A solo developer with a $200/month budget can now access the same AI coding power that cost enterprises $50,000/month just two years ago. The secret isn't one tool — it's knowing how to mix and match three different access models to get frontier output at budget prices.
I've been running this exact stack for months. Here's the breakdown.
The Three Ways to Access AI Coding Models
Before we talk strategy, understand your three options. Each has a wildly different cost profile.
Option 1: Self-Hosted Open Models
