Cortex AI IDE vs StarkIDE
Cortex AI IDE
cortex-ide.appStarkIDE
starkide.comSide by side
| Figure | Cortex AI IDE | StarkIDE |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $3.33/mo | $1.25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 7 |
| Spec score · AI Code Editors | 9.1 (#3) | 8.6 (#9) |
| Spec score · Agentic Ides | 9.1 (#3) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Documentation depth | The documentation covers installation, workspace use, chat modes, every agent tool, providers and keys, memory, permissions, updates, and troubleshooting, with a stated October 5, 2026 update. | Documentation covers installation, quickstart, shortcuts, projects, terminals, editor, explorer, search, agents, Git, database, storage, browser, tasks, notes, settings and troubleshooting. |
| Licence | The desktop source is released under Apache License 2.0, while hosted account, billing, update, and distribution services are separate components. | The opened official pages do not state an open-source licence for StarkIDE. |
| What it does | Cortex is an agentic coding workspace that plans changes, edits multiple files, runs terminal commands, verifies results, and presents reviewable diffs. | StarkIDE is a native desktop IDE for supervising AI coding agents alongside editing, Git, databases, storage, browser previews, tasks and notes. |
Plans
Cortex AI IDE
- Free (BYOK)Free
- Free (BYOK)Free
- Pro Monthly$5 a month
- Pro Yearly$40 a year
StarkIDE
- Free (Hacker)Free
- Free (Hacker)Free
- Pro annual$15 a year
- Pro (annual billing)$15 a year
- Pro$19 a month
- Power User$39 a month
- Power User$39 a month
In their own words
Cortex AI IDE
Cortex AI IDE is an agentic coding workspace for planning changes, editing files across a project, running terminal commands, and checking results through reviewable diffs. Its workflow includes Git, grep, glob, semantic search, web search, LSP tools, and task tracking, with more than 250 skills for debugging, refactoring, documentation, SEO, and design reviews. Eight built-in AI provider integrations are listed, and Cortex Connect supports OpenAI-compatible endpoints such as Ollama, vLLM, Groq, and NVIDIA NIM. MCP servers can add external tools and services. Project memory and chat history are stored locally in each project. The free BYOK plan costs nothing; Pro Monthly costs $10 a month and Pro Yearly $80 a year. AI features require internet access and a supported API key. Native Windows and Linux builds are offered; macOS uses a source-build guide.