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

Both are popular IDE extensions. Here is how Claude HUD and Kilo Code stack up on price, strengths and weaknesses, and which one we would pick.

Claude HUD

Statusline plugin for Claude Code: live context usage, active tools, and todo progress

7.0 /10

Pricing: Open source

Pros

Real-time context, tool, subagent and todo visibility without leaving the terminal
Actively maintained with a large, engaged community (28k+ stars, 771 commits)
Read-only display plugin — no file or shell access of its own

Cons

Tied specifically to Claude Code v1.0.80+, not usable with other coding agents
Adds another moving part (a plugin marketplace + setup step) to configure and keep updated

Visit Claude HUD ↗

Kilo Code

Open-source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains and the CLI

7.8 /10

Pricing: Open source, paid cloud from $19/mo

Pros

Open source with many models
Runs in VS Code, JetBrains and CLI
Bonus credits on Kilo Pass

Cons

Many overlapping modes to learn
Paid credits needed for hosted models

Visit Kilo Code ↗

Claude HUD vs Kilo Code at a glance

	Claude HUD	Kilo Code
Editor score	7.0 / 10	7.8 / 10
Pricing model	Open source	Open source
Starting price	Free	$19/mo
Reader upvotes	0	0
Best for	claude-code, statusline, plugin	vs code, open source
Agent Skills support	No	Yes
Subagents support	No	No
MCP support	No	Yes
AGENTS.md support	No	Yes
Plugins support	No	No
Hooks support	No	No
Rules support	No	Yes
Agent skills in this directory	0	46
Subagents & agents in this directory	3	6
MCP servers in this directory	0	72

Our pick

Kilo Code edges it with a score of 7.8 versus 7.0. Kilo Code is the better fit if you value: open source with many models, runs in vs code, jetbrains and cli. Choose Claude HUD instead if you need: real-time context, tool, subagent and todo visibility without leaving the terminal, actively maintained with a large, engaged community (28k+ stars, 771 commits).