avante.nvim vs terax-ai
Two of the top projects in Editors and IDEs, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
avante.nvim
Neovim plugin that adds Cursor-style AI chat and code edits inside the editor
terax-ai
Terminal-first desktop workspace with editor, git panel and agentic AI side-panel
Verdict
avante.nvim ranks higher, 71 to 61. Of the 3 score parts we measure for both, avante.nvim leads on 1, terax-ai on 1 and 1 is even.
- Adoptionavante.nvim leads by 60 points, 78 to 18: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- MaintenanceWe do not score terax-ai on this; avante.nvim has 85.
- Easy to runWe do not score terax-ai on this; avante.nvim has 50.
- Agent-readyterax-ai leads by 70 points, 70 to 0: a wide gap.
Pick avante.nvim if you are
Neovim users who want Cursor-like AI editing without leaving the editor
- Runs inside Neovim; suggested changes can be applied to files with one command
- Supports many providers: openai, anthropic, mistral, deepseek, ollama, llama-cpp, copilot
Pick terax-ai if you are
Developers wanting a local terminal and editor with BYOK or local-model agents
- Many BYOK providers plus Ollama, LM Studio and MLX for local models
- API keys go to the OS keychain; no telemetry or account
| What we compare | avante.nvim | terax-ai |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 78, popular | 18, niche |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 85, healthy | Not scored for this kind |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | Not scored for this kind |
| Agent-ready | 0, none | 70, partly |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 18.2k | 9.3k |
| License | Apache-2.0 (permissive) | Apache-2.0 (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Sep 2026 | Jul 2026 |
| Language | Lua | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Not needed | Optional |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Not stated |
avante.nvim
avante.nvim is a Lua Neovim plugin with a Rust-built component. It opens a chat sidebar that answers questions about the current file and applies suggested changes to source files. It supports an agentic mode with tools, ACP agents such as codex and gemini, and many model providers. A per-project avante.md file supplies instructions.
Who it is for: Neovim users who want Cursor-like AI editing without leaving the editor
Strengths
- Runs inside Neovim; suggested changes can be applied to files with one command
- Supports many providers: openai, anthropic, mistral, deepseek, ollama, llama-cpp, copilot
- ACP support lets external agents like codex and gemini drive edits
- Project-level avante.md instructions file; optional local RAG service
Weaknesses
- Requires Neovim 0.11+ (badge says 0.12+); README is inconsistent on version
- Install needs a build step: make with curl and tar, or cargo to build from source
- Auto-suggestions are marked experimental and costly because of high request frequency
- Tool permissions are auto-approved by default (auto_approve_tool_permissions = true)
- no GPU
- Needs Neovim 0.11+, plenary.nvim, nui.nvim, mega.cmdparse, curl and tar, or cargo, provider API key or local model server
- Models: claude, openai, azure, gemini, cohere
terax-ai
Terax is a desktop app built on Tauri 2, Rust and React 19 that combines a PTY terminal, CodeMirror editor, file explorer, git graph and web preview. Its AI side-panel runs agents with approval-gated bash and file edits against your own API keys or local Ollama, LM Studio and MLX models. About 7-8 MB on disk, with no telemetry or account.
Who it is for: Developers wanting a local terminal and editor with BYOK or local-model agents
Strengths
- Many BYOK providers plus Ollama, LM Studio and MLX for local models
- API keys go to the OS keychain; no telemetry or account
- AI edit diffs can be accepted or rejected hunk by hunk
- Runs on macOS, Linux and Windows, with WSL workspaces
Weaknesses
- README says v0.9.0 will replace xterm.js with libghostty and WebGPU, so internals will change
- Language server support is opt-in and needs configuration
- Desktop install only; no Docker or server mode
- Author notes development time went to another product (Zephium)
- GPU optional
- Needs Rust (build from source), Node 22+ and pnpm (build from source), Tauri platform prerequisites (build from source)
- Models: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Groq, xAI
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