesting

Here's a fun experiment: open a monorepo with 200+ files and watch Codeium slowly lose its mind. On my M1 MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM, it starts fast but gets progressively worse as the project size grows. Not just slower - actually dumber.

Working on a TypeScript project with 50+ interfaces? Good luck getting consistent suggestions for your custom types after about file 30. It's like Codeium's context window has ADHD and just forgets everything you defined earlier.

Compare this to GitHub Copilot which handles large codebases like a champ, or Cursor which somehow knows more about your project than you do. Codeium? It tries its best, bless its artificial heart.

Language Support Reality Check

The marketing says 70+ languages but here's what actually works:

JavaScript/TypeScript: Solid. Not amazing, but solid. It understands React, Vue, and Angular patterns reasonably well.

Python: Really good, especially for Django and Flask. Clearly they spent time training on Python codebases.

Go: Meh. Better than nothing, worse than everything else. Suggests the right imports maybe 60% of the time.

Rust: Holy shit, don't even bother. I spent a day trying to use it with Rust and it suggested syntax that hasn't been valid since 2018. Use the rust-analyzer and save yourself the headache.

PHP: LOL. It suggests PHP 5.6 syntax in 2025. If you're stuck writing PHP, just use PhpStorm and cry quietly.

The JetBrains Experience is Rough

Installing the JetBrains plugin in IntelliJ IDEA? Prepare for your IDE to slow down like it's running on a potato. Not just the AI features - everything. File navigation, autocomplete, even syntax highlighting stutters.

The worst part? IntelliJ IDEA 2024.2 with the Codeium plugin v1.8.15 has a memory leak. After 3-4 hours of coding, the IDE is using 8GB+ RAM and feels sluggish as hell. Restart fixes it, but who wants to restart their IDE multiple times a day?

I tested this on multiple machines and it's consistent. Codeium + JetBrains = performance death. The suggestions are decent when they work, but waiting 5 seconds for your IDE to respond every time you press a key kills productivity.

VS Code handles it fine. Vim/Neovim with the codeium.vim plugin works great. But JetBrains? It's like they're mining Bitcoin in the background.

Context Loss and the Infinite Regression Bug

Here's my favorite Codeium bug: the infinite regression. You're writing a recursive function, and Codeium suggests... the exact same function you're currently writing. Not a helper function, not a similar algorithm - literally copy-pasting your incomplete code back at you.

I've seen this happen with React components where it suggests creating the same component you're already inside of. Or Python classes that suggest inheriting from themselves. It's like watching an AI have an existential crisis in real-time.

Network Dependencies and the 403 Nightmare

Unlike Copilot which handles network issues gracefully, Codeium just... dies. Internet hiccup? No suggestions. Corporate firewall blocking something? Silent failure. VPN acting up? Good luck figuring out why completions stopped working.

The error messages are useless too. "Failed to connect" tells me nothing. My personal favorite: Error: 403 Forbidden - is it my corporate proxy, their rate limiting, or did my auth token expire? The status bar just shows a gray dot and you're left guessing.

Even better is when it fails silently. You're typing, expecting suggestions, and... nothing. Check the output panel and see Connection timeout after 30000ms. Cool, very helpful. The Windsurf community (they moved from r/Codeium) is full of people trying to debug network issues with zero official troubleshooting docs.

Windsurf: The Ambitious Beta

Windsurf is Codeium's attempt to build a better VS Code. It's... fine? The AI integration is deeper than an extension can achieve, but it's also clearly a 1.0 product trying to compete with mature IDEs.

The "Cascade" agent sounds impressive until you realize it's just a chatbot with IDE access. Asked it to refactor a complex component and it made changes that broke three other files. Thanks, AI overlord.

Performance is inconsistent. Sometimes it's snappy, sometimes it hangs for 30 seconds doing god knows what. The extension ecosystem is limited, so if you rely on any niche VS Code extensions, you're out of luck.

Production Code: Trust But Verify (Heavily)

I've shipped production code with Codeium suggestions, but only after extensive review. The completion quality for standard patterns is good enough, but anything domain-specific or business-logic related needs human oversight.

Real example from my production code: Codeium suggested this innocuous-looking database query:

const posts = await Post.findAll();
const postsWithAuthors = await Promise.all(
  posts.map(post => post.getAuthor())
);

Looks fine, right? Classic N+1 query that would hammer our Postgres instance. In development with 10 posts? Fast. In production with 50,000 posts? Database timeout city.

