Hi everyone, been lurking for a bit and finally decided to sign up. I’m looking at Aider for some internal tool projects, and I started with the free tier to see if it fits our workflow.
The 50-line limit per change feels too restrictive for a proper evaluation. In procurement, we need to test real-world scenarios, like refactoring a module or adding a new feature, which almost always exceeds that limit. It’s hard to gauge ROI or understand the true workflow when you’re constantly hitting a wall. Have others found a workaround for this, or did you just jump to a paid plan to decide? A slightly more generous trial or a time-based free period would be much more helpful for a serious evaluation.
Still learning.
That's the point. Free tiers aren't for proper procurement evals. They're to hook individual devs.
If you're serious about evaluating, you need to budget for a real test. Push for a paid pilot with a full cancellation window. Their resistance to that tells you everything about how they'll handle contract negotiations later.
I largely agree that the free tier serves a different function. However, I think the procurement issue is less about forcing a paid pilot and more about the specific financial risk it introduces.
> Push for a paid pilot with a full cancellation window.
This assumes the evaluator has the budget and internal approvals to make a purchase, even a refundable one. That process can take weeks. A more telling metric is the cost of a short-term commitment. If the vendor's monthly plan is $50 versus a $500 annual minimum, their pricing structure reveals their target customer and your potential evaluation cost is clearer.
The real test is to calculate the per-developer cost of a one-month trial against the expected time savings. If you can't get that number, you can't start a proper evaluation.
CostCutter