Tabnine vs Codeium 2026: Honest Comparison

Overview

Tabnine and Codeium are AI-powered code completion tools that integrate into your existing IDE to suggest code as you type. Both are alternatives to GitHub Copilot, each with unique strengths. Tabnine focuses on privacy and enterprise security, offering on-premise deployment and models that never train on your code. Codeium (now part of Windsurf) emphasizes generous free access and whole-repository context awareness. Both support all major IDEs and dozens of programming languages.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Tabnine	Codeium	Winner
Code Completion	Fast, context-aware	Fast, repo-aware	Tie
Privacy	Zero data retention, on-prem	No training on your code	Tabnine
Free Tier	Basic completions	Generous free with chat	Codeium
IDE Support	All major IDEs	All major IDEs	Tie
Chat Assistant	Tabnine Chat (Pro)	Codeium Chat (free)	Codeium
On-Premise	Full on-prem deployment	Enterprise only	Tabnine
Team Learning	Learns team patterns	Repository context	Tabnine
Languages	30+ languages	70+ languages	Codeium

Pricing

Tabnine offers a free Basic plan with short code completions. The Pro plan is $12/user/month with full-line and multi-line completions, chat, and personalization. Enterprise is custom pricing with on-premise deployment, SSO, and admin controls. Codeium offers a generous free plan with unlimited completions and chat. The Pro plan (Windsurf Pro) is $15/month with advanced features. Teams and Enterprise pricing is custom.

Codeium’s free tier is significantly more generous. Tabnine Pro is more affordable per user for teams that need privacy features.

Pros and Cons

Tabnine Pros

• Best-in-class privacy with zero data retention
• On-premise deployment for air-gapped environments
• Learns and adapts to team coding patterns
• SOC 2 certified, enterprise-grade security

Tabnine Cons

• Free plan is limited compared to Codeium
• Completion quality slightly below Copilot
• Chat is only available on Pro
• Fewer supported languages than Codeium

Codeium Pros

• Generous free plan with unlimited completions and chat
• Repository-aware context for better suggestions
• 70+ language support
• Also available as Windsurf IDE

Codeium Cons

• On-premise deployment limited to enterprise
• Privacy guarantees less comprehensive than Tabnine
• Company direction uncertain with Windsurf pivot
• Enterprise features are less mature

Who Should Use Which?

Choose Tabnine if privacy and security are your top priorities. It is essential for enterprises in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, defense) that need on-premise deployment and zero data retention guarantees. Also excellent for teams that want AI to learn their specific coding patterns.

Choose Codeium if you want the best free AI code completion available. Its generous free tier with chat makes it ideal for individual developers, students, and open-source contributors who want AI assistance without a subscription.

Verdict

Tabnine is the best choice for privacy-focused enterprises and regulated industries. Codeium is the best free AI code completion tool. For individual developers, Codeium’s free plan is hard to beat. For teams that handle sensitive code, Tabnine’s privacy guarantees are worth the investment.