cto.new is a leading AI code agent that also helps you get started, manage your work, plan, review, and ship. With connections to all the tools you already use, it’s your own personal CTO. It’s also completely free.

The future is already here - it just costs $200 per month​

Today, we're announcing that Engine Labs has raised $5.7 million in funding to launch cto.new, the world's first completely free AI software engineering platform. This round was led by Kindred Ventures and PROfounders with participation from Wonder Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, and Script. We're making cto.new available to every developer, startup, and team at zero cost.

Anyone should be allowed to build software.

When I started writing code, the barrier to entry was simple: a laptop and an internet connection. Your editor was free, open source libraries were abundant, and a community of helpful strangers was always ready to lend a hand. The democratization of software development felt unstoppable.

That changed overnight. AI has become essential for competitive software development - teams using AI code assistants report 20-35% faster development cycles, and developers without these tools risk being left behind in an increasingly AI-forward market. But this essential capability now comes with a subscription tax that's pricing out the next generation of builders.​

The math is staggering. A typical development team now pays $22,800 to $72,000 annually just for AI coding tools. Monthly costs per user are growing - Cursor’s $20 plan keeps getting hobbled, Claude Max starts at $100 with undisclosed limits, and ChatGPT Pro costs $200. Even for a 10-person startup, these essential tools alone can easily cost over $10,000 per year.

This subscription fatigue isn't just expensive; it's become a barrier to entrepreneurship itself. While building software is faster and easier than ever, promising founders are abandoning ideas because the cost of the best AI tools has become prohibitive. The very tools that should democratize software creation are instead creating a new digital divide between those who can afford premium AI and those who cannot.​

Why cto.new is a game changer

cto.new eliminates this artificial scarcity entirely. Our platform provides unlimited access to every major frontier AI model - GPT-5 Codex, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Gemini Pro - without vendor lock-in. You can even combine models in a single agent session with what we call [Alloys].

But cto.new goes far beyond model access for code generation. The platform includes intelligent task planning that breaks down complex development projects into manageable parts, automatic code review and optimization, and deep integration with existing development workflows including GitHub, Linear, Jira, and Slack. Unlike subscription-based tools that nickle-and-dime teams with usage caps and feature restrictions, cto.new provides enterprise-grade capabilities to everyone, completely free.

The platform acts as your entire software team's AI-powered CTO - understanding your codebase, managing technical debt, suggesting architectural improvements, and ensuring code quality standards. It's not just a coding assistant; it's an intelligent partner that understands your project's broader context and long-term technical strategy.

Building the future we want to see

Our vision extends beyond just another AI tool. We're creating a world where brilliant ideas aren't constrained by subscription budgets, where a computer science student has the same AI-powered development capabilities as a well-funded team.

This $5.7 million investment allows us to absorb the substantial compute costs of running frontier AI models at scale, subsidizing what other companies charge hundreds of dollars a month to access. Behind the scenes we're also building sustainable economics around democratizing rather than gatekeeping AI, believing that unleashing creativity at global scale creates more value than restricting access through paywalls.​

The road ahead

The future of software development should be limited only by imagination. Every student learning to code, every entrepreneur with a breakthrough idea, every developer building solutions to important problems deserves access to the best AI tools available.

Ready to build without limits? Try cto.new today at [cto.new] and join our growing community of builders on Discord. The future of software development starts now - and it's completely free.