Cline

Cline (formerly Claude Dev) is an open-source autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension with over 1 million installs. It creates and edits files, runs terminal commands, browses the web, and executes multi-step development tasks with your approval at each step. It supports any LLM through bring-your-own-API-key, including Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, DeepSeek, and local models.

The Cline extension is completely free and open-source. You pay only for AI API calls through your chosen provider. Typical monthly costs are $25-70 with Claude Sonnet, $5-20 with DeepSeek R1, or near-zero with free experimental models or local models via Ollama. Teams plan is $20/user/month with first 10 seats free. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Cline is a VS Code extension (stays in your existing VS Code setup). Cursor is a separate IDE (VS Code fork). Cline is cheaper (pay only API costs, no subscription). Cursor is more polished with better UX and built-in model routing. Choose Cline for flexibility, budget control, and staying in VS Code. Choose Cursor for the most refined, all-in-one AI coding experience.

Cline supports virtually any LLM: Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet and Opus (Anthropic), GPT-4o (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), DeepSeek R1, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, and local models through Ollama and LM Studio. You can also use your Claude Max subscription directly. Switch between providers with a single configuration change.

Yes, Cline is safe. It shows you a diff-based preview of every proposed file edit, terminal command, and browser action before execution and requires your explicit approval. You can configure auto-approval for trusted action types. The extension is fully open-source (Apache 2.0) so the code is fully inspectable. Your code stays local — only the context you send via API leaves your machine.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) allows Cline to connect to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface. You can extend Cline with custom MCP servers for databases, REST APIs, documentation systems, web services, and other external resources — turning it into a highly customizable development automation platform that goes far beyond basic file editing.

Yes. Cline supports local models through Ollama and LM Studio, enabling completely private, zero-cloud coding assistance at near-zero ongoing cost. Performance depends on your hardware and model choice. Local models are typically less capable than cloud models like Claude Sonnet for complex tasks, but they provide full data privacy for sensitive codebases.

Cline is a VS Code extension with a GUI interface and human-in-the-loop approval for each action. Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI-based coding agent that runs in the terminal. Cline supports any model (bring your own API key). Claude Code only works with Claude models. Choose Cline for VS Code integration, model flexibility, and visual diffs. Choose Claude Code for terminal-first workflows with deep Anthropic integration.

Plan/Act mode separates the planning phase from the execution phase. In Plan mode, Cline analyzes the task and outlines a step-by-step approach without making any changes. In Act mode, it executes the plan with your approval at each step. This is useful for complex tasks where you want to review the strategy before any code is modified, and it can reduce token usage by avoiding unnecessary back-and-forth.

Yes. Cline Teams ($20/user/month, first 10 seats free) provides centralized billing, team management dashboard, and usage analytics. Cline Enterprise adds JetBrains extension support, SSO, OIDC, SCIM provisioning, audit logs, VPC deployments, SLA guarantees, OpenTelemetry integration, and dedicated priority support. Contact Cline sales for Enterprise pricing.