Cline vs OpenHands vs Aider

Side by side, as alternatives to Cursor. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

Clinecline/cline

OpenHandsOpenHands/OpenHands

AiderAider-AI/aider

Cursorpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage source ↗

Code in an AI-first editor

Yes

Multi-line tab completion and next-edit prediction

Yes

Let an agent plan and edit across many files

Partly

Yes

Run terminal commands and tests from the agent

Partly

Yes

Ask questions about your whole codebase

Partly

Yes

Connect tools and data through MCP

Partly

Yes

Run agents in the cloud in the background

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

4 of 7 jobs

3 of 7 jobs

All 7

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

70,739

91,499Top

49,688

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

209

345Top

—

Latest release

desktop-v0.0.48 · 2026-10-17

v1.30.0 · 2026-10-22Top

v0.86.0 · 2025-08-09

—

Commits / 12 wk

840

740

—

People committing / 12 mo

Unknown

54+

12+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

271 / 148

464 / 367

107 / 75

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Yes, in your editor, terminal or desktop app; optional Cloud Agents run in Cline's hosted sandbox

Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster

Yes, a command-line tool that runs in your project folder on your computer

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

Apache-2.0 for the repo; the JetBrains plugin is not open source

MIT

Apache-2.0

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Allowed under Apache-2.0

Yes, MIT allows commercial use

Allowed under Apache-2.0

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio) or your own keys; Cline Provider, ClinePass and Cloud Agents are optional

Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional

Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio); cloud model APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek and others) are optional

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

No requirements documented for Cline itself (checked 2026-10-21); local models need much more

No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory

Not documented; the installer only needs Python

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Desktop app for macOS and Windows (Windows in beta); the extension runs in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium and JetBrains IDEs, and the CLI needs Node.js 20+; Linux is not named in the install docs

macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows

Windows, macOS and Linux, with one-line installers for each

—

Setup effortDiffers

Easy; install from the VS Code or JetBrains marketplace, or npm install -g cline, then add a provider key or local model

Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model

Easy; one-line installer (or pip/uv/pipx), then add an API key or point it at a local model

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

The chart appears after a few nightly checks.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

Cline vs OpenHands vs Aider (as alternatives to Cursor)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 22 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=cline,openhands,aider&product=cursor

Cursor: Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage
Cline: free software; does 4 of 7 Cursor jobs
OpenHands: free software; does 4 of 7 Cursor jobs
Aider: free software; does 3 of 7 Cursor jobs

- Cline: 70,739 GitHub stars, 840 commits in 12 weeks, licence Apache-2.0 for the repo; the JetBrains plugin is not open source
- OpenHands: 91,499 GitHub stars, 740 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Aider: 49,688 GitHub stars, 0 commits in 12 weeks, licence Apache-2.0

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Cline Yes, in your editor, terminal or desktop app; optional Cloud Agents run in Cline's hosted sandbox; OpenHands Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster; Aider Yes, a command-line tool that runs in your project folder on your computer
- Code licence: Cline Apache-2.0 for the repo; the JetBrains plugin is not open source; OpenHands MIT; Aider Apache-2.0
- Commercial use: Cline Allowed under Apache-2.0; OpenHands Yes, MIT allows commercial use; Aider Allowed under Apache-2.0
- Paid services needed?: Cline Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio) or your own keys; Cline Provider, ClinePass and Cloud Agents are optional; OpenHands Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional; Aider Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio); cloud model APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek and others) are optional
- Hardware: Cline No requirements documented for Cline itself (checked 2026-10-21); local models need much more; OpenHands No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory; Aider Not documented; the installer only needs Python
- Operating systems: Cline Desktop app for macOS and Windows (Windows in beta); the extension runs in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium and JetBrains IDEs, and the CLI needs Node.js 20+; Linux is not named in the install docs; OpenHands macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows; Aider Windows, macOS and Linux, with one-line installers for each
- Setup effort: Cline Easy; install from the VS Code or JetBrains marketplace, or npm install -g cline, then add a provider key or local model; OpenHands Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model; Aider Easy; one-line installer (or pip/uv/pipx), then add an API key or point it at a local model

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. cline/cline ↗OpenHands/OpenHands ↗Aider-AI/aider ↗

Cline vs OpenHands vs Aider

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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