Hey everyone,
I've been a Trae IDE user for over a year now, relying on it for custom agents, coding (PHP, Python, JS, etc.), and even casual sanity-keeping chats. The old Pro plan ($10/mo) gave me 600 fast requests + unlimited slow ones, which easily lasted me 3+ weeks of moderate use. It felt like good value for an AI-powered IDE.
But after their February 2026 switch to token-based pricing, it's a nightmare. Yesterday, I spent the day trying (and failing) to hook up a local LLM (via LM Studio) to bypass cloud costs – something that used to be easier with providers like Ollama, but that's disappeared from the list. Ended up burning through $38 in one day on just 127 requests. That's twice my monthly $20 Basic allowance on a fraction of my old usage...
For context: Many of those requests were debug/experimental (long contexts, persistent memory, GPT-5-medium/auto mode), but under the old system, they'd be "slow" and free. Now, every token counts, and my setup (persistent agent chats) compounds costs fast. I wasn't even productive – just frustrated troubleshooting integration that feels deliberately blocked to push cloud models.
I'm out – canceling my sub and going full local (LM Studio + VS Code) or alternatives like Cursor/Antigravity. If you're on Trae, optimize hard: Use cheap models like Gemini-Flash, reset contexts often, and avoid agents/SOLO for casual stuff. Demand better local support in their GitHub issues (#597, etc.) to avoid this shafting. Don't let them turn a solid tool into a money pit.
What are your experiences with the new pricing? Any good local IDE alternatives?
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