Cline vs OpenCursor: Which Should You Use?

Cline official Open Graph artwork used to identify the open-source coding agent — Cline official site OG. Source · License: Cline product image.

OpenCursor README hero showing the VS Code agent sidebar used to identify the extension — OpenCursor README hero (media/readme/hero.png). Source · License: MIT.

Verdict. Pick Cline if you want an Apache-2.0 agent with VS Code, CLI, desktop, and SDK surfaces and a push on 2026-10-19. Pick OpenCursor if you want a MIT VS Code extension only (last push 2026-09-25). We have no sourced head-to-head coding-quality test.

Compare Cline and OpenCursor.

Dimension	Cline	OpenCursor	Source
License	Apache-2.0	MIT	GitHub LICENSE files (2026-10-18 / 2026-10-19)
Stars / forks	70,521 / 7,705	6,033 / 1,030	GitHub API (2026-10-19)
Last push	2026-10-19T01:46:35Z	2026-09-25T08:24:32Z	GitHub API
Surfaces	VS Code, CLI, desktop (macOS/Windows), SDK	VS Code extension only	Official READMEs
Latest release	desktop-v0.0.48 (2026-10-17)	0.2.0 (2026-09-25)	GitHub Releases
Local models	Provider list not independently enumerated this pass	README names Ollama and llama.cpp	OpenCursor README (2026-10-18)
JetBrains	README says the JetBrains plugin is not open-sourced	Not a JetBrains product	Cline README
Quality vs Claude Code / Cursor	Not independently tested	Not independently tested	n/a

When to choose which

CLI, desktop app, and SDK besides the editor: Cline — Copied from the Cline README. Unmeasured agent quality.
Stay inside existing VS Code: OpenCursor — Marketplace extension (pkrd.ocursor). Not a full IDE fork.
Most recently pushed tree: Cline — Same-day push versus 2026-09-25. Activity is not quality.
MIT-only license preference: OpenCursor — MIT versus Apache-2.0. Not legal advice.

Read the entity pages: Cline and OpenCursor. Both hang off Claude Code alternatives and Cursor alternatives. Cline is also on GitHub Copilot alternatives.

Key differences

Surfaces

Cline is an agent you can run as a VS Code extension, npm i -g cline CLI, macOS/Windows desktop app, and @cline/sdk. The README (checked 2026-10-18) says JetBrains plugins are not currently open-sourced.

OpenCursor is a VS Code extension (Marketplace pkrd.ocursor, VS Code 1.96+). It is not a separate IDE.

Activity (2026-10-19)

Field	Cline	OpenCursor
Stars / forks	70,521 / 7,705	6,033 / 1,030
Last push	2026-10-19T01:46:35Z	2026-09-25T08:24:32Z
License	Apache-2.0	MIT

Star counts are not quality.

How to choose

Need CLI + desktop and a same-week push: Cline.
Need a MIT VS Code extension and local Ollama/llama.cpp: OpenCursor.
Need the paid Anthropic product identified: Claude Code alternatives.
Need Cursor-class IDE framing: Cursor alternatives.

See also Dev & Coding and Reflection Beam (weights, not an agent).

FAQ

Which one writes better code?

We have no sourced bake-off. Both are agents that call models you configure. Provider quality is not a ranking on this page.

Can I use them instead of Claude Code?

They are open-source agents in the same search class. Claude Code is a hosted Anthropic product on Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise or Console API billing. See Claude Code alternatives. Not a quality claim.

Can I use them instead of Cursor?

Same answer with a different product class. See Cursor alternatives. Not a quality claim.

Are both still maintained?

Cline last push 2026-10-19. OpenCursor last push 2026-09-25, still inside this hub's 90-day window. OpenCursor is not a weekly-commit tree.

Sources & verification

Last verified 2026-10-19 · Last updated 2026-10-19· Edited by forkalt editors · Editorial policy

License notes are not legal advice. Read the original LICENSE. Trademark & disclaimer.