Tool
Amp
Sourcegraph's coding agent for terminal and editor workflows, with model routing, reusable tools, and parallel agent execution.
TL;DR
- Best for terminal-first coding with managed model access.
- Supports editor integrations, reusable instructions, tools, and parallel work.
- Routes work across selected models instead of exposing one fixed model.
- Megawatt starts at $20 per month with included agent usage.
- Usage-based spend needs monitoring on long or parallel tasks.
Amp is Sourcegraph's agentic coding product. It works from the command line and supported editors, combining repository context, tool use, reusable instructions, and parallel agent workflows. Its model strategy is managed: Amp selects and routes among models for the task.
Decision snapshot
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Primary interface | Terminal, with editor integrations |
| Best use | Repository changes, debugging, parallel implementation and review |
| Model choice | Managed routing across supported models |
| Starting paid price | $20 per month for Megawatt |
| Main trade-off | Consumption can exceed included usage |
What Amp does well
Amp combines a CLI-native workflow with higher-level orchestration. Developers can keep work near their shell, encode repeated behavior, and use parallel agents when tasks divide cleanly. Sourcegraph's code intelligence background also aligns with repository-scale context.
Where it falls short
Managed model selection is convenient but less transparent than bringing a specific provider and model to every task. Included usage is finite, and parallel runs can accelerate spend as easily as delivery. Teams should track task cost and require the same tests and review they would for human-authored changes.
What users report
One Hacker News commenter called Amp “the best $20/month I'm spending on any dev tools.” That is strong praise from one user, not comparative evidence. The useful signal is that its bundled plan can feel valuable to developers who use the agent daily.
Bottom line
Choose Amp when you want a polished terminal agent and prefer managed models over maintaining your own provider matrix. Choose Pi or Aider when open-source control and direct model billing are more important.
