Cline vs Continue: How Two Open-Source AI Coding Agents Compare (2026)
A feature, pricing, and workflow comparison of Cline and Continue, two open-source AI coding tools for VS Code, JetBrains, and the terminal.
Contents
OverviewAt a glanceHead to headFeature matrixPricingPros & consCline and Continue: the public release record on 2026-09-02What each tool isWhere they overlapThe Cursor acquisition and what it means for ContinuePricing and cost modelEditors, CLI, and workflow differencesWhich should you chooseVerdictFAQSourcesCline and Continue both put an AI coding agent inside your editor and your terminal, and both are open source. If you are weighing one against the other, the practical questions are how they are licensed, which editors and models they support, what they cost, and how each project is being run today. This comparison works through those points using each vendor's own site and documentation.
One difference sits above the rest: as of 2026-09-02, Continue's site states that the project has joined Cursor, while Cline is published by an independent company. That shapes how you should read everything else, so it gets its own section below.
At a glance
Cline and Continue are both open-source AI coding agents for VS Code and the terminal. Cline (Apache 2.0) is free for individuals with usage-based inference and is run by an independent company; JetBrains support sits in its Enterprise tier (cline.bot, 2026-09-02). Continue offers VS Code and JetBrains extensions plus an autocomplete mode in its open-source offering, but its homepage states it has joined Cursor and its future direction is not yet documented (continue.dev, 2026-09-02). Choose Cline for published pricing, an SDK, and independence; choose Continue for a free JetBrains extension and inline autocomplete.
Head to head
Key differences side by side; the stronger option is tinted green.
| Feature | Cline | Continue |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership / company | Cline Bot Inc, independent (cline.bot, 2026-09-02) | Homepage states it joined Cursor (continue.dev, 2026-09-02) |
| License | Apache 2.0 open source (cline.bot, 2026-09-02) | Open source; open-source codebase stated to remain available (continue.dev / docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02) |
| Published pricing | Free for individuals + usage-based inference; Enterprise "Custom" (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02) | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-09-02) |
| JetBrains extension | Listed under the Enterprise tier (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02) | Listed in the open-source docs alongside VS Code (docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02) |
| Inline autocomplete | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-09-02) | Autocomplete mode for inline suggestions (docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02) |
| Enterprise / admin features | SSO, SLA, RBAC, centralized billing, audit logs, dedicated support (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02) | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-09-02) |
| Adoption signals | 8M+ installs, 67.3k stars, 250+ contributors (cline.bot, 2026-09-02) | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-09-02) |
Feature matrix
| Feature | Cline | Continue |
|---|---|---|
| Open sourceCline lists Apache 2.0; Continue is described as open source (2026-09-02). | ✓ | ✓ |
| VS Code extension | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terminal CLICline CLI; Continue CLI is called cn. | ✓ | ✓ |
| JetBrains extensionCline lists it under Enterprise; Continue lists it in the open-source docs (2026-09-02). | △ | ✓ |
| Agent mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plan modeCline Plan-and-Act; Continue documents a Plan Mode. | ✓ | ✓ |
| MCP support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bring your own model / provider | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ full · △ partial/paid · ✗ not supported
Pricing
Prices below were checked against each vendor's official pricing page on 2026-09-02. Vendors change pricing without notice — the linked page is authoritative.
