Generative AI code generation tools: Top 11 options

If your team struggles with long development times, poor code quality, or repetitive tasks, AI code generation tools may be just what you need to increase efficiency. Using artificial intelligence, code generation tools can supplement your team's existing knowledge and reduce mundane tasks by creating code from natural language prompts or reviewing existing code for potential improvements.

We'll explore the top generative AI code generation tools and examine their use cases, as well as a few AI fundamentals and their benefits and challenges. While AI code generation is a powerful tool, it is no replacement for talented, skilled developers.

Here are the top generative AI code generation tools for your team to consider to improve productivity and efficiency.

Table of contents

• 1. GitHub Copilot
• 2. ChatGPT
• 3. Google Gemini
• 4. Amazon Q Developer
• 5. OpenAI Codex
• 6. Tabnine
• 7. CodeWP
• 8. IBM watsonx Code Assistant
• 9. AskCodi
• 10. Codacy
• 11. CodeComplete
• How does AI code generation work?
• The benefits of using AI code generation tools during development
• The challenges of AI code generation tools
• FAQ

Best for: Teams who use GitHub to manage code

Most development teams need no introduction to GitHub, a developer platform that enables the creation and management of code using Git. The platform's integrated AI-powered code completion tool, Copilot, offers code completion suggestions and generation abilities. 

Supporting a wide range of languages and featuring GitHub code editor integration, Copilot is quickly becoming a standard for natural language code generation that allows developers to create faster and more efficiently.

Features:

• AI-powered code suggestions
• Integration with GitHub editor
• Natural language code generation

Pricing:

• $10-$39/user/month

Best for: Hobbyist developers and engineering students

ChatGPT is better known for its text generation capabilities, but the powerful large language model from OpenAI also boasts code generation abilities. Trained on a large data set of both text and code, it can generate code from prompts, explain code, and assist with debugging. Offering a free tier, ChatGPT can be a robust tool for learning to code or exploring new concepts while also offering effective code creation functions for more experienced developers.

Features:

• Code analysis and breakdowns
• Debugging of common coding errors
• Natural language code generation

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $30/user/month

Best for: Hobbyist developers and Google Workspace users

Google's Gemini large language model provides similar offerings to ChatGPT's. Also trained on a large amount of data, including text and code, Gemini provides robust code generation and explanation tools for developers. It can create code based on natural language prompts and provide code breakdowns and debugging services. Google notes that while the tool is powerful, it's still under development, and its capabilities are constantly evolving.

Features:

• Code analysis, breakdowns, and debugging
• Natural language code generation
• Extra features available with Google subscription

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $20/user/month

Best for: Developers involved with Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Q Developer is Amazon's generative AI-powered assistant that can aid developers in creating and managing code. Unique to the platform, Q Developer maintains a knowledge base about Amazon Web Services, providing a robust question-answering service. 

Developers can generate code snippets, have existing code explained, or get help with debugging, speeding up their time to market. Q Developer also offers a transformation process for automating upgrading legacy code, which can reduce time spent on AWS tasks.

Features:

• Task automation, such as upgrading legacy code
• Code generation, explanation, and debugging services
• Designed for developers building applications on AWS

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $19/user/month

Best for: Software developers, data scientists, and researchers

OpenAI, best known for ChatGPT, offers a dedicated generative AI code generation tool called Codex. Trained on a massive data set of code repositories, it can understand and assist with various programming languages. 

In addition to code generation, explanation, and debugging features, OpenAI Codex can also translate code between programming languages. The tool can provide real-time code completion services while developers type, allowing your team to complete work faster, opening up the opportunity to work on more complex tasks.

Features:

• Code generation, including from comments within the code
• Debugging and optimization across multiple languages
• Language translation features for porting code

Pricing:

• Free for a limited time

Best for: Developers who wish to stay within their existing development environment.

Designed to help developers create code faster and more efficiently, Tabnine integrates into your integrated development environment (IDE). Currently supported IDEs include Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ IDEA, and PyCharm. 

Tabnine can provide real-time code completion, code generation, and explanations; it can also suggest improvements to your code to enhance future maintainability. Plus, developers can customize the Tabnine AI model to match their preferred coding styles and preferences.

Features:

• Code readability and maintainability suggestions
• Customizable AI model to match your coding style
• Integration into your existing IDE

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $39/user/month

Best for: WordPress developers and development environments

Trained on WordPress code and documentation, CodeWP uses AI to streamline the WordPress development process. Engineers developed CodeWP to increase efficiency on the platform, from automating everyday maintenance tasks to enhancing your codebase. It integrates with your existing WordPress development environment for a seamless process that takes less time.

Features:

• Designed specifically for use with WordPress
• Integrates into your WordPress development environment
• Trained on WordPress code and documentation

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $68/user/month

Best for: Large enterprise development teams

IBM has offered robust enterprise solutions for over 100 years, and watsonx Code Assistant is no exception. Code Assistant offers code generation, completion, explanation, refactoring, and translation services.

