# Cline vs Paseo

> Paseo scores 62.1 (B) to Cline's 52.8 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paseo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paseo.md (~4,900 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cline's 52.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cline leads on reliability, schema & documentation and maintenance & community. Both do agent harnesses.

- Cline: grade D, 52.8/100, rank #969 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json
- Paseo: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #575 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paseo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paseo.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cline (D)

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, 70 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 65
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 75

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

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

### Paseo (B)

Good for: Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- No incidents deducted, where Cline loses 14 points for them

Watch for: Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Cline +20

- Cline (70): Read as a local package. The `cline` CLI on npm (Node 22 or later), the VS Code extension (VS Code 1.101 or later), a JetBrains plugin and desktop builds (20). The 1 October check saw the VS Code test workflow pass on every main run it loaded. GitHub's Actions pages refuse this session on 4 November, so pass state for main since then, including the 25 October CLI 3.0.74 and extension 4.1.26 releases, is unread (15, as node-red). 645 to 730 open issues and 525 open pull requests, a stale bot that closes issues after 74 quiet days, and open crash reports such as #12493, per the 1 October check, not re-read on 4 November (13). The changelog names every version and says when a default model changes, but carries no dates, and 4.0.0 listed its removals under Changed rather than a breaking section. CLI 3.0.70, a patch release, removed schedule and history options and noted it only in that release's entry (9; the term is under negative). Extension 4.1.26 and CLI 3.0.74 are past 1.0, while the SDK (0.2.0) and desktop app (0.0.49) aren't (13).
- Paseo (50): Local software. Desktop builds, an Android APK, a Docker image and a Nix package (20). ci.yml on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). CHANGELOG.md (15). Version 0.15.3 (0). 20 + 15 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 50.

### Schema & documentation: Cline +12

- Cline (77): A typed TypeScript SDK with a reference section, a documented one-object-per-line format for `--json`, and an errors page for the Cline API, but no machine-readable spec for the CLI or its config (18). llms.txt at docs.cline.bot, listing a Markdown version of every page (10). Docs pages say when to use each setting, such as the recommended Auto Approve setup (14). `CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` takes typed allow and deny globs, and CLI flags are listed with defaults (11). CLI samples, SDK examples and the API errors page (13). A versioned changelog without dates, with dated tags on GitHub (11).
- Paseo (65): Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).

### Payments & pricing: Paseo +10

- Cline (50): No payment protocol (0). Scored on Cline's paid options. ClinePass is $9.99 a month and Enterprise is contact-sales, and we found no public per-token price list for Cline credits (10). The open-source extension and CLI need no card (20). Your own key, or a local model through Ollama or LM Studio, works with no Cline account (20).
- Paseo (60): Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.

### Maintenance & community: Cline +10

- Cline (85): CLI 3.0.74 and extension 4.1.26 on 2026-10-25, 10 days before this check (30). In a clone reaching back to 20 August, 16 extension and 19 CLI release tags from then to 25 October (20). Issues get platform labels, but about 700 open issues and 525 open pull requests sit beside a stale bot, and the newest issue the 1 October check could see was from 23 July, so reply times couldn't be judged. GitHub's issue pages refuse this session on 4 November (13). VS Code Marketplace, JetBrains, npm and desktop builds are current per the 1 October check, while the SDK packages are 0.2.0 (26 October) (13). Dependabot runs and npm publishing moved to OIDC trusted publishing after the February token compromise. CI pass state per the 1 October check (9).
- Paseo (75): v0.15.3 and commits on 7 November 2026 (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). CI on push (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cline | Paseo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 50 | Cline +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 65 | Cline +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 70 | Paseo +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 58 | Paseo +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 60 | Paseo +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 75 | Cline +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 68 | Paseo +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -14 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.8 · D** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cline | Paseo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Mohamed Boudra |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-11-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 68k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Cline

- -7.7 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): product, new evidence, negative event
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.4 on 8 October 2026: checklist

### Paseo

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.

**Paseo.** A self-hosted, open-source workspace for running many coding agents on your own machines, scriptable from the CLI and reachable from phone, web or desktop, with no telemetry or forced log-in. It's pre-1.0 and run largely by one maintainer.

## 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. Turn telemetry off before the first task. In the CLI set `telemetryOptOut` to true in `~/.cline/data/settings/global-settings.json`, then run `cline hub stop`
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
6. Pin the CLI version in scripts. Patch releases have removed options that now fail with "unknown option"

### Paseo

1. Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
2. Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cline or Paseo?

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Cline's 52.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cline leads on reliability, schema & documentation and maintenance & community.

### Are Cline and Paseo open source?

Yes. Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cline or Paseo

- [Agent Zero vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-paseo.md)
- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)
- [Aider vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-paseo.md)
- [Amp vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.md)
- [Amp vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paseo.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paseo.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cline.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-paseo.md)
- [AXLR vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-cline.md)
- [AXLR vs Paseo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-paseo.md)
- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)
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- [Cline vs Conductor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-conductor.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Cline vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
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- [Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
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---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp