Macaron vs Aider

At a glance

How each works day to day

Aider

You run aider in a git repository, add the files you want it to work on, and chat in the terminal. It edits the files and commits each change with a descriptive message, marking itself as the author. Ask mode answers questions without editing, and architect mode has one model plan the change while an editor model writes it. With watch mode on, a comment ending in AI! in any editor sets it to work.

Macaron

You open a project in a folder on your Mac or on a Computer, start Claude Code, Codex or Macaron's own agent, and chat in a window. Each turn ends in a card listing the files changed, with an undo button. Your checks run before and after, Review shows the diff, and a second model can review the change.

Undo and your git history

Aider's undo is git itself: every edit becomes a commit on your branch, and /undo removes the last commit Aider made. You get a full record, and you squash or keep those commits yourself. You can turn auto-commits off.

Macaron keeps its checkpoints in separate git refs, so your branch only has the commits you make. Undoing a turn restores the files from before it, and Macaron refuses if a later edit would conflict.

Where code runs and what it can touch

Aider runs on your machine with your permissions and asks before shell commands it suggests, unless you pass --yes-always. Its Docker image runs it, and the commands it runs, inside a container instead.

Macaron's Computers are Linux machines with no access to your Mac's files, keys or Docker socket. A sandbox copy of a folder works there, and Apply to Mac writes the result back only if it applies cleanly.

Tests and checks

Aider lints the files it edits by default. Set --test-cmd with --auto-test and it runs your tests after each change and tries to fix whatever fails, in a loop you can watch.

Macaron runs your project's test, lint and typecheck scripts before and after the agent's change, so you can see whether it broke something that was passing. Its code checks can send new problems back to the agent for up to two more turns.

Pricing

As found on aider.chat and GitHub on October 2, 2026.

Aider is free and open source under Apache-2.0, with no paid plans on its site. You pay your model provider directly. Its latest tagged release on GitHub was v0.86.0, from August 2025.

One Macaron plan; models on your own keys at your provider's price; cloud machines billed by the hour.

Who should pick which

• You work in the terminal and your own editor, and don't want another app: Aider.
• You want local models, or a provider Claude Code and Codex don't support: Aider.
• You want every AI edit as a commit on your branch: Aider.
• You already pay for Claude or ChatGPT and want Claude Code or Codex themselves: Macaron.
• You don't want the agent running on your Mac at all: Macaron, with a sandbox copy and Apply to Mac.

Using both

Both work on an ordinary git repository, so you can open the same project in either. You can also run aider in a terminal tab in Macaron; the turn cards, undo and checks are for the agents Macaron runs in its chat.

What Macaron doesn't do

No Slack integration, no mobile app, no hosted SLA, no multiplayer, and no visual browser testing of its own beyond the AI end-to-end tests. It also has no voice input and no mode that works from comments in your editor, as Aider's watch mode does.