The tool leverages the context of your existing code to help provide more relevant code suggestions and integrates with various IDEs, including Visual Studio Code. Teams can even customize the AI to address coding needs, preferences, and AI security requirements.

Features:

• Leverages existing code for additional context
• Code refactoring and translation abilities
• Emphasizes security and privacy for developers

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $3,000/per/month

Best for: Hobbyists and professional developers

AskCodi delivers AI-powered code assistant features to streamline the development process, including code generation, completion, explanation, and refactoring. Developers can communicate with the service via natural language and integrate the tool into their existing IDE with support for multiple languages. AskCodi provides customizable AI models that allow developers to adjust the service to fit their needs, such as following team coding practices.

Features:

• Code generation, completion, explanation, and refactoring
• Customizable AI model to fit developer needs
• Integrates with existing development environments

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $15/per/month

Best for: Teams seeking coding efficiency and security compliance

Codacy is a development service focused on ensuring code quality and security; however, it integrates generative AI code features into its platform to assist developers. In addition to spotlighting potential issues and security vulnerabilities, Codacy AI can point out performance bottlenecks and code style violations. When problems are identified, Codacy can use generative AI to make smart suggestions and improve your team’s code.

Features:

• Automated code review function
• Customizable rules set to follow internal standards
• Smart suggestions to improve identified issues

Pricing:

• Free plan available; paid plans start at $15/user/month

Best for: Professional developers and enterprises

As the name suggests, CodeComplete provides AI-powered code completion for developers. In addition to smart code completion suggestions, the service can generate code based on natural language, explain code, or suggest improvements. CodeComplete works with various development environments, supports multiple programming languages, and allows teams to customize AI models to their needs.

Features:

• Chatbot for real-time personalized recommendations
• Code generation, explanation, and improvements
• Offers automated documentation feature

Pricing:

• Custom

AI code generation employs large language models and natural language processing techniques. The tools understand code by training systems on vast amounts of existing source code, programming language syntax, and common coding patterns. Once a model has been trained, it can receive input, such as a prompt in natural language, and answer questions or generate code based on its collected knowledge.

AI code generation tools also constantly scan your code, seeking errors and inefficiencies for developers to address. As teams continue using AI coding tools, the models learn over time, creating more accurate output. 

But it's important to understand that AI code generation isn't here to replace your developers; instead, it's a powerful tool to make existing programmers more efficient.

Companies have already found that AI can lead to success, and AI code generation tools are no different. Using these tools, your team can enhance productivity, code quality, and efficiency, leading to a better product. Here are some of the most common benefits we see from teams choosing to integrate AI code generation tools into their process:

• Allows faster development cycles, providing developers more time to focus on new features
• Automates repetitive tasks that can free up time for developers to pivot to more complex matters
• Creates opportunities for creativity by establishing more free time for developers to experiment
• Enhances code quality, leading to a reduction in overall errors and increased readability
• Helps train developers faster by providing detailed code explanations and suggestions

While AI code generation tools provide significant benefits, they can also introduce additional development challenges. By addressing these obstacles head-on, teams can reap the benefits of AI while minimizing potential risks. Here are the most common challenges and solutions associated with code-generation tools:

• Tools reduce the need for developers to think critically and could create a dependence on AI.
  • Solution: Ensure your team has continuous growth opportunities and AI is seen as supplemental learning, not a replacement for skills.
• Junior engineers may rely on AI tools rather than develop fundamental AI/ML skills or other techniques.
  • Solution: Pair junior engineers with mentors to guide them in understanding fundamental logic and code challenges.
• Rapidly generated code may accumulate technical debt that needs to be addressed, creating vendor lock-in until it’s addressed.
  • Solution: Conduct regular code reviews and use version control to track problems as they arise.
• AI-generated code may introduce security vulnerabilities if not carefully reviewed.
  • Solution: Perform regular security audits and implement secure coding practices to mitigate potential risks in the coding process.

At Pluralsight, we've provided developers with solutions for over 30 years. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we've heard concerning generative AI code generation tools.

The best AI tool for code generation depends on your team's needs. Smaller teams looking for AI code generation can explore the free tiers of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Larger enterprises will find the best functionality with dedicated code solutions, such as IBM watsonx Code Assistant, GitHub Copilot, and Codacy.

Most generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Google Gemini, can generate code. However, dedicated code generation tools like GitHub Copilot, Amazon Q Developer, OpenAI Codex, and Tabnine exist to provide a more developer-centric experience with development environment integration.

OpenAI's ChatGPT can provide coding assistance, but the company offers a specialized version of its large language model for development called Codex.

Generative AI coding tools claim they can improve your team's efficiency and productivity. Use Pluralsight Flow to better understand your team's current performance and see how engineering metrics improve with generative AI tools. Don't experiment in the dark; see AI's impact on your team and how Flow can drive your team to success. 

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