Cline
Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code.
Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code.
Cline is Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code. Free to use.
About Cline
Cline is an open-source autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension. Unlike inline completion tools, Cline operates in plan-and-act steps: it reads files, proposes a plan, then executes terminal commands, edits files and uses MCP tools to accomplish a task, asking for approval where appropriate. It supports many model providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Ollama and local models, and includes features like Plan and Act modes, checkpoints with diff review, command approval policies, and a marketplace of MCP servers that extend its capabilities with browsers, databases and APIs. Cline is targeted at developers who want a transparent, configurable agent inside their existing editor and is sold as a free open-source extension with optional paid hosted credits for the team's recommended model providers.
Cline pros and cons
Hand-derived from the catalog data, strengths and trade-offs to weigh before signing up.
- Completely free to use, no paid tier required
- Includes an autonomous AI agent for multi-step tasks
- Open source
- VS Code extension
- Plan/Act modes
- Competition is strong in this space, see Claude Code and OpenCode for comparison
2 plans from Cline
Pulled from Cline’s public pricing page. Prices may change, verify on the vendor’s site before purchasing.
Open Source
Free open-source agent
- VS Code Extension
- CLI access
- BYOK or pay at cost
- MCP Marketplace
Enterprise
For organizations
- JetBrains Extension
- SSO, SLA, dedicated support
- Centralized billing
- RBAC and audit logs
Cline vs Coding Agents
Side-by-side with the top 3 other coding agents in this category.
| Picked from the top tools in coding agents | Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code. | Anthropic's agentic coding tool that reads your codebase and ships changes from the terminal. | Open-source coding agent for the terminal, IDE, desktop, and browser, bring your own model. | AI pair programmer that lives in your terminal and git repo. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTS AT | Free | $20/mo (via Claude Pro) | Free (open source); usage-based hosted | Free |
| PRICING | Free | Paid | Freemium | Free |
| AI AGENT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EDITOR'S PICK | No | No | No | No |
| KEY FEATURES | Open source, VS Code extension, Plan/Act modes | Reads your whole codebase, Writes, edits & runs code, Autonomous git commits | Open source (self-hostable), Terminal, IDE, desktop & browser, Bring your own model & API key | CLI workflow, Git-aware commits, Repo map |
| BEST FOR | Codebase refactoring, Bug fixing, Feature work | Large multi-file codebase changes, Autonomous refactors & migrations, Test-and-fix loops | Agentic coding across the codebase, Terminal-native workflows, Self-hosted / private coding agents | Repo-aware coding, Refactoring, Git workflows |
| WORKS WITH | #agent#vs-code#open-source | #coding#agent#cli#terminal | #coding#agent#open-source#cli | #cli#open-source#pair-programming |
Cline, frequently asked questions
What is Cline?
Is Cline free?
Does Cline include an AI agent?
What are the key features of Cline?
What can Cline be used for?
What are the best alternatives to Cline?
Is Cline better than Claude Code?
What are the pros and cons of Cline?
Related tools
Anthropic's agentic coding tool that reads your codebase and ships changes from the terminal.
Open-source coding agent for the terminal, IDE, desktop, and browser, bring your own model.
AI pair programmer that lives in your terminal and git repo.
Build and deploy apps from a prompt inside Replit.