Cline

Coding Assistants active ★ 4.5 open-source · Free (you pay your model provider) Free tier available Verified Oct 2026

An open-source (Apache 2.0) AI coding agent for VS Code-based editors and the terminal that plans changes, edits multiple files, runs commands, and uses MCP tools with your approval. It is free to use with your own API key for any major model provider or a local model.

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Use Cases

Multi-file feature work with step-by-step approval
Plan-then-act refactors on unfamiliar codebases
Running tests and terminal tasks inside an agent loop
Connecting internal tools through MCP servers
Running a coding agent on local models for privacy

Pros

Free and open source with no seat fee or subscription
Works with nearly any model provider, including local models through Ollama
Plan and Act modes plus checkpoints give control and easy undo
Large community (about 70k GitHub stars and 11M+ installs)

Cons

Your API bill can get high with frontier models on long tasks
Focused on agent tasks, so inline autocomplete is weaker than Cursor or Copilot
JetBrains support and team controls (SSO, RBAC) sit in the Enterprise tier
Results depend heavily on which model you connect

Pricing

Plan	Price
Open Source	Free
Enterprise	Custom

Comparisons

Cline vs AiderBoth are open-source and bring-your-own-model. Aider is terminal-first and git-centric; Cline lives in the editor with a visual diff and approval flow.Cline vs Claude CodeClaude Code is Anthropic's terminal agent tied to Claude models and plans. Cline offers a similar agent loop inside the editor and works with any provider.Cline vs CursorCursor is a full AI-native editor with excellent autocomplete and a subscription. Cline is a free extension you add to VS Code and similar editors, paying only for the model, which suits people who want model choice and cost transparency.