# Cline vs Kiro CLI

> Cline and Kiro CLI score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 59.9 (C). Kiro CLI leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Cline and Kiro CLI score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 59.9 (C). Kiro CLI leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness.

- Cline: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #353 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json
- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #370 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Cline (C)

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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 57
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 73

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider

### Kiro CLI (C)

Good for: Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 66 against 57
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 61

Watch for: Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cline | Kiro CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 57 | Cline +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 79 | Kiro CLI +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 67 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 66 | Kiro CLI +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 40 | Cline +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 73 | Cline +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 67 | Kiro CLI +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **59.9 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cline | Kiro CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Amazon Web Services |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | 2026-08-14 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | 2026-05-18 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 68k stars | 4.4k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Cline.** Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0. The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider.

**Kiro CLI.** Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.

## Before you call either

### Cline

1. Set `CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` with allow and deny globs before a headless run. The CLI approves every tool by default
2. Pick a provider with `-P` and a key, or run `cline auth`. The default provider needs a Cline sign-in
3. Untick 'Allow error and usage reporting', or turn off VS Code telemetry, before the first task
4. Pin the CLI version. 2.3.0 was a malicious publish
5. Keep the hub on 127.0.0.1 or set ROOM_SECRET, and run 3.0.30 or later

### Kiro CLI

1. Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=<list>` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments
2. Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues
3. Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows
4. Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default
5. Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cline or Kiro CLI?

Cline and Kiro CLI score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 59.9 (C). Kiro CLI leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Are Cline and Kiro CLI open source?

Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Kiro CLI.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cline", "b": "kiro-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cline kiro-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json

## Other comparisons with Cline or Kiro CLI

- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)
- [Aider vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Amp vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.md)
- [Amp vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)
- [Claude Code vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin.md)
- [Cline vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cline vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.md)
- [Cline vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Cline vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cline vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cline vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Devin vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Pi vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [goose vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Cline vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip.md)