Comparison
Aider vs Cline
Aider: Free terminal coding agent, with Git built in. Cline: Free AI agent for VS Code that asks permission before every change.
| Aider | Cline | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Price | Free Free and open source (Apache 2.0). You only pay for the API of the model you use, or nothing if you run it locally with Ollama. | Free Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Connect your Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex or Azure key and pay only those tokens. |
| Free plan | ||
| API available | ||
| Open source | ||
| In Spanish | ||
| No watermark | — | — |
| Platforms | Windows · Mac · Linux | Windows · Mac · Linux |
Aider
- Free and open source, no subscription
- Every AI edit is a reviewable Git commit
- Works with more than 75 providers, including local models
- You have to bring your own API key and pay for tokens
- No graphical interface: everything happens in the terminal
Cline
- Free and open source, inside VS Code
- Approve change by change: full control over what it touches
- Compatible with Anthropic, OpenAI, Bedrock, Vertex and Azure
- Bring your own key: you pay for the tokens
- Approving every step is slower than letting the agent run