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Open-source Copilot — VS Code & JetBrains, any model.
Open SourceCPU-capable
Actually FreeNo SignupOpen SourceWatermark-Free
Cline
Agentic coding in VS Code — reads, writes, runs, browses.
Open Source☁ Cloud · no GPUCloud API
Actually FreeNo SignupOpen SourceWatermark-FreeHobbyist-FriendlyAPI
Visit ClineUpdated 2026-05-20 · Direct link
Screenshot placeholder · Cline
What is Cline?
Cline (formerly Claude Dev) is an autonomous coding agent that lives in VS Code. Reads your codebase, makes multi-file edits, executes terminal commands with your approval, browses docs, and uses the Model Context Protocol for tool integration. BYO API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, local).
Pros & cons
Pros
- Best-in-class agentic workflow in an editor
- MCP support — extends to any tool with an MCP server
- Human-in-the-loop approvals on file writes & shell commands
Cons
- Token cost adds up fast with capable models (Claude Opus / GPT-4)
- Local-model performance noticeably worse — needs strong frontier model
What's actually free?
Apache 2.0; user pays their own model costs.
✓ Actually FreeNo SignupOpen SourceWatermark-Free
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