Side-by-side comparison of two listed Dev Tools — real listing data only, no paid placement.
On record, they differ in: platforms (Windsurf 1 official install link found vs Cline 2 — store/installer links only); unique tags (Windsurf 1: #autocomplete vs Cline 3: #open-source #cli #mcp); category rank (Windsurf #44 vs Cline not in top 50). Same pricing model (Freemium) and category (Dev Tools). Listing facts only — not a recommendation.
Agentic AI code editor with deep codebase awareness
Windsurf (formerly Codeium) is an AI-native IDE whose Cascade agent understands your whole repo, edits across files, runs commands and previews results — plus plugins bringing its autocomplete to other editors.
Published 2026-08-06 · Links checked 2026-09-16
Open-source AI coding agent for IDE, terminal, and SDK
Cline is an open-source AI coding agent that operates across your IDE, terminal, and SDK, enabling secure coding with Claude in VS Code. It offers Plan and Act modes, MCP integration, and terminal-first workflows, trusted by over 8 million developers. With 65.8k GitHub stars and a 4.1/5 rating from 307 VS Code Marketplace ratings, Cline is built by 250+ contributors under the Apache 2.0 license. It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, and can be installed via npm for CLI use.
Published 2026-08-08 · Links checked 2026-09-06
| Windsurf | Cline | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Category | Dev Tools | Dev Tools |
| Rank in Dev Tools | Position #44 of 77 | not in top 50 of 77 |
| Alternatives listed | 6 → | 7 → |
| Shared tags | #ai-coding #ide | |
| Unique tags | #autocomplete | #open-source #cli #mcp |
| Platforms | macOS | macOS · Windows |
| Pricing page | Official pricing page | Official pricing page |
| Source code | Not detected on official site (checked 2026-09-17) | github.com/cline/cline |
| Documentation | Not detected on official site (checked 2026-09-17) | docs.cline.bot/ |
| Company | Not detected on official site (checked 2026-09-17) | Cline Bot Inc |
| In their own words | Manage fleets of local and cloud agents from one surface. Plan, delegate, review, and ship without leaving your editor.— official site (homepage description), checked | — |
| Official channels | — | X (Twitter)LinkedInDiscordRedditdeclared on cline.bot via schema.org sameAs / homepage link with a matching handle |
| Official website | windsurf.com | cline.bot |
| Site preview | ||
Rank = neutral rotation by listing ID, not a quality score · how it works
Only platforms with an official store or installer link are listed; others may exist.
Windsurf is Freemium; Cline is Freemium. Both are listed in Dev Tools on ToolDock.
What they have in common: #ai-coding · #ide
Windsurf is listed as freemium (free tier alongside paid plans); Cline is listed as freemium (free tier alongside paid plans). Pricing label set at listing time; official pricing page linked where verified — see each official website for current details.
Both are Dev Tools listed on ToolDock, and they share the tags ai-coding, ide.
ToolDock keeps a tag-matched alternatives list for each: see Windsurf alternatives and Cline alternatives.