AI Tool Comparison
Cline vs Devin
A side-by-side breakdown to help you pick the right tool for your workflow.
Cline
Run an AI coding agent inside your editor that reads and edits files, runs terminal commands, and executes multi-step development tasks with human approval at each step. Open source with 4.5M+ installs.
Devin
Cognition's autonomous AI software engineer plans, writes, tests, and ships code changes independently in a cloud environment. Now on SWE 1.6.
Bottom Line
Last reviewed: August 2026
Cline and Devin both sit in Coding, but they're built around different use cases within it. Cline runs on a fully free plan while Devin runs on a paid-only plan, which alone may settle it if budget or a free tier is a hard requirement. Cline carries the higher rating (4.7 vs 4.3), but a gap that size rarely overrides a real workflow fit on its own.
Choose Cline if…
Best for developers who want an autonomous coding agent in VS Code that can actually complete multi-step tasks, and its edge is human approval checkpoints on each consequential action, not a black box running unsupervised in your codebase. Genuinely autonomous and open-source, API costs can climb fast on complex tasks so watch usage.
Choose Devin if…
Best for teams that want an AI engineer working on a coding task autonomously while they focus elsewhere, and its edge is researches unfamiliar codebases and runs multi-step engineering work without direction at each individual step. Genuinely capable and rapidly improving, the price reflects that capability and it still isn't a senior engineer replacement.
| Attribute | Cline | Devin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Coding | Coding |
| Pricing | free | paid |
| Pricing Detail | Free (bring your own API key) / $9.99/mo ClinePass beta | Free / $20/mo Pro / $200/mo Max / Teams from $80/mo + $40/seat |
| Rating |
Key Features
Cline
- Full file system access
- Terminal command execution
- Browser use for research
- Multi-model support
- Task planning and iteration
- Works in VS Code
Devin
- End-to-end task execution
- Sandboxed browser and terminal
- Long-horizon planning
- Git integration
- Asynchronous task runs
Pros
Cline
- •Genuinely autonomous, completes multi-step tasks without hand-holding
- •Open-source with active community
- •Any model that supports the API works
Devin
- •Can complete entire coding tasks autonomously
- •Works while you do other things
- •Handles complex multi-step engineering
- •Rapidly improving with each release
Cons
Cline
- API costs can be significant for complex tasks
- Autonomous execution requires careful review before running in production codebases
Devin
- Very expensive, enterprise pricing
- Still makes mistakes on complex tasks
- Not a replacement for senior engineers yet