Agentic harness comparison
Cline vs Cursor
Cline provides editor/CLI agent workflows with configured provider access or ClinePass; Cursor offers IDE, CLI and cloud routes. Compare current included usage, provider bills and surface-specific privacy/permission controls; subscription access alone does not establish one product as more private.
Details last verified October 2, 2026
Cline
Cline
IDE extension, CLI, desktop and SDK · Agentic
Cursor
Cursor
IDE, standalone CLI and cloud agents · Hybrid
| Specification | Cline | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | ||
| Vendor | Cline | Cursor |
| Runs in | ||
| Runs in | IDE extension, CLI, desktop and SDK | IDE, standalone CLI and cloud agents |
| Editor support | ||
| Editor support | VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf / Devin Desktop, VSCodium, Antigravity, JetBrains (Enterprise), Cline Desktop (macOS; Windows beta), CLI, SDK, Kanban (preview) | Cursor IDE (VS Code fork), Terminal CLI beside any editor, Cloud agents (web/mobile) |
| Autonomy | ||
| Autonomy | Agentic | Hybrid |
| Pricing model | ||
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Hybrid |
| Requires changing editor | ||
| Requires changing editor | No | No |
| Publisher-reported SWE-bench Verified (Autonomous Mode, Claude Sonnet 4.6) · source date 2026-04-19 | ||
| Publisher-reported SWE-bench Verified (Autonomous Mode, Claude Sonnet 4.6) · source date 2026-04-19 | 59.8% | Not verifiedUnverified |
| Publisher-reported SWE-bench Verified (Background Agent, Claude Sonnet 4.6) · source date 2026-04-19 | ||
| Publisher-reported SWE-bench Verified (Background Agent, Claude Sonnet 4.6) · source date 2026-04-19 | Not verifiedUnverified | 65.7% |
Dates refer to the linked source’s publication or capture unless it explicitly states when the benchmark was measured. Values we could not confirm are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.
Benchmark receipts
Cline
Cline's Apache-2.0 repository provides a shared agent core, VS Code extension, CLI, desktop and SDK workflows. The JetBrains client is not currently open-sourced and its pricing page lists it as an Enterprise feature. Hosted inference, ClinePass and BYOK/local routes have separate billing and data policies.
Best for
- VS Code users who want an open-source agent
- Bring-your-own-model or ClinePass workflows
- Teams avoiding a proprietary IDE lock-in
Watch out
The client is free for individuals; inference is paid separately unless a selected free/local route applies. ClinePass is $9.99/month, with possible processing fees and five-hour, calendar-week and calendar-month quotas. Its operational docs list GLM 5.3/Flash, Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4 Pro/V4.1 Flash, MiMo V2.5/Pro, MiniMax M3, Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor and Qwen3.8 Max/3.7 Max/Plus. They mark GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6/K2.7 Code and DeepSeek V4 Flash unavailable even though the marketing page still lists them. Use the current docs/dashboard rather than relying on that older menu; the advertised 2–5x usage is a vendor quota comparison, not a speed or unlimited-use guarantee (https://docs.cline.bot/getting-started/clinepass; https://cline.bot/cline-pass). Desktop supports macOS and Windows beta; IDE, CLI and SDK features differ. The CLI product page asks for Node.js 22+, while install docs say 20+ with 22 recommended; use 22+ (https://docs.cline.bot/getting-started/installing-cline; https://cline.bot/cli). Provider training/retention varies, and .clineignore is being deprecated: it filters automatic context but explicit mentions and shell commands can still read ignored files (https://cline.bot/privacy; https://docs.cline.bot/customization/clineignore). The retained 59.8% Sonnet 4.6 score is an April 19 publisher compilation, not a current product benchmark or independently reproduced official submission.
Cursor
Cursor, now part of SpaceX, offers an AI-native VS Code-based editor, a standalone terminal agent and cloud agents. The IDE path changes editor; the CLI can run beside an existing editor. Grok and Composer are first-party models, with third-party models available subject to plan and policy.
Best for
- Daily feature work
- Multi-file edits in-editor
- Teams already on VS Code
Watch out
SpaceX-owned Cursor currently prices Hobby free, Pro $20/month, Pro+ $60, Ultra $200, Teams Standard $40/user/month and Premium $120 (5x Standard Agent limits). India-only Start is ₹649/month including tax, restricted to Cursor Models and without the Other Models pool or on-demand usage. Individual plans have separate monthly Cursor Models and Other Models pools; third-party models are charged at API rates. Teams/Enterprise add $0.25/MTok on third-party direct, Auto and BYOK usage, not first-party models. Eligible US-only residency adds a 10% model-price uplift. Old $20/$70/$400 included-dollar figures are not currently established (https://cursor.com/pricing; https://cursor.com/docs/models-and-pricing). OpenAI's August 28 notice proposes a November 12, 2026 (2026-11-12) wind-down; it does not prove OpenAI models have already been removed (https://openai.com/index/our-decision-on-cursor-following-its-acquisition-by-spacex/). Privacy Mode prevents training, subject to abuse-investigation retention and explicitly approved non-ZDR models such as Fable; BYOK requests still use Cursor's backend. Current Instant Grep builds/searches its index locally without storing code embeddings, but opened file context can still reach model providers. Ignore rules do not block terminal or MCP reads (https://cursor.com/data-use; https://cursor.com/docs/context/codebase-indexing; https://cursor.com/docs/reference/ignore-file). The retained 65.7% benchmark is an April 19 publisher compilation for Background Agent with Sonnet 4.6, not a current-product measurement or an independently reproduced official submission. CLI/cloud availability means switching IDE is optional (https://cursor.com/docs/cli/overview; https://cursor.com/blog/joining-spacex).
Common questions
Cline vs Cursor
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Do I have to change editor to use Cline or Cursor?
How are Cline and Cursor priced?
Is Cline or Cursor better for large refactors?
Should I run Cline and Cursor together?
Will my project rules transfer between Cline and Cursor?
Is Cursor free enough for daily agent work?
Do coding agents replace code review?
Should we harden MCP before rolling out a coding agent?
Is a “free” open-source agent actually free to run?
Next step
Which one fits
Autonomy and editor constraints decide this far more reliably than a benchmark score.
If most of your week is small, frequent edits, an assistive workflow beats delegation and an agentic harness sits idle while billing. If you regularly hand over work spanning many files, the reverse is true.
Where one tool requires changing editor and the other does not, that difference usually outweighs any capability gap across a team — rollouts fail on adoption, not capability.
“Open vendor” links use a first-party redirect for click counting. They are not commissionable partner placements unless a programme is active for that vendor. Affiliate disclosure.