Cline

What it's good for

• 1

  Agentic coding inside VS Code without vendor lock-in

• 2

  Picking your own model per task through provider API keys

• 3

  Reviewing and approving each change before the agent acts

• 4

  Multi-file edits and command runs from the editor

• 5

  Teams that want an open-source, auditable coding agent

Pricing

• Extension

  Open source, Apache-2.0

  Free

• Bring your own key

  Model costs billed by your provider

  Pay providers

• Cline credits

  Optional Cline-hosted billing

  Pay-as-you-go

• Enterprise

  Custom terms and support

  Custom

How to use it

Install the Cline extension in VS Code and wire in an API key from the provider you want to use. Describe a task and Cline plans the change, then asks for your approval before it acts, editing across files and running commands as it goes. Switch models per job to balance cost against capability, and watch your provider bill on heavy days. For a team, look at the Cline-hosted credits or Enterprise tier.

Pros & cons

Frequently asked questions

• Is Cline free?

  Yes. Cline is open source under an Apache-2.0 license and the extension itself is free. It is bring-your-own-key by default, so you pay model providers directly for what you use. There is an optional Cline-hosted pay-as-you-go credit option and a custom Enterprise tier, but the tool has no subscription of its own.

• Cline vs Cursor: which should I pick?

  Cursor is a paid, polished AI-first editor built as a VS Code fork. Cline is a free, open-source VS Code extension that is model-agnostic, so you bring your own API key and pick whichever model you want. Pick Cursor for an all-in-one product; pick Cline when you want open source, model choice, and to pay providers directly.

• What does Cline cost to run?

  The extension is free, but you pay for the model behind it. Bring-your-own-key means typical spend runs from a few dollars up to around $30 a day on Claude for heavy use, depending on how much you code and which model you choose. Cheaper models lower that considerably.

• What is Cline best for?

  Developers who want an agentic coding assistant inside VS Code without vendor lock-in: open source, model-agnostic, and pay-as-you-go through your own provider keys. Its plan and act model asks for human approval before it acts, which suits people who want to stay in control of every change.

• Which models does Cline support?

  Cline is model-agnostic. You wire in your own API key for providers like Anthropic, OpenAI, and others, or route through an aggregator, and switch models per task. That flexibility is the main reason to choose it over a single-vendor tool.

More

• Cline docs
• Cline on GitHub

Alternatives to Cline

Other tools we'd consider for the same job.

• Aider

  Terminal-first AI pair programmer. Open source, bring your own API key, edits your git repo and commits each change

• Cursor

  AI-first code editor. Chat with your codebase, auto-apply edits, and let the agent tackle multi-file refactors

• GitHub Copilot

  Inline AI autocomplete + agent mode inside VS Code, JetBrains, and the GitHub web editor. The category-defining incumbent

Other Code tools

• Cursor

  AI-first code editor. Chat with your codebase, auto-apply edits, and let the agent tackle multi-file refactors

• Claude Code

  Anthropic's agentic coding tool that runs in your terminal and IDE, reading a whole codebase and editing across files

• Devin

  Autonomous software engineer that plans, codes, runs commands, and ships a whole task without a human at the keyboard

• Aider

  Terminal-first AI pair programmer. Open source, bring your own API key, edits your git repo and commits each change