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Coding & app buildersCline

Cline

Cline is an open-source AI coding agent from Cline Bot Inc. that runs in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the terminal and a desktop app. It is free for individual developers, who connect their own model API keys or pay for inference at cost, and it asks for approval before editing files or running commands.

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Quick facts

VendorCline
CategoryCoding & app builders
PlatformsVS CodeJetBrains IDEsCommand linemacOSWindowsLinux
Free planYes
Pricing from$9.99/month
Last reviewed

Best for

  • Developers who want model choice
  • Cost-conscious VS Code users
  • Teams needing open-source tooling

Key features

Plan and Act modes

Sketch an approach in Plan mode first, then switch to Act mode and approve each tool call as the agent works.

Checkpoints

Every tool call creates a checkpoint with visual diffs in the editor, so you can roll back any change with /undo.

Any model provider

Connect Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, Vertex, Groq, DeepSeek or a local endpoint with your own API key.

MCP Marketplace

Add MCP servers from the marketplace or your own so Cline can reach bug trackers, deployment platforms and data warehouses.

Kanban board in the CLI

Run cline --kanban to manage parallel agents in separate git worktrees, including Claude Code and Codex sessions.

Skills and hooks

Skills package reusable know-how such as running your test suite, and hooks let scripts gate or shape any tool call.

Use cases

  • Refactor a module in VS Code while approving each file edit and terminal command the agent proposes.
  • Split a backlog into Kanban cards and let several agents work on them in isolated git worktrees.
  • Point Cline at a local model through an OpenAI-compatible server to keep code on your own machine.
  • Connect a Linear MCP server so the agent reads tickets and turns them into linked tasks.

Pricing

Pricing from
$9.99/month

The Cline agent is free for individuals, with no seat fees; you pay model providers through your own keys or buy inference from Cline at cost. ClinePass, an optional open-weight model subscription, is $9.99/month, and Enterprise pricing is custom.

Ways to save

  • Bring your own API keys to pay provider rates directly, with no subscription or markup from Cline.
  • ClinePass bundles open-weight models such as GLM 5.3, Kimi K3 and DeepSeek V4 for $9.99/month instead of separate provider accounts.
  • Local models connected through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint avoid per-token API charges entirely.
Prices checked on Oct 12, 2026

Current deals

No live deals right now — check back or see all deals.AI Deals

What is Cline?

Cline is an autonomous coding agent that works inside your editor or terminal rather than as a separate hosted service. It reads files you point it at, edits code, runs commands and drives a browser, pausing for your approval at each step unless you allow more autonomy.

Where it runs

  • VS Code extension, also installable in Cursor and Windsurf.
  • JetBrains plugin in early access.
  • CLI with a Kanban board, plugins, schedules and headless CI use.
  • Cline for Desktop, a beta standalone app for macOS, Windows and Linux.
  • SDK for embedding the agent in other tools.

Limitations

Cost depends entirely on the models and tokens you use, so long agent sessions with frontier models can get expensive, and ClinePass covers open-weight models only. The desktop app is still in beta, with Cline warning to expect rough edges. There’s no bundled free model allowance for individuals.

Cline FAQ

Yes. The open-source Cline extension, CLI and desktop app are free for individual developers. You only pay for the AI models you use, either through your own provider API keys or by buying inference from Cline at cost.

ClinePass is a $9.99/month subscription for open-weight models from Z.ai, Moonshot AI, DeepSeek, MiniMax, MiMo and Qwen inside Cline's IDE extension and CLI. Cline says its quotas give 2–5x the usage of standard API rate limits.

Yes. The JetBrains plugin is in early access for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand and other JetBrains IDEs. In Cursor and Windsurf, you install the same extension from the VS Code Marketplace.

Yes. Cline's source code is on GitHub at github.com/cline/cline under the Apache 2.0 license. Because the agent runs client-side, you can switch providers or self-host models without being tied to Cline's own services.

Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM provisioning, centralized billing, role-based access control, limits on which inference providers teams can use, audit logs, VPC deployments, an SLA and dedicated support. Pricing requires contacting sales.

Alternatives to Cline

GitHub Copilot1 live

AI pair programmer and coding agent inside your editor and GitHub.

Cursor

AI-first code editor with agents that plan, edit and run code.

OpenAI Codex1 live

OpenAI's coding agent for the terminal, IDE and cloud.

Kiro2 live

AWS's agentic IDE that turns prompts into specs, then code.

Warp

Agentic development environment built around a modern terminal.

Articles about Cline

Laptop showing code in a dark editor theme on a desk beside a small plant
Comparisons

Best AI Coding Tools 2026: Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot and 12 More Compared

As of October 2026, the best AI coding tool depends on how you work: Claude Code for terminal agents (in Claude Pro, $20/month), Cursor for an all-in-one AI editor ($20/month), GitHub Copilot for value ($10/month, free for students), and Lovable or Replit for building apps without code.

10 min read

Sources

Reviewed on Oct 12, 2026

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