# Aider vs Cline

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Cline

| Attribute | Aider | Cline |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 52 (65% (medium)) | 68.2 (56% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | 811 |
| adoption.github_stars | 48,509 | 66,899 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 166,611 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true}` |
| description.long | Aider is a command-line assistant that pairs developers with AI models for collaborative coding. It maps your entire codebase for context, automatically commits changes via git, supports 100+ programming languages, and integrates with popular LLMs and IDEs. | Cline is a coding agent that integrates into your development environment—editors and CLI—to automate file reading and writing, execute terminal commands, and browse the web while maintaining human approval over every action. It supports both interactive conversation-based development and headless automation for CI/CD workflows. |
| features.capabilities | `{"form":"cli_agent","autonomy":"agentic","languages":"100+ languages including Python, JavaScript, Rust, Ruby, Go, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS","oss_client":"oss","model_source":"model_agnostic","pricing_model":"free","runs_commands":true,"self_hostable":true,"editor_support":"IDE integration via comments, web chat interface","codebase_context":"repo_wide","multi_file_edits":true,"architecture_model":"cli_tool_aider","enterprise_controls":false,"zero_data_retention":true,"rag_on_external_documentation_urls":true,"bring_your_own_key_byok_api_support":true,"mit_or_apache_permissive_oss_license":true,"local_llm_support_via_ollama_or_lmstudio":true,"multi_file_diff_generation_and_automated_apply":true,"workspace_indexing_and_semantic_codebase_search":true,"terminal_bash_execution_and_self_correction_loops":true}` | `{"form":"chat_edit","autonomy":"agentic","languages":"All languages supported by underlying LLM models","model_source":"model_agnostic","runs_commands":true,"self_hostable":true,"editor_support":"VS Code, JetBrains (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand), Cursor, Windsurf, Anti","codebase_context":"repo_wide","multi_file_edits":true,"architecture_model":"vs_code_extension_cline","enterprise_controls":true,"bring_your_own_key_byok_api_support":true,"browser_automation_support_for_visual_qa":true,"multi_file_diff_generation_and_automated_apply":true,"terminal_bash_execution_and_self_correction_loops":true}` |
| integrations.count | 26 | 5 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Claude"},{"name":"DeepSeek"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Gemini"},{"name":"GROQ"},{"name":"LM Studio"},{"name":"xAI"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Cohere"},{"name":"Ollama"},{"name":"OpenRouter"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"Vertex AI"},{"name":"Amazon Bedrock"},{"name":"Claude 3.7 Sonnet"},{"name":"Claude Opus"},{"name":"Claude Sonnet"},{"name":"DeepSeek R1"},{"name":"DeepSeek Chat V3"},{"name":"DeepSeek V3"},{"name":"GPT-4o"},{"name":"GPT-4.1"},{"name":"o1"},{"name":"o3-mini"},{"name":"o3-pro"},{"name":"GPT-5"},{"name":"Grok-4"},{"name":"Command R"},{"name":"Fireworks AI"},{"name":"VS Code"},{"name":"vim"},{"name":"neovim"},{"name":"Emacs"}]` | `[{"name":"Telegram"},{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Discord"},{"name":"Google Chat"},{"name":"WhatsApp"},{"name":"Linear"},{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Splunk"}]` |
| language.primary | Python | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Completely free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aider.chat","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T13:41:57.320Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Cline (usage-billing)","summary":"$9.99/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":9.99,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Flat monthly subscription with built-in model access offering 2-5x usage on popular open coding models versus standard API rates","contactSales":false},{"free":true,"name":"Bring Your Own Key","description":"Free option using your own API credentials for cloud providers or local LLM runtimes","contactSales":false}],"summary":"From $9.99/month with built-in model access, or free with your own API keys","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://docs.cline.bot/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T13:46:20.230Z","startingPrice":{"amount":9.99,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":9.99,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 9 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.86.0","date":"2025-08-09T17:42:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.86.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.85.0","date":"2025-06-27T23:47:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.85.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.84.0","date":"2025-05-30T23:28:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.84.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.83.0","date":"2025-05-09T22:46:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.83.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.82.0","date":"2025-04-14T23:29:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.82.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.81.0","date":"2025-04-04T09:06:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.81.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.80.0","date":"2025-03-31T01:21:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.80.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.79.0","date":"2025-03-25T21:16:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.79.