OpenAI Codex CLI vs Cline 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.
Cost and coverage
Price
$0 software; you run it
$0 software; you run it
$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
No: No
No: No
No: No
Confirmed: Yes
Multi-line tab completion and next-edit prediction
No: No
No: No
No: No
Confirmed: Yes
Let an agent plan and edit across many files
Partial: Partly
Partial: Partly
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Run terminal commands and tests from the agent
Partial: Partly
Partial: Partly
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Ask questions about your whole codebase
No: No
No: No
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Connect tools and data through MCP
Partial: Partly
Partial: Partly
No: No
Confirmed: Yes
Run agents in the cloud in the background
No: No
Partial: Partly
No: No
Confirmed: Yes
Jobs covered
3 of 7 jobs
4 of 7 jobs
3 of 7 jobs
All 7
Popularity and activity (from GitHub)
Stars
130,321Top
70,739
49,688
—
Gain this week
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
—
Signal
Building history
Building history
Building history
—
Commits / 4 wk
892Top
209
0
—
Latest release
rust-v0.163.0 · 2026-10-15
desktop-v0.0.48 · 2026-10-17Top
v0.86.0 · 2025-08-09
—
Commits / 12 wk
3,490
840
0
—
People committing / 12 mo
377+
Unknown
12+
—
Issues opened / closed, 30 days
7371 / 1498
271 / 148
107 / 75
—
Facts, with sources on each project page
Runs on my machine?Differs
Confirmed: Yes, a command-line agent that runs on your computer; cloud models run on OpenAI's servers unless you use --oss
Confirmed: Yes, in your editor, terminal or desktop app; optional Cloud Agents run in Cline's hosted sandbox
Confirmed: Yes, a command-line tool that runs in your project folder on your computer
Hosted by the vendor
Code licenceDiffers
Confirmed: Apache-2.0
Confirmed: Apache-2.0 for the repo; the JetBrains plugin is not open source
Confirmed: Apache-2.0
—
Model weights licence
Confirmed: No separate model weights
Confirmed: No separate model weights
Confirmed: No separate model weights
—
Commercial use
Confirmed: Allowed under Apache-2.0
Confirmed: Allowed under Apache-2.0
Confirmed: Allowed under Apache-2.0
—
Paid services needed?Differs
Partial: Not required with local models (--oss with Ollama or LM Studio) or the limited ChatGPT Free plan; paid ChatGPT plans and OpenAI API keys are optional
Partial: Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio) or your own keys; Cline Provider, ClinePass and Cloud Agents are optional
Partial: Not required with local models (Ollama, LM Studio); cloud model APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek and others) are optional
Subscription
HardwareDiffers
Confirmed: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended; models run in OpenAI's cloud, so no GPU needed
Partial: No figures for Cline itself; cloud models run via provider APIs; for local models the docs suggest 16-32 GB RAM for small/quantized models, 32-64 GB for mid-size coding models and 64 GB+ for larger ones
Partial: No GPU or RAM figures documented; aider connects to cloud LLM APIs or local models, so hardware needs depend on the model you use
—
Operating systemsDiffers
Confirmed: macOS, Linux and Windows (native PowerShell with a Windows sandbox, or WSL2)
Partial: 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
Confirmed: Windows, macOS and Linux, with one-line installers for each
—
Setup effortDiffers
Confirmed: Easy; one-line install script, npm or Homebrew, then sign in with ChatGPT
Confirmed: Easy; install from the VS Code or JetBrains marketplace, or npm install -g cline, then add a provider key or local model
Confirmed: Easy; one-line installer (or pip/uv/pipx), then add an API key or point it at a local model
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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.
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. openai/codex ↗cline/cline ↗Aider-AI/aider ↗