head to head · open source
Orca vs Cline
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars, 7,169 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cline has 71,221 stars, 7,835 forks, 1,288 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orca leads on adoption by 59% (113,485 vs 71,221 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Cline is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Orca has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Cline 11%. Orca 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
| Orca | Cline | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 113K | ★ 71K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.2K | ⑂ 7.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Orca if
- You weight community size — 113K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Cline if
- You want the Cline 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 Cline fits your workflow better
About Orca
Orca 中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português The AI Orchestrator for 100x builders. Run Codex, ClaudeCode, OpenCode or Pi side by side — each in its own worktree, tracked in one place. Download Orca Features Mobile Companion Monitor and steer your agents from your phone — get notified when an agent finishes and send follow ups from anywhere. iOS App Store · TestFlight · Android APK 0.0.48 · Docs → Parallel Worktrees Fan one prompt across five agents, each in its own isolated git worktree — compare the results and merge the winner. Docs → Terminal Splits Ghostty class terminals with WebGL rendering…
About Cline
Cline The open source coding agent in your IDE, terminal, and desktop. Docs Discord r/cline Feature Requests Join us! CLI Run Cline in your terminal. Interactive chat or fully headless for CI/CD and scripting. Learn more Desktop App Cline as a native app for macOS and Windows. Run agent sessions in any folder, schedule routines, and manage models, plugins, and MCP servers. Download for macOS and Windows VS Code Extension AI coding assistant in your editor. Create files, run commands, browse the web, and use tools with human in the loop approval. Install from VS Marketplace JetBrains Plugin The same Cline…
read the full Cline overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Cline more popular?
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars and Cline has 71,221. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Cline free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and Cline under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and Cline?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Cline 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, Orca or Cline?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (113,485 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Cline if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.