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.78.0","date":"2025-03-21T18:59:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.78.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.77.0","date":"2025-03-13T21:46:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.77.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.76.0","date":"2025-03-10T16:00:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.76.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.75.0","date":"2025-03-04T20:41:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.75.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.74.0","date":"2025-02-06T22:43:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.74.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.73.0","date":"2025-01-31T22:02:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.73.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.72.0","date":"2025-01-20T22:26:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.72.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.71.0","date":"2025-01-10T23:02:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.71.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.70.0","date":"2024-12-26T23:22:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.70.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.69.0","date":"2024-12-13T19:45:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.69.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.68.0","date":"2024-12-10T16:28:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.68.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.67.0","date":"2024-12-06T14:44:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.67.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.16","date":"2026-08-26T08:42:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.81","date":"2026-08-26T09:38:01Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.81"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.80","date":"2026-08-26T08:45:56Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.80"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/desktop-v0.0.19","date":"2026-08-26T09:31:17Z","type":"stable","version":"desktop-v0.0.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/desktop-v0.0.18","date":"2026-08-26T08:16:24Z","type":"stable","version":"desktop-v0.0.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/cli-v3.0.60","date":"2026-08-26T09:43:26Z","type":"stable","version":"cli-v3.0.60"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/desktop-v0.0.17","date":"2026-08-25T09:06:31Z","type":"stable","version":"desktop-v0.0.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.79","date":"2026-08-24T23:01:12Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.79"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/cli-v3.0.58","date":"2026-08-24T23:07:51Z","type":"stable","version":"cli-v3.0.58"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.15","date":"2026-08-23T19:56:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.14","date":"2026-08-23T10:11:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.13","date":"2026-08-22T20:23:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.78","date":"2026-08-22T23:58:28Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.78"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/desktop-v0.0.16","date":"2026-08-22T23:45:18Z","type":"stable","version":"desktop-v0.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/cli-v3.0.57","date":"2026-08-23T00:04:14Z","type":"stable","version":"cli-v3.0.57"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.12","date":"2026-08-21T22:39:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.1.11","date":"2026-08-21T05:30:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.77","date":"2026-08-21T04:56:35Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.77"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/sdk/sdk/v0.0.76","date":"2026-08-21T02:39:16Z","type":"stable","version":"sdk/sdk/v0.0.76"},{"url":"https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/desktop-v0.0.15","date":"2026-08-21T05:56:11Z","type":"stable","version":"desktop-v0.0.15"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=aider-chat&per_page=100","last_12m":2,"max_severity":"LOW"}` | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=cline&per_page=100","last_12m":2,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (AI Coding Assistants)

| Capability | Aider | Cline |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Form | CLI agent | Chat / edit |
| Autonomy level | Agentic | Agentic |
| **Surface** |  |  |
| Editor / surface support | IDE integration via comments, web chat interface | VS Code, JetBrains (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand), Cursor, Windsurf, Anti |
| **AI** |  |  |
| Model source | Model-agnostic (BYO key) | Model-agnostic (BYO key) |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hostable / air-gapped | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Context** |  |  |
| Codebase context | Repo-wide indexing | Repo-wide indexing |
| **Editing** |  |  |
| Multi-file edits | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Agentic** |  |  |
| Runs commands / tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Data** |  |  |
| Zero-data-retention option | ✓ | - |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Enterprise controls | ✗ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Language coverage | 100+ languages including Python, JavaScript, Rust, Ruby, Go, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS | All languages supported by underlying LLM models |
| **Commercial** |  |  |
| Pricing model | Free | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Open-source client | OSS | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:37:55.054Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*