# Cline vs Kilo Code CLI (slim)

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cline's 60.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.md (~2,350 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cline's 60.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness.

- Cline: C 60.4, rank #464 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.min.md
- Kilo Code CLI: BB 75.4, rank #47 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.min.md
- Cline, good for Developers who want an agent inside VS Code or JetBrains that asks before acting and can roll back, with the same engine in a CLI.
- Kilo Code CLI, good for Developers who want an open-source terminal agent with per-tool permission rules, an optional sandbox and a choice of provider, and the same engine in VS Code and JetBrains. Ahead on Reliability, 85 against 80; Schema & documentation, 90 against 77; Agent ergonomics, 72 against 67; Security & auth, 66 against 57; Transparency & trust, 76 against 61. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; No incidents deducted, where Cline loses 8 points for them.

| Category | Cline | Kilo Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 85 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 77 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 67 | 72 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 57 | 66 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 50 | 50 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 85 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 61 | 76 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Cline | Kilo Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Kilo Code Inc. |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | 2026-09-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | 2026-05-29 |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 68k stars | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |