Cline vs Factory

Pick two tools from the same category to compare side-by-side.

	Cline Open-source coding agent that runs as an IDE extension and CLI with bring-your-own-key model access.	Factory Agent-native software development platform from Factory AI, powered by its Droid agents in the terminal, desktop, and web.
Category	harness	harness
Vendor type	hybrid	commercial
Pricing	freemium	subscription
Strengths	+ Open source (Apache 2.0) with full BYOK model flexibility + Plan/Act split gives explicit human approval before execution + MCP support and .clinerules for repo-specific configuration + Runs in VS Code, JetBrains, Cursor, and as a CLI	+ Multi-surface platform spanning CLI, desktop, web, and headless CI/CD exec mode + Model routing across providers instead of single-vendor lock-in + Deep extensibility with MCP, custom droids, skills, hooks, and plugins + Multi-agent Missions for coordinated feature development
Tradeoffs	− Token costs fall directly on the user and can run high with frontier models − Per-step approval workflow is slower than fully autonomous harnesses	− No free tier; entry starts at the $20/month Pro subscription − Usage is capped by rolling rate limits within each subscription tier − Enterprise-oriented platform breadth can be heavyweight for solo developers
Used in stacks	0	0