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 or Cline?
Both are free, open source and bring-your-own-key, so the difference is where you live. Aider is in the terminal and treats Git as part of the workflow: every edit is a commit. Cline lives inside VS Code and asks permission before each file change or command, which gives more control at the cost of going slower.
Choose Aider if…
You work in the terminal and want your Git history to cleanly reflect what the AI did.
Choose Cline if…
You live in VS Code and would rather approve every change before it touches anything.
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
The differences that actually matter
Terminal versus editor
This is the underlying difference. Aider is driven by typing in the console; Cline is a VS Code extension and works inside the editor, with changes visible in the diff panel before you apply them. If you already live in VS Code, Cline never takes you out of it.
How you review what they do
Aider bets on Git: one commit per change, reviewed with the tools you already use. Cline shows diffs on screen and asks for approval step by step before writing. For anyone new to agents, Cline's visual approval builds confidence faster at the start.
Both are open and you bring the API key
Neither charges a licence: you pay for the tokens of whichever model you connect, and both accept several providers. That means the comparison is not about price but about where you are more comfortable working. If you have no preference, try both: there is no switching cost beyond configuration.
Frequently asked questions
Which uses fewer tokens?
Aider tends to be leaner because it sends the model only the files you point it at, whereas an editor agent explores more context on its own. The gap shows in large projects. In both, the most effective way to spend less is to narrow the scope of the task yourself.
Do I need to know Git to use them?
For Aider, quite a bit: its working model is making commits and expecting you to know how to revert. With Cline you can start without mastering it, because you approve each change before it is written. That said, letting an agent loose on code without version control is a bad idea with either.