Softwr

Software Development · head to head

Cline vs LangSmith

Cline logo

Cline

Software Development

The Open Coding Agent

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LangSmith logo

LangSmith

Software Development

Know what your agents are really doing

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cline no seat licenses or subscription fees for open source tier creates unclear Enterprise pricing model; LangSmith usage-based pricing applies beyond included traces; LCU charges at $1.50/LCU and LSU at $1.00/LSU
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cline and LangSmith actually diverge.

Attributes where Cline and LangSmith differ
AttributeClineLangSmith
Pricing modelusage-basedfreemium

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Software Development).

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cline

  • AI-assisted code generation and refactoringnot LangSmith
  • VS Code extension for developersnot LangSmith
  • Enterprise multi-user team collaborationnot LangSmith

LangSmith

  • Tracing agent execution step-by-step in productionnot Cline
  • Detecting agent failures affecting latency and costnot Cline
  • Monitoring token usage and latency percentilesnot Cline
  • Clustering traces to identify failure modesnot Cline
  • Self-hosting traces within VPC for data residencynot Cline

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cline

  • no seat licenses or subscription fees for open source tier creates unclear Enterprise pricing model
  • JetBrains IDE support only in Enterprise tier

LangSmith

  • Usage-based pricing applies beyond included traces; LCU charges at $1.50/LCU and LSU at $1.00/LSU
  • Free tier limited to 1 seat and 5,000 traces per month

Pricing, plan by plan

Cline

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cline review.

LangSmith

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • 1 seat maximum
    • 5,000 base traces monthly
  • Plus$39/month
    • Unlimited seats
    • 10,000 base traces monthly
    • 1 free small serverless deployment
  • Enterprise$null/mo
    • Custom pricing
    • Self-hosted and hybrid options
    • Custom SSO, ABAC, RBAC

Which should you pick?

Choose Cline if

  • You want to start without paying.
Cline review

Choose LangSmith if

  • You want to start without paying.
LangSmith review

Questions people ask

Is Cline or LangSmith better?
Neither clearly leads. Cline starts at Free and LangSmith at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cline or LangSmith?
Cline starts at Free and LangSmith at Free.
Does Cline or LangSmith run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Cline for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cline best used for?
Cline is most often used for ai-assisted code generation and refactoring, vs code extension for developers, enterprise multi-user team collaboration. Of those, ai-assisted code generation and refactoring and vs code extension for developers are not what LangSmith is typically brought in for.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cline: Is Cline free?

Yes, Cline open source is free and Apache 2.0 licensed; you pay only for AI model inference when you use it, with no subscriptions or seat licenses.

Source
LangSmith: What does LangSmith cost?

LangSmith Developer plan is free with up to 5,000 base traces monthly. Plus plan costs $39/month per seat with 10,000 base traces included. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Source
Cline: Does Cline have team collaboration features?

Team collaboration is available in the Enterprise tier only, which includes SSO/OIDC, role-based access control, team management dashboard, and audit logs.

Source
LangSmith: How does LangSmith usage-based pricing work?

Beyond included traces, LangSmith charges $1.50 per LCU (LangChain Compute Unit) for computational work and $1.00 per LSU (LangChain Storage Unit) for data storage.

Source
Cline: Can I use my own AI API keys with Cline?

Yes, you can bring your own API keys from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other providers, giving you full control over inference costs.

Source
LangSmith: Is there a free tier for LangSmith?

Yes, the Developer plan is free with limits on seat count (1 seat maximum) and trace volume (5,000 base traces per month).

Source
Cline: What's included in Cline Enterprise?

Cline Enterprise adds JetBrains IDE support, SSO/OIDC authentication, SLA, dedicated support, centralized billing, role-based access control, and audit logging to the open source features.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Cline

More on LangSmith

Keep looking

Other head to heads