head to head · open source
Cline vs Kilo
Cline has 68,599 GitHub stars, 7,418 forks, 1,288 open issues and last shipped today. Kilo has 27,347 stars, 3,172 forks, 586 open issues and last shipped today. Cline leads on adoption by 151% (68,599 vs 27,347 stars). Cline is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Kilo is written in TypeScript under MIT. Cline has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Kilo 12%. 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 | Kilo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 27K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| 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 Kilo if
- You want the Kilo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kilo 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 Kilo
Kilo is an open source AI coding agent platform that integrates into VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the CLI, and cloud environments. It enables developers to build, ship, and iterate faster by acting as an autonomous or semi autonomous coding assistant across their entire workflow. Built in TypeScript and licensed under MIT, it supports 500+ models—including GPT 5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview—without vendor lock in or markup.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Cline or Kilo more popular?
Cline has 68,599 GitHub stars and Kilo has 27,347. Cline has the larger community by that measure.
Are Cline and Kilo free?
Both are open source. Cline is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kilo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Cline and Kilo?
Cline is written in TypeScript and Kilo 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 Kilo?
Choose Cline if you want the larger community (68,599 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kilo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.