# Cline vs Qoder CLI

> Cline scores 60.4 (C) to Qoder CLI's 59.3 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Cline scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Qoder CLI's 59.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Qoder CLI leads on agent ergonomics. Both do agent harnesses.

- Cline: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #568 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json
- Qoder CLI: grade C, 59.3/100, rank #609 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qoder-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qoder-cli.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## 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 51
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 72

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

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

### Qoder CLI (C)

Good for: Developers already on Qoder who want the same agent in a terminal, in CI through a PAT, in Zed through ACP, or embedded through the Agent SDK.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 67

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.0 out of 5

Watch for: No local sandbox is documented, and `auto` mode approves read-only tools on any path


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cline | Qoder CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 51 | Cline +29 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 81 | Qoder CLI +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 80 | Qoder CLI +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 55 | Cline +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 35 | Cline +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 72 | Cline +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 64 | Qoder CLI +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **59.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cline | Qoder CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Qoder (BRIGHT ZENITH PRIVATE LIMITED) |
| 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, under the Qoder Terms of Service (BRIGHT ZENITH PRIVATE LIMITED, last updated 29 April 2026). No source is published, and the Agent SDK's LICENSE file points to the same terms |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 |  |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 68k stars | 5k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (4) |

## 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.

**Qoder CLI.** A closed-source terminal agent with a documented headless mode, an ACP server, typed TypeScript and Python SDKs and near-daily releases. Permission rules and modes are detailed, but no local sandbox is documented, usage statistics are on by default, and security fixes appear only as one-line release notes with no advisories or disclosure policy.

## 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

### Qoder CLI

1. Set `QODER_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN` in CI. The browser sign-in can't complete in a headless run
2. Pass `--permission-mode` with `--allowed-tools` in headless runs. Every ask is denied, and `--yolo` removes all checks
3. Set `--max-turns` on unattended runs, and branch on exit codes 41 (authentication) and 53 (turn limit)
4. Set `privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled` and `aiCodeStatistics.enabled` to false in ~/.qoder/settings.json if usage data must stay local
5. Don't pass `--model lite`. The Lite tier was removed on 18 September 2026 and headless requests naming it fail

## Questions

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

Cline scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Qoder CLI's 59.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Qoder CLI leads on agent ergonomics.

### Are Cline and Qoder CLI open source?

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cline or Qoder CLI

- [Agent Zero vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)
- [Aider vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Amp vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.md)
- [Amp vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cline.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)
- [Claude Code vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-qoder-cli.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)
- [Cline vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin.md)
- [Cline vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-droid-cli.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 Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness2.md)
- [Cline vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Cline vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-jules.md)
- [Cline vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-junie.md)
- [Cline vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
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- [Cline vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Cline vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Cline vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code.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)
- [Cline vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Cline vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-warp.md)
- [Crush vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Devin vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-qoder-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