Comparison
Cline vs GitHub Copilot
Cline: Free AI agent for VS Code that asks permission before every change. GitHub Copilot: AI assistant that suggests code in real time inside your editor
| Cline | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| Price | Free Free and open source (Apache 2.0). Connect your Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex or Azure key and pay only those tokens. | Freemium Free plan (2,000 completions/month). Pro from $10/month. Pro+ $39/month. Max $100/month. Business $19/user/month. Enterprise $39/user/month. |
| Free plan | ||
| API available | ||
| Open source | ||
| In Spanish | ||
| No watermark | — | — |
| Platforms | Windows · Mac · Linux | Web · Windows · Mac · Linux · Extension |
Cline or GitHub Copilot?
Copilot suggests as you type; Cline carries out tasks and edits files on its own, asking permission before each step. Copilot has a free plan and GitHub behind it; Cline is open source and lets you pick the model and provider, which matters if your company requires a specific deployment such as Bedrock or Vertex.
Choose Cline if…
You want an agent that makes changes across several files, with your choice of model and provider.
Choose GitHub Copilot if…
You want reliable autocomplete in any editor, with a free plan and GitHub support.
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
GitHub Copilot
- Native integration in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains and other popular editors
- Advanced AI models: access to Claude Opus, GPT-5, and specialised or custom models
- Autonomous agents that carry out complex tasks without constant supervision
- The interface and prompts work best in English; quality drops in other languages
- Limited official completions API; there is no public endpoint to integrate into your own apps
The differences that actually matter
Task agent versus continuous suggestion
Copilot completes as you type; Cline takes an instruction and edits several files until it is done. They are not exact alternatives: people who know both tend to keep Copilot always on and call in Cline when the task is bigger than a function.
Fixed price versus consumption
Copilot costs a known monthly fee and you stop thinking about it. Cline is free as an extension but you pay for every token you use. For heavy use, Copilot's fixed fee is more predictable; for occasional targeted tasks, Cline can come in at cents.
Which model you can use
Cline lets you pick provider and model, including open models run locally, which solves the problem if your code cannot leave the company. Copilot uses whichever models Microsoft offers at the time, without that flexibility.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use both in the same VS Code?
Yes, they coexist without trouble and it is a fairly sensible combination: Copilot for the typing flow and Cline for tasks spanning several files. The only thing to watch is Cline's API spend if you delegate heavily to it.
Which is better for code that cannot leave the company?
Cline, because you can point it at a model hosted on your own infrastructure and the code never leaves. Copilot offers enterprise plans with contractual guarantees, which is a different solution: you trust the contract rather than the network topology.