head to head · open source
Cline vs Continue
Cline has 68,517 GitHub stars, 7,409 forks, 1,288 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Continue has 35,946 stars, 5,395 forks, 951 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Cline leads on adoption by 91% (68,517 vs 35,946 stars). Cline is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Continue is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Cline has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Continue 15%. Cline was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Cline | Continue | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 5.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Cline if
- You weight community size — 69K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Continue if
- You want the Continue feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Continue fits your workflow better
About Cline
Cline is an open source AI coding agent that operates across multiple interfaces: as a CLI tool, desktop application, VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, and SDK. It lives in the developer tooling ecosystem and is built with TypeScript under the Apache 2.0 license. The project solves the problem of fragmented AI assisted coding workflows by unifying agent capabilities—code generation, command execution, project wide edits, and human in the loop approval—into a single extensible engine that works consistently across environments.
read the full Cline overview →
About Continue
Continue is an open source coding agent designed to assist developers directly within their IDE or terminal. It operates as a CLI tool, VS Code extension, and JetBrains plugin, enabling natural language interaction with codebases to generate, edit, and explain code. The project lives in the AI assisted developer tools ecosystem and is built with TypeScript under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full Continue overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Cline or Continue more popular?
Cline has 68,517 GitHub stars and Continue has 35,946. Cline has the larger community by that measure.
Are Cline and Continue free?
Both are open source. Cline is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Continue under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Cline and Continue?
Cline is written in TypeScript and Continue in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Cline or Continue?
Choose Cline if you want the larger community (68,517 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Continue if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.