- VS Code extension, CLI, and SDK
- Bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider
- MCP Marketplace and multi-root workspaces
- Secure client-side architecture
- Community support
- All Open Source features
- JetBrains extension
- SSO, SLA, dedicated support
- Role-based access control and centralized billing
- Team management dashboard and authentication logs
- Open-source extensions for VS Code and JetBrains
- Agent, Chat, Edit, and Autocomplete modes
- Continue CLI (cn) for the terminal
- MCP servers and custom model providers
- Self-hosting and local-model guides in the docs
Pros & cons
- Open source under Apache 2.0 (cline.bot, 2026-09-02)
- Free for individuals with usage-based inference and BYOK (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02)
- One runtime across VS Code extension, CLI, and SDK
- Plan-and-Act workflow, MCP Marketplace, and CI/cron automation
- Independent vendor with a published Enterprise tier
- JetBrains extension is listed under the Enterprise tier, not the free tier (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02)
- Usage-based inference means heavy use adds ongoing cost
- Enterprise pricing is "Custom" and requires contacting sales
- Open source with the codebase stated to remain freely available (continue.dev, 2026-09-02)
- VS Code and JetBrains extensions in the open-source offering (docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02)
- Agent, Chat, Edit, and Autocomplete modes plus a terminal CLI (cn)
- Documented self-hosting, offline, and local-model workflows
- Roadmap after joining Cursor is not documented on the pages we read (2026-09-02)
- The pages we read did not list pricing tiers as of 2026-09-02
Cline and Continue: the public release record on 2026-09-02
| Measured on 2026-09-02 | Cline cline/cline | Continue continuedev/continue |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | desktop-v0.0.22-beta.1, published 2026-09-01 | v2.1.0-vscode, published 2026-06-19 |
| Commits, weekly average | 86.8 a week (1,041 commits in the 12 weeks to 2026-09-02) | 1.0 a week (12 commits in the 12 weeks to 2026-09-02) |
| Most recent commit | 2026-09-02 | 2026-09-01 |
As recorded on 2026-09-02, the public source repository on GitHub for Cline logged a 12-week average of 86.8 commits a week, against 1.0 commit a week for Continue over the same span — both figures drawn from each project's version-control history rather than any vendor's marketing. Read alongside the latest release each repository published (Cline's desktop-v0.0.22-beta.1 on 2026-09-01 and Continue's v2.1.0-vscode on 2026-06-19, again per the GitHub record on 2026-09-02), the numbers describe how frequently code has recently been committed and cut into releases. For someone choosing between the two, this reasonably suggests that Cline is the more actively developed codebase at the moment, which may matter to those who value rapid iteration and fresh fixes. What these counts do not establish is anything about either tool's reliability, the quality of its support, the merits of the product itself, or how many people actually use it. Commit and release cadence measure development activity in the open, and only that.
Where these numbers come from: on 2026-09-02 (2026-09-02T00:14:37Z) we called the public endpoints listed below and recorded what they returned. Nothing here is taken from either vendor's marketing pages, and anyone can repeat the same calls. Repository figures describe the named repository — for a closed-source platform that is its official CLI or SDK, not the platform itself. What these figures do not tell you: Commit counts include merges, dependency bumps and documentation changes, and a monorepo will always show more commits than a single-purpose repository, so this measures how busy the named repository is — not progress, quality, or how much of it reaches the product. The commit date says the repository is being worked on, nothing about what changed. None of them measures reliability, support or how either product feels to use.
- Cline — GitHub REST API · GitHub releases API
- Continue — GitHub REST API · GitHub releases API
What each tool is
Cline describes itself as an open coding agent with a single runtime you can use in your editor, in the terminal, or embed in your own products. It ships as a VS Code extension, a CLI, and an SDK, and it is licensed under Apache 2.0 (cline.bot, 2026-09-02). Its model is agent-first: it edits across a project, runs bash commands and reacts to their output, and offers a Plan mode to agree on a strategy before an Act mode carries it out.
Continue is an open-source AI code assistant for VS Code and JetBrains that lets developers create, share, and use custom AI code agents. Its documentation lists four working modes — Agent for development tasks, Chat for questions, Edit for in-file changes, and Autocomplete for inline suggestions — plus a terminal CLI called cn (docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02).
Both are, at heart, editor-plus-terminal AI agents with a customization story. They differ in packaging, ownership, and what each vendor currently documents.
Where they overlap
The two projects converge on most of the features developers ask about. Each is open source. Each runs inside VS Code and ships a terminal CLI. Each supports MCP for connecting external tools and data, lets you bring your own models or providers, and offers a plan-style mode for reviewing an approach before code changes land (cline.bot and docs.continue.dev, 2026-09-02).
Cline leans into the agent runtime idea — multi-file edits with diffs, checkpoints and one-click undo, live command execution, an MCP Marketplace, and an SDK for embedding the agent elsewhere. Continue frames the same territory as distinct modes you switch between, and it documents guides for self-hosting a model, running without internet, and using local runtimes such as Ollama. The shape of the workflow differs more than the underlying capability.
The Cursor acquisition and what it means for Continue
As of 2026-09-02, the Continue homepage carries a single notice: "Continue has joined Cursor." The page says the project was acquired by Cursor and that its open-source codebase remains freely available as a foundation for others (continue.dev, 2026-09-02). The documentation site still describes Continue as an active open-source assistant with its full set of modes.
For a buyer, that combination matters. The open-source code you can install today is still there, and the docs still describe how to use it. What the pages we read on 2026-09-02 did not spell out is the roadmap under new ownership — how long the standalone extensions will be maintained, or whether development continues independently of Cursor's own product. If you are choosing a tool to standardize a team on, treat Continue's future direction as an open question rather than a settled one.
