Amp vs Claude Code (2026): Which Vibe Coding App Is Better?

Both are popular terminal coding agents. Here is how Amp and Claude Code stack up on price, strengths and weaknesses, and which one we would pick.

Amp

Frontier coding agent for the terminal and editor, from the makers of Sourcegraph

8.2 /10

Pricing: Free plan, paid from $20/mo

Pros

Strong results on hard, multi-step tasks
Shared threads for team review
Subagents and AGENTS.md built in

Cons

Usage-based costs add up on large tasks
Fewer configuration knobs by design

Visit Amp ↗

Claude Code

Anthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, IDE, desktop and web

9.4 /10

Pricing: Paid from $20/mo

Pros

Strongest ecosystem: skills, subagents, hooks, plugins and MCP
Excellent at long, multi-step changes across a codebase
Runs in terminal, IDEs, desktop and browser with one account

Cons

No free plan; heavy use needs the more expensive Max plans
AGENTS.md support has session-type exceptions (Bedrock, telemetry off) that still need a CLAUDE.md import

Visit Claude Code ↗

Amp vs Claude Code at a glance

	Amp	Claude Code
Editor score	8.2 / 10	9.4 / 10
Pricing model	Freemium	Paid
Starting price	$20/mo	$20/mo
Reader upvotes	0	3
Best for	terminal, agent	terminal, agent, anthropic
Agent Skills support	Yes	Yes
Subagents support	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes
AGENTS.md support	Yes	Yes
Plugins support	Yes	Yes
Hooks support	No	Yes
Rules support	No	No
Agent skills in this directory	47	68
Subagents & agents in this directory	9	67
MCP servers in this directory	72	74

Our pick

Claude Code edges it with a score of 9.4 versus 8.2. Claude Code is the better fit if you value: strongest ecosystem: skills, subagents, hooks, plugins and mcp, excellent at long, multi-step changes across a codebase. Choose Amp instead if you need: strong results on hard, multi-step tasks, shared threads for team review.