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Cline

Open-source autonomous coding agent that lives in your IDE, terminal, or SDK.

Cline — Open-source autonomous coding agent that lives in your IDE, terminal, or SDK. Pricing: Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Bring-your-own-key: you pay your model provider's per-token rates directly, with zero markup from Cline. Prices change — check the official site.. Our take: Cline is the open-source counterweight to subscription coding agents: the extension is free, you bring your own API key, and you pay only the provider's token rates. Public feedback favors it for model flexibility and transparency, with the tradeoff that you own key management and budgeting. A natural fit for developers who want control over models and cost.

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7.8/10

At a glance

Vendor
Cline (Cline Bot Inc.)
Pricing
Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Bring-your-own-key: you pay your model provider's per-token rates directly, with zero markup from Cline. Prices change — check the official site.
Free tier
Yes
Best for
Open-source autonomous coding agent that lives in your IDE, terminal, or SDK.

Our verdict

Cline is the open-source counterweight to subscription coding agents: the extension is free, you bring your own API key, and you pay only the provider's token rates. Public feedback favors it for model flexibility and transparency, with the tradeoff that you own key management and budgeting. A natural fit for developers who want control over models and cost.

Pricing: Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Bring-your-own-key: you pay your model provider's per-token rates directly, with zero markup from Cline. Prices change — check the official site. · Vendor: Cline (Cline Bot Inc.)

Scores

★★★★☆7.8/10
Ease Of Use7/10
Output Quality8/10
Speed7/10
Value9/10

Pros & cons

Pros

  • Fully open source (Apache 2.0) and inspectable — 69.5k+ GitHub stars, 11M+ installs
  • Works with any model provider, plus local models via Ollama and LM Studio
  • Zero platform markup — pure pass-through API costs, full cost transparency
  • Runs in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the terminal (Cline CLI), SDK, and a desktop app
  • Checkpoints let you snapshot and restore before risky agent actions

Cons

  • You manage API keys, billing, and rate limits yourself
  • Raw pay-as-you-go has no spend ceiling — heavy days get expensive
  • No tab completion; pairing with a separate completion tool is common
📡 On our radar: we re-check this tool's pricing and feature set against official sources on a rolling basis. Last site-wide refresh: 2026-11-09. Prices change fast — confirm on the official site before buying.

FAQ

Is Cline worth it?

Cline is the open-source counterweight to subscription coding agents: the extension is free, you bring your own API key, and you pay only the provider's token rates. Public feedback favors it for model flexibility and transparency, with the tradeoff that you own key management and budgeting. A natural fit for developers who want control over models and cost.

How much does Cline cost?

Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Bring-your-own-key: you pay your model provider's per-token rates directly, with zero markup from Cline. Prices change — check the official site.. Prices change — check the official site for the latest.

What is Cline best for?

Open-source autonomous coding agent that lives in your IDE, terminal, or SDK.

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