Devin's New Plan: Cheaper Entry, But Is It Worth It?

Devin, the AI coding assistant, has just rolled out a new pricing model. The creators of Devin, a startup, have introduced a more affordable way to access their tool. This move comes after Devin gained popularity for its ability to handle basic coding tasks on its own. However, it quickly became clear that Devin had trouble with more complicated coding work. The initial release of Devin was met with mixed reactions. While it received praise from some AI experts, it also faced criticism for its limitations. Despite this, the tool managed to boost the startup's reputation significantly. Initially, Devin was priced at a steep $500 per month for teams. This high cost made it inaccessible for many potential users. Now, the startup has launched a new, more budget-friendly option. For just $20, users can get started with Devin. After that, the pricing shifts to a pay-as-you-go model. This new plan uses something called ACUs, or computing credits. Each ACU costs $2. 25 on the $20 plan, which is slightly more expensive than the $2 cost on the previous $500-per-month subscription. So, what do you get for your $20? About 9 ACUs, which translates to roughly 2. 25 hours of active work with Devin. This might not seem like much, especially when dealing with large codebases. The startup claims that Devin has improved since its initial release. They say it can now help generate project plans, answer coding questions with citations, and create documentation for code. But how true are these claims? One member of Devin's development team stated that the tool is now twice as efficient as before. However, it's important to approach these claims with caution. Even the best AI tools for coding can introduce security flaws and bugs. Studies have shown that these tools often struggle with understanding programming logic. A recent evaluation of Devin found that it successfully completed only 3 out of 20 tasks.