I Replaced Cursor, Copilot, and Windsurf with a $0 Local Stack — 60 Days Later I'm Not Going Back

Description and use

Replacing paid AI tools with a free local stack cut costs to zero, improved latency, and enabled offline use.

Problem

High monthly costs for AI coding assistants with limited offline use and data privacy concerns.

Outcome

Reduced monthly cost from $45 to $0, improved latency (~180ms vs ~300ms), offline usage, and maintained 95% of autocomplete quality.

Workflow

• 1. Install Ollama and pull qwen2.5-coder:7b
• 2. Install Continue.dev VS Code extension
• 3. Configure Continue.dev to use local Qwen model
• 4. Set up Tabby as a self-hosted completion server
• 5. Use MonkeyCode for multi-file agent tasks
• 6. Run Ollama with keep-alive to avoid cold-start latency

Evidence

$0/month vs $45/month

Source

~180ms (local, no network) vs ~300ms

Source