Cline vs Cursor
Free open-source agent you add to any editor against a subscription AI editor now owned by SpaceX. The licence and the bill are the only things that stayed the same and everything else has since moved.
On this page
Cline and Cursor solve the same job, an AI agent that writes and edits code, from opposite starting points. Cline is a free, open-source agent you install into an editor you already use, and you supply your own model key. Cursor is a closed-source, subscription-priced editor built around its own agent, and paying for it buys frontier-model access you do not have to configure yourself.
The distribution model is the first real difference. Cline ships as a VS Code and JetBrains extension, an npm-installed CLI and an embeddable SDK, and it runs headlessly inside CI pipelines such as GitHub Actions or GitLab. It also speaks the Agent Client Protocol that Zed's team created, so it runs inside Zed, Neovim and even Cursor itself as a sidebar agent. Cursor is the editor itself, a VS Code fork you switch into. Cursor shipped a CLI in 2026 that runs headlessly too, closing the CI gap that once separated the two.
Pricing follows the same split. Cline's core is Apache-2.0 and free forever, and you pay only your model provider's usage bill. An optional ClinePass at $9.99 a month buys 2-5x higher rate limits on a curated set of open-weight models including Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM, and the custom-priced Enterprise tier adds SSO, an SLA and a centrally managed JetBrains rollout. Cursor's Hobby tier is free with limited agent use, then Pro at $20 a month, Pro+ at $60 and Ultra at $200, each buying a larger pool of frontier-model credit, plus Teams at $40 per user a month and a custom Enterprise plan.
Model choice looks similar on paper and works differently underneath. Cline is model-agnostic by construction. You bring the key, so you can run Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Bedrock or a local Ollama model, and route routine work to a cheap model while a hard task gets a frontier one. Cursor curates and pays for the roster instead. Claude, GPT and Gemini remain in the lineup, and Cursor now ships its own Grok 4.6 as well, all selectable per request, with Cursor Router generally available for Teams and Enterprise since 2026-07-22 to dispatch routine work off the frontier.
The fact that decides more of this comparison than any feature list sits outside both products. SpaceX completed its acquisition of Cursor's parent company, Anysphere, on 2026-08-14, and the Cursor team joined SpaceXAI to train and ship its own models alongside Claude, GPT and Gemini. Cursor has not dropped any of those third-party models, but whose models get the best integration going forward now has an obvious party to watch. Cline has no equivalent event. It is built by Cline Bot Inc., stays Apache-2.0, and carries about 66,700 GitHub stars as of today, answering to no acquirer.
The two also approach a task differently. Cline's Plan/Act workflow separates the two steps on purpose. It reads the code and asks questions in Plan mode, then executes with approval at each step once you flip to Act mode. Cursor's agent mode gathers the relevant files and proposes a multi-file diff in one motion, backed by predictive tab-completion that suggests the next edit rather than the next token. Both now support MCP for connecting external tools, so that axis no longer separates them.
How Cline and Cursor compare
| Feature | Cline★ Our pickVisit Cline ↗ | CursorVisit Cursor ↗ |
|---|---|---|
| Description | The open-source coding agent. Bring your own key. Runs in your editor, terminal, and as an SDK, with optional ClinePass for flat-rate open-model access. | The AI-first code editor (a VS Code fork) with a coding agent that reads, plans and edits across your whole codebase. Free Hobby tier, Pro from $20/month. |
| Tags | ||
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Model / LLM | Model-agnostic (BYO key) | Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini, SpaceXAI Grok 4.6 (per-request); Cursor Router auto-classifies from 2026-07-22 |
| Interface | IDE | IDE |
| Public API | Yes | - |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Deployment | Self-host | Cloud |
| Limitations |
|
|
Who each one is for
Cline
Developers and teams who want a transparent, open-source, model-agnostic agent they fully control and pay for by usage, with optional flat-rate access to open-weight models.
From Free
Cursor
Professional developers who want a powerful AI agent woven into a familiar VS Code-based editor, with first-class model choice and the option to be hands-off via Cursor Router.
From Free
Verdict: Cline or Cursor?
Cline, for the developer who wants to keep their own editor, their own model choice and their own bill. It costs nothing beyond the API calls you already make, it runs in VS Code, JetBrains, Zed, Neovim or headless in CI, and Apache-2.0 licensing means nobody can fold it into a parent company's roadmap the way Cursor just was. If you already trust a specific model provider, or need an agent that runs unattended in a pipeline with no editor open at all, Cline gets you there without a subscription.
Pick Cursor instead in two cases. First, if you want the smoothest in-editor agent available today and are happy to pay a flat subscription for it. Cursor's multi-file agent and tab-completion are more polished out of the box than wiring up an extension yourself, and per-request switching between Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok 4.6 means you are never stuck with one model's blind spot. Second, if the SpaceX ownership is simply not a concern for you and you just want the best agent experience money buys, $20 to $200 a month is a reasonable trade for not managing keys or extensions yourself.
The mistake runs in both directions. Buying Cursor because it is the more familiar name, while your team already standardizes on one model provider and would rather pay that provider directly, means paying Cursor's markup for a choice you are not using. Buying Cline because it is free and open, while your team has no time to manage API keys, rate limits and model selection across a dozen developers, means trading a subscription for an admin burden someone still has to own.
The digest
Decided? Watch the bench move. New agents, fresh verdicts, moves in the rankings, one short email, every Tuesday.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the SpaceX acquisition of Cursor's parent company actually finalized?
- Yes. Cursor's own statement confirms SpaceX completed the acquisition of Anysphere on 2026-08-14, with the Cursor team joining a new SpaceXAI division to train and ship models alongside Claude, GPT and Gemini.
- Is Cline really free, or does ClinePass make it a subscription product too?
- Cline's core stays free and Apache-2.0 either way, and you always pay your own model provider directly for usage. ClinePass is optional at $9.99 a month and only buys 2-5x higher rate limits on a curated set of open-weight models like Qwen and DeepSeek. Skipping it changes nothing about the free, bring-your-own-key path.
- Does Cursor have a headless or CI mode now, or is it still editor-only?
- It has one now. Cursor shipped its own CLI in 2026, run as the agent command, which works headlessly with an API key and is built for CI pipelines and scripted bulk edits. That is the same job Cline's CLI and SDK were built for, so the gap that once separated the two on this axis has closed.
- Can Cline run inside Cursor?
- Yes. Cline speaks the Agent Client Protocol that Zed's team created, and any ACP-compatible editor, including Cursor itself, can run Cline as a sidebar agent alongside or instead of Cursor's own. It is a real option for a developer who wants Cursor's editor but Cline's bring-your-own-key model control.
Related comparisons and alternatives
Still deciding? Get a quote from Cline
Tell us what you need. We make the introduction to Cline.