What Is Muse Code?
Muse Code is Meta's coding agent, released on August 5, 2026 and aimed specifically at large codebases rather than single files or greenfield projects. It comes out of Meta Superintelligence Labs, the group run by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang.
The "large codebases" framing is the whole positioning. Most coding agents demo well on a fresh repo and degrade on a monorepo with a decade of history, and Meta is selling against that gap.
What follows is what Meta has actually published: dates, prices, and the specific gaps Meta has left open. Where a number is not public, this page says so rather than repeating a figure from a blog post. For the credits side of the equation, AI Perks tracks $7.7M in credits across 194 companies.
Where Muse Code Sits in Meta's 2026 Release Run
Muse Code landed in the middle of a Muse release run that Meta ran from April to September 2026, opening with a foundation model and closing with a consumer agent.
| Date (2026) | Release | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 8 | Muse Spark | The foundation model |
| Jul 7 | Muse Image | Image generation |
| Jul 9 | Muse Spark 1.1 + Meta Model API | Self-serve public preview, OpenAI SDK compatible |
| Jul | Muse Video | Previewed |
| Aug 5 | Muse Code | Coding agent for large codebases |
| Sep 8 | Muse | Flagship consumer "personal AI agent" |
Two things in that table matter more than the rest.
The July 9 API preview is Meta's self-serve developer entry point. It is compatible with the OpenAI SDK, which means pointing an existing integration at Meta is a base URL and a key rather than a rewrite.
Muse Code and Muse are different products. Muse, launched September 8, is the consumer agent that completes tasks such as booking, forms, emails and purchases. It runs on a Meta-cloud VM with a visible browser, gates actions through a permissions layer Meta calls Sentinel, and ships on iOS, Android, WhatsApp and web, with AI glasses listed as coming soon. It is not a developer tool.
What Does Muse Code Cost?
Meta publishes per-token pricing for the Muse Spark models on the Meta Model API at $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens. Meta has not published a price for Muse Code itself, so the Spark rates are the nearest public anchor for a budget rather than a confirmed Muse Code rate.
| Meta Model API item | Published price |
|---|---|
| Muse Spark 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 input | $1.25 per million tokens |
| Muse Spark 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 output | $4.25 per million tokens |
| Contributor tier input | $0.10 per million tokens |
| Contributor tier output | $0.20 per million tokens |
| Muse Image | $0.01 per image |
| Muse Voice Transcribe | $3.00 per 1,000 minutes |
The Contributor tier is the line worth stopping on. One million input tokens plus one million output tokens costs $5.50 on the standard tier and $0.30 on Contributor, roughly 18x cheaper.
The price of that discount is stated plainly by Meta: on the Contributor tier, Meta trains on your prompts and completions. For a coding agent pointed at a large codebase, your prompts are your source code. That is a straightforward trade for a side project and a serious one for proprietary work.
Consumer Muse is priced separately, with a free tier, Power at $20 per month and Maximum at $100 per month. Unusually, Meta differentiates those tiers by usage volume rather than by features, so the $20 plan is not a crippled version of the $100 plan.
The muse.ai Name Collision, Explained
Three different products named Muse are circulating, and only one of them is Meta's. This is the single most common source of wrong information on this topic.
muse.ai was not Meta's. It was an independent video hosting and search company founded by Antonio Roldao. It rebranded to Skiv on 3 March 2026, with an embed URL migration deadline of 10 March. Meta subsequently took over the vacated muse.ai domain as the web front end for its agent.
Microsoft's Muse is unrelated. Announced in February 2025, it is a gameplay generation research model (WHAM) built with Xbox Game Studios and Ninja Theory. It has no connection to Meta, to Muse Code, or to coding.
If you are reading a pricing page, a review, or an integration guide, check which Muse it describes before you act on it. Pre-March 2026 muse.ai content is about a video product that no longer exists under that name.
Does Meta Offer Muse Credits for Startups?
