Beyond Cursor, China's big tech shipped a wave of AI coding tools in 2025–2026, and four are mature enough to deserve a serious look from developers outside China: Alibaba's Qoder and Tongyi Lingma, ByteDance's Trae, and Tencent's CodeBuddy. They are not Cursor reskins — the model stacks, product shapes, and distribution all differ. This guide covers positioning, international editions, and what to watch when using them from abroad.
The four at a glance
- Qoder (Alibaba): a full agentic IDE with repo-level context and async Quest mode; international edition at qoder.com
- Trae (ByteDance): a VS Code-fork AI IDE with a generous free tier; trae.ai (international) and trae.cn (domestic) run in parallel
- CodeBuddy (Tencent Cloud): plugin plus standalone IDE with its Craft agent mode; international edition at codebuddy.ai
- Tongyi Lingma (Alibaba Cloud): the veteran plugin form factor covering all JetBrains IDEs plus VS Code; domestic only
Three things to check before using them from abroad
- Which edition: Qoder, Trae, and CodeBuddy each split international and domestic editions — accounts, billing, and available models do not carry over; overseas users should enter via the international domains
- How to pay: international editions accept international cards; domestic editions generally require local payment methods
- Where data lives: domestic editions store data in mainland data centers, international editions on overseas nodes — compliance teams should check this first
Choose by scenario
- Ongoing work on large repos, delegating whole tasks to a background agent: Qoder (Quest)
- Scaffolding brand-new projects with the largest free tier: Trae
- WeChat mini-program or Tencent Cloud projects: CodeBuddy
- JetBrains as your main IDE, plugin-level enhancement only: Tongyi Lingma
Verdict
All four are cheap or free for individual developers; the real differences are form factor (full IDE versus plugin) and edition split. The practical path for overseas developers: enter via international domains and pay with international cards. For itemized specs — open source, self-hosting, data residency — see the entry pages on this site.
- Trae vs Qoder — Itemized comparison of the two AI IDEs
- Qoder entry — Details on repo context and Quest mode
Compiled from public information as of September 2026. Editions and pricing move fast — verify on official sites before deciding.