ClineVS
Continue
Read from each vendor’s own pages last night, so it does not go stale the way a written comparison does.
- CLINE
- Free
- CONTINUE
- Not published as tiers
- CHANGES ON EITHER
- 6
- CAVEATS
- 1
CONTINUEACQUIRED SINCE 2 AUGUST 2026Continue was acquired by Cursor and is no longer independent. continue.dev now reads "Continue has joined Cursor · Continue was acquired by Cursor" and the pricing page is gone. The Apache-2.0 repository is still public and was still being pushed to on 2 August 2026. No announcement date is published, so the date here is when it was first observed.
On the prices each vendor publishes about itself, Cline starts at Free and Continue at Not published as tiers. Before that decides anything: Continue was acquired by Cursor and is no longer independent. (since 2 August 2026) Both take your own API key, so on either one the subscription and the model bill are separate decisions. Both are open source, so neither can withdraw the thing you have already installed. Every figure on this page was read from the two vendors' own pages in last night's run rather than written down once, which is the only reason it is still the current answer. ToolDrift sells neither and takes no referral fee on either.
| COMPARED ON | CLINE | CONTINUE |
|---|---|---|
| ASSERTED · WHAT EACH VENDOR PUBLISHES ABOUT ITSELF | ||
| Category | IDE extension | IDE extension |
| Vendor | Cline | Continue |
| Status | Active | Acquired |
| How it charges | Free | Hybrid |
| Entry price | Free | Not published as tiers |
| Default model | None, you choose | None, you choose |
| Your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Source | Open source · Apache-2.0 | Open source · Apache-2.0 |
| Plans | Open Source · FreeEnterprise · Custom | Continue publishes no pricing page for Continue since the Cursor acquisition, so there are no tiers to compare. |
| MEASURED · COUNTED ON THE LAST NIGHTLY RUN | ||
| Stars | 69.3K | 36.0K |
| Maintenance | 100/100 | 100/100 |
| Days since last push | 0 | 0 |
| Top model in it | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) · $0.095 | not measured |
| Its volume | 4.09T tokens | not measured |
Is Cline or Continue cheaper?
On the cheapest option each vendor publishes: Cline is Free and Continue is Not published as tiers. Treat both as an allowance rather than a bill, every tool in this category meters model usage on top of the plan, and which one costs more in practice depends on the models you drive and how hard. The tier prices are the part that can be checked from outside, so they are the part this page prints.
Can I use my own API key with Cline or Continue?
Cline: yes. Continue: yes. It is the row that decides whether the subscription price is most of what you pay or a fraction of it: a tool that takes your own key charges for the software, and one that does not is reselling inference with a margin you cannot see.
Are Cline and Continue still maintained?
Active and Acquired as of last night's read. Cline's repository was last pushed 0 days ago and it scores 100/100 on maintenance; Continue's repository was last pushed 0 days ago and it scores 100/100 on maintenance. One caution: Continue was acquired by Cursor and is no longer independent. (since 2 August 2026) This is the question a written comparison cannot answer, because it was true on the day it was published and nobody went back.