No. Meta runs no dedicated startup or credit program for Muse, Muse Code, or the Meta Model API. Meta's developer programs page lists only Meta Horizon Start and the Meta Horizon Creator Program, both of which are VR and MR programs unrelated to the Muse family.
| Meta program | What it covers | Covers Muse Code? |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Horizon Start | VR / MR development | No |
| Meta Horizon Creator Program | VR / MR content | No |
| Llama Startup Program | Llama model usage | Unconfirmed |
| Any Muse-specific program | Does not exist | No |
The Llama Startup Program row is deliberately hedged. The program exists, but no source confirms either way whether it extends to Muse Spark or Muse Code. Treat any blog claiming a link between them as unverified until Meta says so.
You will also find posts promising free Meta Model API starter credits for new accounts. No such offer appears on Meta's official pricing page, so treat every figure attached to it as unverified.
The practical consequence: whatever Muse Code ends up costing a team, no Meta subsidy sits behind it. The subsidy exists on the alternatives instead, which is where AI Perks is useful.
What Meta Has Not Published
Several of the numbers a founder would want before committing do not exist in public form. Listing them is more useful than guessing at them.
- Benchmark scores. No published coding benchmark results for Muse Code.
- Context window. Not published, which is a notable omission for a product sold on large codebases.
- Model parameter counts. Not published for any Muse model.
- Free tier ceilings. Meta has published no token or task limit for the consumer Muse free tier.
- Weights and repository. Meta has not published weights or a public repository for Muse Code. Treat any claim of a downloadable checkpoint as unverified until Meta publishes one.
For a large codebase in particular, the missing context window figure is the one that should slow you down. It is the variable that decides whether the agent can hold enough of your repository in view to be worth the token spend, and it is the variable Meta has not stated.
How to Fund a Coding Agent Without Meta Credits
Since Meta subsidizes nothing here, the practical move is to cover your model spend through providers that do, then evaluate Muse Code on top of a budget you did not have to raise.
Start at getaiperks.com and filter to the AI Tool and Cloud Infrastructure categories. Those two cover the model calls and the machines they run on.
Separate the two bills. Model credits cover inference. Compute credits cover where your agent and your CI run. Teams holding only one of the two still get a real invoice.
Benchmark against what you already have credits for. If a competing model is free to you for twelve months and the published Muse Spark rate is $5.50 per million token pair, the bar for switching is high.
Decide on Contributor deliberately. The 18x saving is real, and so is Meta training on your prompts and completions. Make that a documented decision, not a default.
Re-check quarterly. Meta shipped the whole Muse family between April and September 2026. Pricing and program terms at that pace do not stay still. AI Perks tracks changes across 194 companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Meta Muse Code?
Muse Code is a coding agent from Meta Superintelligence Labs, released on August 5, 2026 and built for working across large codebases rather than individual files. It sits in the Muse family alongside Muse Spark, Muse Image, Muse Video and the consumer Muse agent launched September 8, 2026.
Is Muse Code free to use?
Meta has not published a price for Muse Code, and it has announced no free tier for it. The published Meta Model API rate for Muse Spark is $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens, which is the nearest public reference point a team can budget against. Free credits for competing models are tracked at getaiperks.com.
Is Muse Code open source or available on GitHub?
Meta has not published weights, a public repository, or benchmark results for Muse Code. Meta's self-serve developer surface is the paid Meta Model API, which entered public preview on July 9, 2026 and is compatible with the OpenAI SDK. Treat any downloadable checkpoint claim as unverified until Meta confirms it.
Does Meta give startups free Muse Code credits?
No. Meta's developer programs page lists only Meta Horizon Start and the Meta Horizon Creator Program, both VR and MR focused. There is no Muse credit program. Whether the Llama Startup Program extends to Muse Spark is unconfirmed. Alternatives with real credit programs are listed at getaiperks.com.
Is Meta's Muse the same as muse.ai or Microsoft Muse?
No. muse.ai was an independent video company that rebranded to Skiv on 3 March 2026, after which Meta took over the vacated domain. Microsoft's Muse, announced February 2025, is an unrelated gameplay generation research model built with Xbox Game Studios and Ninja Theory.
What is the Meta Model API Contributor tier?
Contributor prices Muse Spark at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens, roughly 18x cheaper than standard. In exchange, Meta trains on your prompts and completions. For a coding agent, that means your source code. Compare it against credit-funded alternatives at getaiperks.com.
Meta is not funding your token bill. Plenty of its competitors are.