Another gem was an authentication middleware suggestion that had a race condition between Redis cache checks and database validation. Worked fine 99% of the time, failed spectacularly when two requests hit the same endpoint simultaneously. Took down our API for 2 hours before we figured out what was happening.

Stack Overflow is still your best friend, even with AI assistance. Codeium makes you faster at writing code, not necessarily better at writing correct code.

![Codeium Chat Interface](https://towardsdatascience.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1vwi

J_keudssTz42pjTk7Lg.png)

Look, Just Use It If You're Broke

Here's the thing nobody wants to say: Codeium is the best free AI coding tool because it's the only decent free AI coding tool. GitHub Copilot costs $120/year, Cursor starts at $20/month, and Tabnine's free tier is basically useless.

If you're a student, indie developer, or just someone who doesn't want another subscription eating your paycheck, Codeium is a no-brainer. It's 80% as good as Copilot for 100% less money. That math works.

When You Should Pay for Something Better

Stop using Codeium and pay for GitHub Copilot if:

• You're making decent money as a developer ($80k+)
• Your company has a GitHub Enterprise license already
• You work primarily in complex codebases where that extra 15% accuracy matters
• You can't handle the occasional weirdness and want something that "just works"

Stop using Codeium and pay for Cursor if:

• Money isn't a concern ($240/year is pocket change)
• You want the absolute best AI coding experience
• You don't mind switching to a VS Code fork
• You're building complex applications and need the best AI assistance available

The Business Model Anxiety

The elephant in the room: how the fuck is this free?

I've been using Codeium for 8 months waiting for the other shoe to drop. No limits hit, no "upgrade now" nagging, no features suddenly disappearing.

They're clearly burning VC money to build market share, which makes me nervous. What happens when the funding runs out? But honestly, even if they shut down tomorrow, I got 8 months of free AI coding assistance. That's already a win.

Their plan seems to be: hook individual developers with free stuff, then sell enterprise licenses to their employers.

Classic freemium playbook. As long as it keeps working, I'm not complaining.

For Different Types of Developers

If you're learning to code: Use Codeium but don't become dependent on it.

Learn to write code without AI first, then use it as a productivity multiplier. And for the love of god, read and understand the suggestions before accepting them.

If you're a professional developer: Try Codeium for 3 months.

If it's good enough for your workflow, stick with free. If you hit limitations that hurt productivity, upgrade to Copilot. Don't overthink it.

If you're at a startup: Use Codeium until you have real revenue or raise a Series A.

Then evaluate whether the team needs better AI assistance. Every dollar matters when you're bootstrapping.

If you're at a big company: Your opinion doesn't matter.

Use whatever IT approves. But mention Codeium in Slack and watch your coworkers light up because someone found a way around the "no AI tools" policy.

The Real Competition

The real competition isn't other AI tools

• it's going back to coding without AI assistance. Once you get used to decent autocompletion, writing boilerplate manually feels like stone-age development.

Codeium crossed the threshold where it's obviously better than no AI assistance. Whether it's better than paid alternatives is a personal choice based on your budget and tolerance for imperfection.

My Honest Recommendation

Start with [Codeium](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?item

Name=Codeium.codeium).

It's free, setup takes 2 minutes, and you'll immediately understand what AI coding assistance is about.

Use it for 6 months. If you love it and hit no major limitations, congratulations

• you found your tool. If you get frustrated with the accuracy or features, upgrade to Copilot.

If you want the best possible experience and have money to burn, try Cursor.

But don't overthink it. The best AI coding tool is the one you actually use. And the easiest one to start using is free.

The Bottom Line

Codeium proves that AI coding assistance doesn't have to cost money. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to make you more productive. In a world of expensive subscriptions and premium features, sometimes "good enough for free" beats "perfect for $240/year."

Just don't expect miracles. It's a coding assistant, not a replacement for knowing how to code. But if you're typing boilerplate manually in 2025, you're doing it wrong.

TL;DR: It's free and it works.

Download it, try it for a week, and you'll understand why over 1 million developers are using it.

Bottom line for August 2025: If you're coding without AI assistance in 2025, you're doing it the hard way. If you're paying for AI assistance when there's a decent free option, you might be doing it the expensive way. Codeium isn't perfect, but it's perfect enough for most developers most of the time. And sometimes "good enough for free" is better than "great for $240/year."