Cline vs Cursor

In short

• Both: Chat about your code, Agent that edits files, Knows the whole codebase, Runs commands, JetBrains IDEs, Command line, Choice of models
• Only Cline states: VS Code, Self-hosted, Official SDKs, Runs models for you, Builds agents and workflows
• Only Cursor states: Inline completion, Reviews pull requests, No code retained, API

Cline

Open-source coding agent that reads and edits projects, runs commands, and works across editors, terminals, desktop, and SDK integrations.

Plans

Open Source

Free

• VS Code Extension
• CLI
• Secure Client-Side Architecture
• Purchase and Model Inference at Cost or BYOK
• MCP Marketplace
• Multi-Root Workspaces

Enterprise

Price on request

• All Open Source Features
• JetBrains Extension
• SSO
• SLA
• Dedicated Support
• Centralized Billing

Prices checked 2026-09-25 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Chat about your code — “See how a codebase is structured and ask Cline questions about files, dependencies, and behavior.” source
• Agent that edits files — “Coordinated multi-file changes with linter-aware fixes, diffs, checkpoints, and one-click undo on every step.” source
• Knows the whole codebase — “See how a codebase is structured and ask Cline questions about files, dependencies, and behavior.” source
• Runs commands — “Executes in your terminal and reacts to output as it appears.” source
• VS Code — “VS Code 4.5M+ installs The most installed AI agent on the Marketplace.” source
• JetBrains IDEs — “IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, and the rest.” source
• Command line — “Use Cline CLI in scripts, cron jobs, and CI pipelines to run recurring checks, updates, and custom workflows.” source
• Choice of models — “Claude, GPT, Gemini, local Ollama / LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.” source
• Self-hosted — “Switch providers or self-host anytime.” source
• Official SDKs — “Register custom tools and lifecycle hooks via the SDK.” source
• Runs models for you — “You can bring your own API keys or use the Cline provider.” source
• Builds agents and workflows — “Coordinator agents delegate to specialists with their own tools and context. Run them on cron for recurring automations.” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-24 v4.1.21 (v4.1.21)
• 2026-09-24 SDK v0.0.86 (v0.0.86)

  Text-only turns truncated at the output-token limit now get one compact-and-retry attempt per run before the existing recovery.

• 2026-09-24 Desktop v0.0.35 (v0.0.35)

  Cline Desktop now runs on Linux, and plugin slash commands execute their handlers in the desktop app.

Cursor

Cursor is an AI code editor that helps developers understand, write, test, review, and manage software.

Plans

Hobby

Free

• No credit card required
• Limited Agent requests
• Access to Composer

Pro

• $20 / mo.
• $16

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Pro+

• 60 USD

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Ultra

• 200 USD

• Extended limits on Agent
• Generous limits for Grok
• Access to frontier models
• Grok Bot access
• MCPs, skills, and hooks
• Cloud agents

Teams

• $40 / user / mo.
• $32

• Centralized team billing and administration
• Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins
• Cloud agents and automations with shared team context
• Grok Bot access
• Agentic code reviews with Bugbot
• Usage analytics to understand team behavior

Enterprise

Price on request

• Pooled usage
• Invoice/PO billing
• SCIM seat management
• Repository, model, and MCP access controls
• Auto-run, browser, and network controls
• Audit logs and service accounts

Prices checked 2026-09-24 on the maker’s page.

Capabilities

• Inline completion — “autocompletes when and where you need it to” source
• Chat about your code — “How does the payment flow handle failed transactions?” source
• Agent that edits files — “For complex tasks, Cursor asks clarifying questions, builds a plan, then executes in the background.” source
• Knows the whole codebase — “Designed for large codebases, Cursor uses Instant Grep to search millions of files in milliseconds.” source
• Runs commands — “Run shell commands directly from Cursor, from builds to tests to installs.” source
• Reviews pull requests — “Agentic code reviews with Bugbot” source
• JetBrains IDEs — “Start agents from GitHub, Slack, Linear, JetBrains IDEs, and more.” source
• Command line — “Run agents in any terminal, script, or editor.” source
• Choice of models — “Choose between every cutting-edge model from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, SpaceXAI, and Cursor.” source
• No code retained — “Privacy mode can be enabled in settings or by a team admin.” source
• API — “AI code tracking API” source

Security

• SOC 2 Type II — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• SOC 2 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• ISO 27001 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• ISO 42001 — “Cursor holds AIUC-1, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, and ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certifications, along with a SOC 2 Type II attestation.” source
• Not trained on your data — “When enabled, we will not train on your data.” source

Latest updates

• 2026-09-23 Rollouts and Security Review

  Rollouts watches every change as it deploys and reports its health per environment; Security Review reports bugs on every pull request.

• 2026-09-10 Cursor Projects

  Projects maintains context over months of work, delegates tasks to subagents, and performs recurring work without being prompted.

• 2026-09-02 Self-hosted machines

  Self-hosted machines keep tool execution entirely in your own network; cloud agents can execute on infrastructure you already use.