# Cline — The open-source coding agent, an autonomous, bring-your-own-key agent that lives in your editor, terminal or SDK.

> Source: The Agents Index — https://theagentsindex.com/cline (structured, researched, re-verified)
> Facts last verified: 2026-07-23

Cline is an open-source, autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension and CLI under the Apache-2.0 licence, with Zed and Neovim support via the open Agent Client Protocol (ACP). Rather than selling a subscription by default, it is bring-your-own-key: you plug in your own model provider — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, DeepSeek, xAI, Mistral, Cerebras or a local model via Ollama — and pay that provider directly for what you use. The core tool is free and fully inspectable, with roughly 65,000 GitHub stars and one of the largest open-source followings in the category. It also ships a free JetBrains plugin via the JetBrains Marketplace, on the same BYOK terms as the VS Code extension. Two optional paid layers now sit alongside that free core: a $9.99/month ClinePass subscription for discounted, higher-rate-limit access to a curated set of open-weight coding models, and a custom-priced Enterprise tier adding SSO/OIDC, an SLA, dedicated support and a centrally-managed JetBrains deployment. It reads your codebase, edits files, runs terminal commands and can drive a browser, asking for approval at each step.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Website | https://cline.bot |
| API | Yes |
| Best for | Developers and teams who want a transparent, open-source, model-agnostic agent they fully control and pay for by usage. |
| Not for | People who want a zero-setup managed product with all model costs bundled and support included by default, Cline’s paid layers (ClinePass, Enterprise) are opt-in add-ons on top of the free BYOK core, not a bundled-by-default plan. |

## Verdict

Cline is the reference open-source coding agent: Apache-2.0, bring-your-own-key, and available as a VS Code extension, a CLI and an embeddable SDK, with Zed/Neovim reachable via the open Agent Client Protocol. Its Plan/Act workflow and first-class MCP support make it both careful and unusually extensible, and because you supply the model you get full choice and transparent, usage-only cost — route cheap tasks to a local model and hard ones to a frontier model. Two optional paid layers now sit on top of that free core: a $9.99/month ClinePass for discounted open-weight-model rate limits, and a custom-priced Enterprise tier that adds an SLA, dedicated support and a centrally-managed JetBrains rollout for organizations — the JetBrains plugin itself is free and self-serve, same BYOK terms as VS Code. The flip side of BYO-key is that costs are unbounded on the core tier: a long agentic run on a top model can quietly rack up API spend, and you own all the setup, keys and troubleshooting yourself. Output quality is only as good as the model you plug in. Pick Cline if you value openness, control and no lock-in and are comfortable managing your own model access; skip the free tier if you specifically need a support SLA or centrally-managed rollout, and budget for Enterprise instead.

## Strengths and weaknesses

- ✓ Free and open-source (Apache-2.0) core with a huge community and roughly 65,000 GitHub stars — no vendor lock-in.
- ✓ Bring-your-own-key means transparent, usage-only cost and full model choice, including local models.
- ✓ Plan/Act plus first-class MCP make it both careful and highly extensible.
- ✓ The optional $9.99/month ClinePass is a cheap way to get elevated rate limits on strong open-weight models without juggling a separate provider key.
- ✗ Costs are unbounded on the free core — you pay per token to your model provider, and an agentic session on a frontier model can run up real API bills.
- ✗ On the free tier you still manage your own keys and setup with no SLA; a real support SLA and dedicated support only exist behind the custom-priced Enterprise tier, which also adds a centrally-managed JetBrains rollout for organizations (the JetBrains plugin itself is free and self-serve for individuals).
- ✗ Quality tracks whichever model you supply — a weak or local model yields weak results.
- ⚠ No built-in model, it is useless without an API key or local model, and results depend entirely on the model you bring.
- ⚠ Powerful but hands-on; teams wanting a managed, supported agent need the custom-priced Enterprise tier, not the free core.

## Key features

- **Plan / Act modes** — Separates strategy from execution — Cline plans and asks questions in Plan mode, then executes with step-by-step approval in Act mode.
- **Bring-your-own-key, any model** — Plug in Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Bedrock or a local Ollama model and pay the provider directly; the tool is free.
- **First-class MCP support** — Connect to databases, APIs and infrastructure through Model Context Protocol servers, with a marketplace for one-click installs.
- **Editor, CLI & SDK** — Run it as a VS Code/JetBrains extension, a terminal CLI, or embed the agent runtime in your own product via the SDK.
- **Browser + terminal actions** — Executes shell commands with live output and drives a real browser via Puppeteer to test its changes.

## Use cases

- **Cost-controlled coding** — A developer routes routine edits to a cheap or local model and hard tasks to a frontier model, paying providers directly.
- **Auditable, self-hosted agent** — A security-conscious team runs a fully open-source agent locally with no code leaving to a vendor SaaS.
- **Embed an agent in a product** — A team uses the Cline SDK to ship the agent runtime inside their own tool or CI pipeline.

## Integrations

VS Code & free JetBrains extension, plus CLI (Zed/Neovim via ACP) · Model providers — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, DeepSeek, xAI, Mistral, Cerebras, Ollama · MCP servers & marketplace · GitHub Actions / CI via CLI & SDK

## Sources

- https://cline.bot
- https://cline.bot/pricing
- https://docs.cline.bot/getting-started/clinepass
- https://github.com/cline/cline
- https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/28247-cline
- https://cline.bot/jetbrains
- https://frontman.sh/blog/best-open-source-ai-coding-tools-2026/