Comparison

Cline vs Roo Code

A like-for-like, spec-level comparison. Both entries are verified against their docs and repo.

Cline

Autonomous coding agent inside VS Code, with approval gates.

  • + Approval gates make autonomous edits safe
  • + Runs inside the editor you already use
  • − VS Code only
  • − Token-heavy on large tasks

Roo Code

A community fork of Cline with extra modes.

  • + Richer mode set than Cline
  • + Active community development
  • − Fragmentation risk from forking
  • − VS Code only
Spec Cline Roo Code
Category coding-agent coding-agent
License Apache-2.0 Apache-2.0
Open source Yes Yes
Self-hostable Yes Yes
MCP support Yes Yes
Pricing free free
Starting price BYOK usage cost BYOK usage cost
Models claude, gpt, gemini, byok claude, gpt, gemini, byok
Languages typescript typescript
GitHub stars 63.9k 24.3k
Last activity 2026-06-25 2026-05-15