Cline vs Sweep: 2026 comparison
Open-source autonomous coding agent that lives in your IDE.
Cline vs Sweep — specs
| Spec | Cline | Sweep |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Rank | 77 / 100 (A) | 58 / 100 (B) |
| Autonomy | Semi-autonomous | Autonomous |
| Pricing | Free · OSS | Freemium · from $30 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities | Code, Tool use, Browser | Code, Tool use, Memory |
| Integrations | 2 apps | 1 apps |
| Verified | Verified | — |
| Released | May 2025 | Mar 2025 |
Agent Rank breakdown
- Autonomy fit
- 8
- Capabilities
- 6
- Integrations
- 4
- Pricing value
- 10
- Polish & maturity
- 8
- Verifiability
- 10
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
- Autonomy fit
- 9
- Capabilities
- 6
- Integrations
- 2
- Pricing value
- 7
- Polish & maturity
- 5
- Verifiability
- 6
Auto-computed from autonomy, capabilities, integrations, pricing, maturity and editorial verification. Updated every deploy. How is this computed?
Pros & cons
- +Full transparency — every tool call and reasoning step visible
- +Bring-your-own model key keeps proprietary code on your network
- +Active OSS community, weekly releases
- −You manage the API key + token spend ($40–120/mo at daily use)
- −Less polished editor UX than Cursor
- −Plan-then-execute mode requires manual gating each turn
- +Issue-to-PR turnaround in minutes for well-described bugs
- +GitHub-native — authenticates as a GitHub App, no extension needed
- +Great on TypeScript / Python / Go codebases with reasonable test coverage
- −Struggles when issues are vague or codebase is messy
- −No interactive mode — you describe, it ships
- −Less effective on closed languages or proprietary frameworks
Pricing
- +Full extension free under MIT
- +BYO model API key
- +All tools and approval modes
- +Self-host friendly
- +Up to 5 issue-to-PR runs/month
- +Public repos only
- +Unlimited runs
- +Private repos
- +Configurable rules
- +Self-hosted option
- +SAML SSO
- +Dedicated support
Which one should you pick?
Pick Cline if cost is the main constraint or if you want a vendor we've verified for accessibility and pricing accuracy.
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Frequently asked
Should I pick Cline or Sweep in 2026?+
Pick Cline if cost is the main constraint or if you want a vendor we've verified for accessibility and pricing accuracy. Pick Sweep if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place. Most working teams running both can use Cline for primary work and Sweep for the workflows where its specific strengths matter.
What's the price difference between Cline and Sweep?+
Cline starts at Free · OSS; Sweep starts at Freemium · from $30. Cline is the cheaper entry option. For team deployments the TCO can differ — use the AI Agent Rank TCO calculator for your specific volume.
Which is more autonomous, Cline or Sweep?+
Sweep is the more autonomous of the two (Autonomous vs Semi-autonomous). Higher autonomy ships throughput faster but requires verification loops in place — see our autonomous-vs-copilot framing for when each tier wins.