# Cline vs Qwen Code (slim)

> Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cline's 60.4 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cline leads on reliability. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.md (~2,300 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

Qwen Code scores 72.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cline's 60.4 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cline leads on reliability. Both do agent harness.

- Cline: C 60.4, rank #400 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.min.md
- Qwen Code: BB 72.4, rank #93 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwen-code.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. Ahead on Reliability, 80 against 69.
- Qwen Code, good for Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 91 against 77; Agent ergonomics, 85 against 67; Payments & pricing, 60 against 50. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; No incidents deducted, where Cline loses 8 points for them.

| Category | Cline | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 80 | 69 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 77 | 91 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 67 | 85 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 57 | 53 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 50 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 85 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 61 | 63 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Cline | Qwen Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | 2026-10-01 |
| 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 | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 68k stars | 28k stars, 105k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |