Cline vs Devin
Devin scores 7.7 to Cline's 7.2 among the AI coding assistants we rate, and is the better pick for 1 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
Devin wins, 7.7 to 7.2
Devin runs agents in the cloud that open pull requests on their own, for $20 a month on the Pro plan; Cline's automation stays on your own machine or CI rather than a vendor cloud. Cline is free and open source, lets you bring your own API key, and can run models locally through Ollama or LM Studio; Devin bills model usage itself with none of those options. Devin's desktop Tab feature suggests code as you type, something Cline does not offer.
Pick Cline if you want a free, open source tool you fully control.
Pick Devin if you want cloud agents that open pull requests on their own.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
- Agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests: Devin yes, Cline no
- Suggests code as you type: Devin yes, Cline no
- Bring your own API key: Cline yes, Devin no
- Runs models on your own machine: Cline yes, Devin no
- But Devin leads on aI model families you can choose: Claude, gpt, gemini, deepseek, own against Claude, gpt, gemini
- SOC 2: Cline no, Devin not published
- Legal cover for generated code: Cline no, Devin not published
- Open source: Cline yes, Devin no
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other AI coding assistants we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Cline leads on 3 of 5 criteria.
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
Published by only one of them
Where they match (5)
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Cline
Devin
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
Cline
- Fully open-source runtime gives developers complete control over the underlying model and infrastructure.
- Model-agnostic architecture supports GPT-4o, Claude, and open-weights models, avoiding vendor lock-in.
- Runs as a VS Code extension, a global CLI via npm, and an embeddable SDK, offering flexible deployment options.
- The SDK layer is unusual in this category, allowing developers to embed Cline into their own products.
- Cross-platform CLI support on macOS, Windows, and Linux suits mixed-environment engineering teams.
- Codebase indexing allows Cline to navigate and understand existing code rather than treating each session as a blank slate.
- Agentic workflow handles end-to-end tasks including code generation, refactoring, debugging, and test generation, not just autocomplete.
- ClinePass provides managed access to open-weights models for developers who don't want to manage their own API keys and infrastructure.
- The tool requires developers to manage their own API keys and model infrastructure unless they pay for ClinePass.
- As a 2024-founded product, long-term reliability and enterprise support track records are not yet established.
- The breadth of configuration options and model choices may overwhelm developers who want a simpler, opinionated setup.
Devin
- Devin operates autonomously on complex, multi-hour tasks like codebase migrations and large refactors, not just autocomplete suggestions.
- The cloud-based environment includes a terminal, browser, and code editor, requiring no local installation for the core agent.
- Supports full multi-file and multi-repo code generation, making it suitable for enterprise-scale projects.
- Devin 2.0 introduced meaningful improvements to task completion efficiency, representing a substantial product update.
- Integrates with existing developer workflows via Jira tickets and CI pipeline triage, reducing manual overhead.
- Uses a proprietary model (SWE-1.7) supplemented by frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google for task flexibility.
- Targets genuinely differentiated use cases like COBOL migrations and automated CI failure investigation that tools like Copilot don't address.
- The underlying model routing logic between SWE-1.7 and third-party models is not documented in any useful detail.
- The company was only founded in 2024, meaning long-term reliability and enterprise track record are largely unproven.
- The homepage marketing is aggressive and oversells the 'first AI software engineer' positioning without sufficient nuance.
- The proprietary model architecture creates vendor lock-in risk and offers limited visibility into how decisions are made.
Cline vs Devin: common questions
Which is better, Cline or Devin?
Devin scores 7.7 and Cline 7.2 out of 10 among the AI coding assistants we rate. Devin is ahead on agents and your codebase and privacy and security. Cline is ahead on pricing, model freedom and where it works.
Is Cline or Devin cheaper?
Cline's cheapest paid plan is Free for individuals and Devin's is $20/mo (Pro plan). Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do Cline and Devin have a free plan?
Yes, both do.
What can Cline do that Devin cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: bring your own API key, runs models on your own machine and open source.
What can Devin do that Cline cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: agents that work in the cloud and open pull requests, suggests code as you type and option to keep no copy of your code.
