Agentic Index
Cline vs Kilo Code (2026)
Kilo Code began as a fork of Cline and Roo Code, so this is a family comparison. Cline is the widely adopted original: free, transparent, bring your own key, with per action approvals. Kilo adds an Orchestrator that routes subtasks to specialist modes, more than 500 models at zero markup, a Memory Bank for persistent context, and an optional cloud agent near 55 dollars a month.
| At a glance | Cline | Kilo Code |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Coding agent | Coding agent |
| Entry price | Free / OSS | Free / OSS extension · BYOK at zero markup · KiloClaw cloud agent ~$55/mo · Enterprise custom |
| Free / trial | Free (OSS self-host) | The extension and command line tool are free and open source to install and use. New users receive 20 dollars in starter credits, and bringing your own model key incurs no Kilo fee beyond the provider's own token cost. |
| Pricing confidence | public exact | public exact |
| Feature |
C
Cline
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Action & orchestration | ||
|
Integrations & Tool Calling Ability to connect agents to real systems through native integrations, OAuth-authenticated actions, custom tools, APIs, webhooks, or MCP-compatible tools. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Workflow Orchestration Ability to sequence, branch, retry, route, and combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
Triggers & Channel Coverage How agents wake up and where they work: schedules, webhooks, message events, CRM events, inbox events, chat, email, voice, and collaboration tools. |
Partial | Full / Explicit |
| Knowledge & context | ||
|
Knowledge Grounding & RAG Ability to ground agent behavior in company data through document ingestion, retrieval, external knowledge APIs, semantic search, or RAG layers. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Memory & State Persistence Ability to persist context across a run, conversation, workflow, user, team, or longer-term memory layer. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
| Control & trust | ||
|
Human Oversight & Guardrails Approval steps, consent checkpoints, escalation rules, structured guardrails, policy constraints, and pause/resume controls. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Security, Identity & Governance RBAC, SSO, auditability, encryption, least-privilege tool access, compliance posture, and data handling policy. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Observability & Auditability Traces, logs, execution histories, metrics, audit events, and debugging detail for production agent behavior. |
Partial | Partial |
|
Deployment & Data Residency Deployment modes and options, including SaaS, dedicated cloud, VPC, on-prem, hybrid, local runtime, and self-hosting. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
| Solution readiness | ||
|
Prebuilt Agents, Templates & Packs Ready-made workflows, packaged employees, templates, blueprints, industry solutions, and role-specific agents that reduce time-to-value. |
Partial | Partial |
| Platform extensibility | ||
|
Model Flexibility & Routing Ability to work across multiple foundation models, route tasks to different models, or let buyers bring their own providers and keys. |
Full / Explicit | Full / Explicit |
|
APIs, SDKs & MCP Extensibility Composability layer: stable APIs, SDKs, MCP tool consumption/serving, custom tools, and integration into internal systems. |
Full / Explicit | Partial |
|
Testing, Debugging & Optimization Testing, debugging, scoring, retries, fallbacks, quality gates, and optimization loops for improving agent workflows before and after deployment. |
Partial | Partial |
| Specialist automation | ||
|
Browser & Computer Use Browser, desktop, or remote/local computer control for workflows that cannot be handled through stable APIs alone. |
No / Not documented | Partial |
Pricing snapshot
Sourced from the Index pricing dataset · open each vendor's profile for full detail.
| Pricing |
C
Cline
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
Entry price Lowest public entry point |
Free / OSS | Free / OSS extension · BYOK at zero markup · KiloClaw cloud agent ~$55/mo · Enterprise custom |
|
Pricing confidence How public the numbers are |
Public — exact | Public — exact |
|
Billing Primary billing axis |
usage | Free and open source to install and use, with model usage billed by consumption. You bring your own key and pay the model provider directly at zero markup, or route through the Kilo Gateway and pay published provider rates, and the optional KiloClaw always on cloud agent is a flat monthly subscription with inference billed separately. |
|
Variable cost Workload / overage exposure |
Medium variable cost | High variable cost |
|
Free tier / trial Try before you buy |
Free tier
|
Free tierTrial
|
|
Buying motion Self-serve vs sales call |
Self-serve | Self-serve |
Choose Cline if
- You want the larger community, longer track record, and the plainest control model.
- Air gapped and local model deployments are proven paths.
- Simplicity: one agent, explicit approvals, no orchestration layers to learn.
Choose Kilo Code if
- Orchestrator mode fits complex tasks, splitting planning, coding, and debugging across specialist modes.
- Memory Bank persistence stops the agent forgetting your architecture between sessions.
- Zero markup on more than 500 models plus mid task switching optimizes cost per step.
Kilo Code began as a fork of Cline and Roo Code and is now developed independently by Kilo-Org.