Cline, by contrast, is published by Cline Bot Inc as an independent product (cline.bot, 2026-09-02), so its direction is not tied to another vendor's plans.
Pricing and cost model
Cline publishes a clear structure. The open-source version is free for individual developers; you pay only for AI inference on a usage basis, with no subscription or seat fee, and you can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02). Its FAQ lists supported providers including Anthropic, Google/Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex, Groq, Cerebras, Vercel AI Gateway, and DeepSeek. A separate Enterprise tier is priced "Custom" and adds the JetBrains extension, SSO, SLA, role-based access control, centralized billing, a team management dashboard, authentication logs, and dedicated support.
For Continue, the pages we read on 2026-09-02 — the homepage and the documentation — did not list pricing tiers. Because Continue is open source and supports self-hosted and local models per its docs, running it against your own keys or models is possible, but we cannot state a specific plan or price for it from those pages. If cost certainty is decisive, Cline is the one with a published figure to point at.
Editors, CLI, and workflow differences
Both cover VS Code and both offer a terminal CLI, so most solo developers can use either without friction. The clearest editor split is JetBrains. Continue's docs list VS Code and JetBrains extensions in its open-source offering. Cline lists the JetBrains extension under its Enterprise tier rather than the free open-source tier (cline.bot/pricing, 2026-09-02). If you work primarily in IntelliJ, PyCharm, or another JetBrains IDE, that difference is worth weighing before anything else.
On workflow, Cline emphasizes automation reach: using its CLI in scripts, cron jobs, and CI pipelines, coordinator agents that delegate to specialists, and connections to Slack, Discord, Linear, and CI systems like GitHub Actions. Continue emphasizes customization — building and sharing custom agents, rules, prompts, and code RAG through its config. Which framing fits depends on whether you want a headless automation surface or a highly tunable in-editor assistant.
Which should you choose
Pick Cline if you want a published, usage-based cost model, an independent vendor, an SDK to embed the agent, or heavy CLI-in-CI automation — and you can accept that JetBrains support sits in the Enterprise tier per its pricing page (2026-09-02).
Pick Continue if you want a free open-source JetBrains extension in the base offering, an inline autocomplete mode documented alongside agent and chat, and strong self-hosting and local-model guides — while accepting that its direction after joining Cursor is not yet documented on the pages we read (2026-09-02).
For a solo developer who lives in VS Code and the terminal, either tool will do the core job. The deciding factors are usually JetBrains coverage, how much the acquisition uncertainty bothers you, and whether you value Cline's published pricing over Continue's autocomplete-and-modes packaging.
These tools solve the same core problem and overlap on most features, so the choice comes down to a few concrete differences observed 2026-09-02. Cline gives you a published cost model — free for individuals, usage-based inference, BYOK — an SDK for embedding, strong CLI automation, and an independent vendor behind it. The trade-off is that JetBrains support lives in its Enterprise tier.
Continue puts VS Code and JetBrains extensions and an inline autocomplete mode in its open-source offering, which is attractive if you work in a JetBrains IDE or want completion alongside chat and agent modes. The caution is ownership: its homepage states the project has joined Cursor, and the pages we read did not describe the roadmap or pricing under that arrangement.
Standardizing a JetBrains-heavy team on a free extension today points to Continue; wanting predictable pricing, an embeddable SDK, and a vendor whose direction is its own points to Cline. For a solo VS Code and terminal user, either will handle day-to-day work well.
FAQ
Is Cline free?
The Cline open-source extension is free for individual developers; you pay only for AI inference on a usage basis, and you can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider (cline.bot/pricing, as of 2026-09-02). A separate Enterprise tier is priced "Custom."
What happened to Continue?
As of 2026-09-02, the Continue homepage states that the project has joined Cursor after being acquired, and that its open-source codebase remains freely available. The documentation still describes Continue as an active open-source assistant for VS Code and JetBrains.
Do both work with JetBrains IDEs?
Continue lists VS Code and JetBrains extensions in its open-source documentation. Cline lists its JetBrains extension under the Enterprise tier rather than the free open-source tier (cline.bot/pricing, as of 2026-09-02).
Can I use my own models with either tool?
Yes. Cline supports bringing your own API keys across many providers and also self-hosting, per its pricing FAQ. Continue's docs cover custom model providers, self-hosting, and local runtimes such as Ollama (both as of 2026-09-02).