{"name":"Kimi Code","tagline":"Open-source terminal coding agent from Moonshot AI with Anthropic-compatible gateway and MCP support.","url":"https://www.kimi.com/code","category":"coding","pricing":"freemium","price_note":"CLI is free/MIT; hosted coding membership ~$19–$39/mo depending on region; API billed separately at Kimi API rates (K3 $3/$15 per 1M)","free_tier":true,"open_source":true,"api":true,"self_host":true,"models_used":["kimi-k3"],"model_routing":"byok","verdict":"ship","verdict_text":"A credible open-source Claude Code alternative. The CLI is free and the Anthropic-compatible gateway means it drops into existing toolchains. Costs can climb if you lean on hosted inference, so BYOK is the smart setup.","limitations":["Pricing story is complicated; \"$19 flat\" is misleading for heavy users.","Newer and less polished ecosystem than Claude Code.","Data goes to Moonshot unless self-hosted/BYOK.","Multiple regional plans make comparison confusing."],"strengths":["Credible open-source Claude Code alternative with an Anthropic-compatible gateway.","CLI is MIT; drops into existing toolchains without a new IDE.","BYOK is the honest cheap path — hosted membership is optional."],"use_for":["Terminal agents at Chinese-lab prices when you will bring your own keys.","Teams that already speak Anthropic APIs and want a Moonshot route."],"skip_when":["You believed \"$19 flat\" covers heavy hosted inference — it does not.","You need Claude Code's polish and ecosystem more than the price cut.","Code cannot go to Moonshot and you will not self-host."],"receipts":["https://www.kimi.com/code","https://github.com/MoonshotAI/kimi-code","https://moonshotai.github.io/kimi-code/en/"],"affiliate":"none","evidence_tier":"source-verified","momentum":"blueshift","featured":false,"data_sensitivity":{"trains_on_inputs":"unknown","local_processing":true},"last_verified":"2026-08-24","observed_by":"whysanesanders","slug":"kimi-code","canonical_url":"https://noemium.com/tools/kimi-code/","attribution":"Noemium catalog data is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). See https://noemium.com/method/ for how entries are verified."}