Cline vs Windsurf
Cline and Windsurf 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.
Windsurf
AI-native IDE built by Codeium, acquired by Cognition in 2025 and renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Devin Local, the agent that succeeded Cascade, handles multi-file edits. Free plan; Pro is $20/mo.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Coding | AI Coding |
| Website | cline.bot | windsurf.com |
| 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 | No separate Windsurf plan - windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, and the editor is sold as Devin Desktop on Devin's plans (see the Devin tool page or /coding-agent-plans/devin) |
| Install | npm i -g cline | sudo apt install devin-desktop or sudo dnf install -y devin-desktop |
| 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. | Pick a model from the dropdown under the agent input: Cognition's SWE-2 and SWE-1.7, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, and Luna, Gemini 4 Argon, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, or the Adaptive router. Cognition recommends Fusion, which pairs a frontier lead model with a cheaper sidekick. Free plan users only get SWE-1.6. |
| 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.
Windsurf
Windsurf is an AI-native IDE originally built by Codeium as a direct competitor to Cursor. Cognition acquired it in 2025 and now sells the editor as Devin Desktop, on the same plans as Devin Cloud and the Devin CLI. Its agent is now Devin Local, which succeeded Cascade and runs the same harness as the Devin CLI, with subagents and sandboxing - an agentic mode that reads your codebase, plans changes across multiple files, and executes them step by step with a diff preview. It supports Claude, GPT, and Codeium's own models. The free plan includes unlimited Tab completions and inline edits plus a light agent quota, and Pro is $20/mo. Windsurf excels at multi-file refactors and has strong context awareness across large codebases. It's VS Code-compatible, so extensions and keybindings carry over seamlessly.
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 Windsurf cost?
As of October 17, 2026: No separate Windsurf plan - windsurf.com/pricing redirects to devin.ai/pricing, and the editor is sold as Devin Desktop on Devin's plans (see the Devin tool page or /coding-agent-plans/devin). Source: Devin plans and pricing, Install Devin Desktop, Devin Desktop AI models, Devin Desktop changelog, Windsurf to Devin Desktop FAQ.
How do I install Windsurf?
Official install commands as of October 17, 2026: sudo apt install devin-desktop or sudo dnf install -y devin-desktop.
Which models does Windsurf use?
As of October 17, 2026: Pick a model from the dropdown under the agent input: Cognition's SWE-2 and SWE-1.7, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Sol, and Luna, Gemini 4 Argon, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, or the Adaptive router. Cognition recommends Fusion, which pairs a frontier lead model with a cheaper sidekick. Free plan users only get SWE-1.6.
