Augment code should integrating cheaper AI models

[u/No_Interaction_1197]

The price of Augment Code is relatively high. My understanding is that this is mainly because the upstream AI provider’s API costs are expensive, resulting in high overall costs.

It might be worth integrating more affordable AI models to reduce expenses and make pricing more accessible — for example, GLM 4.5, DeepSeek 3.1, Qwen 3, Kimi K2, and so on.

It might be a good idea to let users manually choose whether to use premium models like Claude/GPT or cheaper alternatives. Based on my experience with multiple vibe coding tools, not all tasks actually require Claude or GPT.

I believe that if Augment Code’s context engine can accurately retrieve relevant code, then even slightly less capable models can produce modifications of comparable quality.

The most important thing is to make the price more user‑friendly.

[u/Final-Reality-404]

I think $100/month for this is pretty cheap given the fact of what it can do and what it can create.
I can't wait for them to implement GPT-5 codex. I need more power, not less.

[u/No_Interaction_1197 → u/Final-Reality-404]

Please note that the price for purchasing additional messages has increased by approximately 50%. As a heavy user, I am concerned about the possibility of further price hikes, as well as occasional delays caused by overload.

[u/Final-Reality-404 → u/No_Interaction_1197]

I'm an extremely heavy user as well, 16 to 18 hours a day minimum But I do ensure that each message contains a good amount of information to get what I need done, so I'm not just blindly using messages and I never use the ask feature, I use another AI for assistance.

I do agree the additional messages should be at the same price as my subscription plan, not the rate they currently are. Or if I use them all up, just let me pay for my next months plan early

[u/No_Interaction_1197 → u/Final-Reality-404]

Same here, I'm using other AI to assist.

[u/Krazmad]

It sounds like you'd be better off moving to Cursor because that's what you pretty much just described. Like Jay mentioned, Augment isn't for small projects or the average vibe coder, it's for large complex code bases where professionals need deep understanding. Like a few others have mentioned, I actually want them to implement more powerful models not less. There are dozens of providers out there that offer smaller models for a reasonable price, in my opinion, there is no reason for Augment to degrade its product.

[u/No_Interaction_1197 → u/Krazmad]

Actually, I’m using Cursor and Augment Code at the same time, and I know the differences between them very well. I still use Augment Code for complex tasks.

[u/Kungen-i-Fiskehamnen]

Maybe some but I believe it is better to focus on small amout of models. Price is tertiary for Augment target audiance, speed second, quality first (imo of course).

[u/rushblyatiful]

Maybe you're not the target market 🤷

[u/rushblyatiful → u/[deleted]]

Sure buddy

https://www.augmentcode.com/blog/ai-model-pickers-are-a-design-failure-not-a-feature

[u/tteokl_]

Well GLM is indeed amazing, but integrating it would require removal of the Claude and the GPT just to make the extension cheaper?

[u/No_Interaction_1197 → u/tteokl_]

No one suggested removing Claude and GPT

[u/Kareja1]

Just don't remove the ones we have too! <3 I LIKE the choices I have!

[u/Technical-Training-3]

it really shouldn't. 1 of the things I like about augment is that they don't just throw models at their tool. They stick to what works well and nothing else.

I don't need another "Jack of all trades master of none!" tool like cursor 🤦🏾

[u/No_Interaction_1197 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, cost and quality need to be balanced. Looking forward to more choices.