Cline vs Cursor
Cline and Cursor side by side: what each one is, verified plan pricing and install commands where we have them, and the full review of each.
Cline
Open-source autonomous coding agent inside VS Code. Creates files, runs commands, and can use a browser for UI testing and debugging with your permission.
Cursor
EssentialAI-native code editor forked from VS Code, now sold as part of The X Subscription. Agent edits multiple files at once and Tab autocomplete predicts your next edit. Plus is $8/mo (Cursor's own Grok and Composer models only); Premium at $30/mo adds third-party models at API list price.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | cline.bot | cursor.sh |
| Pricing | Open Source - free for individual developers (Apache 2.0); pay only for inference, at cost through the Cline provider or with your own API keys; Enterprise - custom pricing: JetBrains extension, SSO, SLA, centralized billing, role-based access control, dedicated support | Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage |
| Install | npm i -g cline | curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex |
| Models | Cline is model-agnostic: bring keys for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, Cerebras, Groq or any OpenAI-compatible API, or run local models through Ollama or LM Studio. As of October 17, 2026 the Cline provider defaults to Claude Sonnet 5.5 when no model is chosen. | Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes. |
| Last verified | October 17, 2026 | October 17, 2026 |
In Depth
Cline
Cline is an open-source autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension. Unlike traditional coding assistants that provide suggestions, Cline executes complete workflows from a single natural language prompt. It can create and edit files, explore large projects, run terminal commands, and optionally use a browser to click elements, type text, and capture screenshots for interactive debugging and end-to-end testing. Every file edit and terminal command needs your approval by default, or you can toggle auto-approve and let Cline run autonomously. It supports multiple model providers (including OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini) plus local models through tools like Ollama.
Cursor
Cursor is a fork of VS Code rebuilt around AI. The killer feature is Composer - you describe a change in natural language and it edits multiple files simultaneously with a diff view. Tab autocomplete goes beyond single-line suggestions, predicting multi-line edits based on your recent changes. It indexes your entire codebase for context and supports OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Cursor models, and custom API keys. Plans are Free, Plus $8/mo, Premium $30/mo, Super $100/mo, and Ultra $200/mo; Claude, GPT, and Gemini are billed at API list price on Premium and above, and the old Pro and Pro+ plans continue only for existing customers. I use Cursor for visual editing alongside Claude Code for CLI-driven autonomous work.
FAQ
Answers taken from each tool's verified fact sheet, with the date it was last checked.
How much does Cline cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Open Source - free for individual developers (Apache 2.0); pay only for inference, at cost through the Cline provider or with your own API keys; Enterprise - custom pricing: JetBrains extension, SSO, SLA, centralized billing, role-based access control, dedicated support. Source: Cline pricing, cline/cline README, cline/cline releases.
How do I install Cline?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: npm i -g cline.
Which models does Cline use?
As of October 17, 2026: Cline is model-agnostic: bring keys for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, Cerebras, Groq or any OpenAI-compatible API, or run local models through Ollama or LM Studio. As of October 17, 2026 the Cline provider defaults to Claude Sonnet 5.5 when no model is chosen.
How much does Cursor cost?
As of October 17, 2026: Free - $0/mo: limited Agent and Chat usage; Plus - $8/mo ($80/yr): Cursor's own models only (Grok 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, Composer 2.5) at fixed settings; no Auto, Cloud Agents, Bugbot, third-party models or own API keys; Premium - $30/mo ($300/yr): 4x Plus usage, Cloud Agents and Automations, Origin code hosting, Bugbot, third-party models at API list price from prepaid credit; Super - $100/mo ($1,000/yr): 15x Plus usage, priority model access at peak times; Ultra - $200/mo ($2,000/yr): 50x Plus usage, earliest access to new products and models; Teams - $30, $100, or $200 per seat/mo; third-party models at API list price plus a $0.25 per million token Cursor Token Rate; Enterprise - custom pricing, pooled usage. Source: Cursor pricing, Cursor docs: Models and Pricing, Cursor docs: Legacy Cursor plans, Cursor CLI installation, Cursor changelog.
How do I install Cursor?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex.
Which models does Cursor use?
As of October 17, 2026: Paid plans include a weekly usage pool, shared with Grok, for Cursor's own models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5. Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku 5.5, Fable 5.1), GPT-5.6, Gemini 4 Argon and 3.x, and Meta Muse Wonder are third-party models billed at API list price from prepaid credit on Premium and above; individual plans get Auto in Cost mode, while Teams and Enterprise can use Cursor Router's Balance and Intelligence modes.
