Cline vs opencode
Both are alternatives to Cursor. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as opencode vs Cline — same comparison, one verdict.
Cline and opencode are closely matched on ownership (92 vs 93) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Cline
TOP PICKThe open-source agent that lives in the editor you already have.
Cline (Apache-2.0, by Cline Bot Inc.) is an autonomous coding agent that installs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin or a CLI — so you keep your editor, your extensions and your keybindings and simply add the agent. It is model-agnostic: bring your own key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Bedrock and 100+ others, or point it at Ollama or LM Studio and run the whole loop on your own machine. Cline sells optional prepaid credits and an enterprise tier, but nothing about the extension requires an account, and with your own key there is no Cline backend in the request path. At roughly 4.81 million VS Code installs and 65.2k GitHub stars it is the most widely adopted open-source coding agent, and because it is published on Open VSX you can also install it inside Cursor itself.
opencode
The terminal-native agent with the largest open-source community in the category.
opencode (MIT) is a coding agent that runs in your terminal, with a desktop app in beta and IDE extensions alongside it. It is deliberately provider-agnostic — 75+ providers via the AI SDK and Models.dev, including Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible local endpoint — and it ships two built-in agents: a full-access `build` agent and a read-only `plan` agent for exploring a codebase before anything is allowed to change it. It is now the most-starred project in this space at roughly 191k GitHub stars, maintained by Anomaly after the repository moved from `sst/opencode` to `anomalyco/opencode`. The optional opencode Zen gateway sells curated, benchmarked models pay-as-you-go and includes some free ones; using your own provider keys stays free.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Cline | opencode | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 92 | 93 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Pricing | Free and open source (Apache-2.0) — you pay only your model provider. Optional prepaid Cline credits and a paid enterprise tier exist; bring-your-own-key needs no account. | Free and open source (MIT) — you pay your own provider. The optional opencode Zen gateway is pay-as-you-go, with some free models; your own API keys cost nothing extra. |
Cline is Macrostack's recommended Cursor alternative, so it's our pick here.
Cline
Strengths
- +Keeps your existing IDE, extensions and keybindings — the smallest possible change from Cursor
- +Bring-your-own-key with no account required: 100+ providers, or fully local via Ollama / LM Studio
- +Plan/Act split and diffs you approve before anything is written, plus MCP tool support
- +The most-adopted open agent in the category: ~4.81M VS Code installs, 65.2k stars, commits daily
Trade-offs
- −No inline Tab-style autocomplete — Cline is an agent, not a completion engine, and this is its most-requested missing feature
- −You manage your own API billing; long agent runs on a frontier model can cost more than a $20 Cursor seat
- −Cline's own prepaid-credits path is the promoted onboarding — bring-your-own-key takes a couple of extra settings
- −Running a capable model locally is a real hardware ask (see the hardware note)
opencode
Strengths
- +MIT and provider-agnostic by design — 75+ providers, plus Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible local endpoint
- +The read-only `plan` agent lets you scope work before the agent can touch a file
- +Terminal-first, so it works over SSH on a server or a modest machine
- +The largest community in the category and daily commits
Trade-offs
- −Terminal-first is a genuine adjustment coming from an editor-integrated agent; the desktop app is still beta
- −No inline autocomplete — a different tool for a different job than Cursor's Tab
- −Ownership moved from SST to Anomaly; the MIT licence means no practical risk, but it's worth knowing
- −Large configuration surface (providers, models, agents) — more to learn than picking from a dropdown
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Cline
if keeps your existing IDE, extensions and keybindings — the smallest possible change from Cursor.
Choose opencode
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and mIT and provider-agnostic by design — 75+ providers, plus Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible local endpoint.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — no inline Tab-style autocomplete — Cline is an agent, not a completion engine, and this is its most-requested missing feature, and terminal-first is a genuine adjustment coming from an editor-integrated agent; the desktop app is still beta. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Cline vs opencode — common questions
Is Cline a better fit than opencode for ai coding assistants?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: opencode scores 93 to Cline's 92 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Cline earns its place on a different axis — keeps your existing IDE, extensions and keybindings — the smallest possible change from Cursor. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Cline keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. opencode is still self-hostable, so the files stay on your server either way — but it is not local-first by design, so check what its export produces before you rely on it.
Can I self-host Cline or opencode?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Cline and opencode both alternatives to Cursor?
Yes — both appear in our Cursor comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Cursor and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
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Facts verified 2026-07-29. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.