Softwr

Software Development · head to head

Cline vs Factory

Cline logo

Cline

Software Development

The Open Coding Agent

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Factory logo

Factory

Software Development

The autonomy stack for enterprise teams

From
$20/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cline has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cline no seat licenses or subscription fees for open source tier creates unclear Enterprise pricing model; Factory business and Enterprise plans require direct sales contact for pricing
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cline and Factory actually diverge.

Attributes where Cline and Factory differ
AttributeClineFactory
Starting priceFree$20/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo

Identical on both: 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 Factory
  • VS Code extension for developersnot Factory
  • Enterprise multi-user team collaborationnot Factory

Factory

  • AI agent development and deploymentnot Cline
  • Multi-platform automationnot Cline
  • Background task executionnot Cline
  • Agent orchestrationnot 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

Factory

  • Business and Enterprise plans require direct sales contact for pricing
  • Individual plans (Pro, Plus, Max) have limited feature details

Pricing, plan by plan

Cline

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cline review.

Factory

$20/month
  • Pro$20/month
    • Agent-native multi-platform experience
    • Desktop, CLI, and SDK access
    • Cloud and local background agents
  • Plus$100/month
    • Everything in Pro
    • Approximately 5x usage limits
    • Droid Computers for remote agents
  • Max$200/month
    • Everything in Plus
    • Approximately 10x usage limits
    • Early access to new features
  • Business$null/mo

Which should you pick?

Choose Cline if

  • You want to start without paying.
Cline review

Choose Factory if

Nothing in the data separates Factory from Cline on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Factory review

Questions people ask

Is Cline or Factory better?
Neither clearly leads. Cline starts at Free and Factory at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cline or Factory?
Cline has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Cline and $20/month for Factory.
Does Cline or Factory run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Cline for free?
Yes. Cline has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Factory starts at $20/month.
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 Factory 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
Factory: What is Factory.ai's pricing?

Factory.ai offers individual plans starting at USD$20 per month for Pro, USD$100 per month for Plus, and USD$200 per month for Max. Team plans including Business and Enterprise tiers are available at custom pricing based on the number of seats required.

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
Factory: What are the usage limits for each plan?

The Pro plan is the baseline tier. Plus provides approximately 5 times the usage limits of Pro, while Max provides approximately 10 times the usage limits of Pro. Exact usage limits are not specified on the pricing page.

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
Factory: What AI models are included with Factory.ai?

All Factory.ai plans include access to GPT-5, Claude Opus and Sonnet, Google Gemini, and open-weight models. Business and Enterprise plans also include dedicated compute with partitioned inference and options for on-premise deployment.

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
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