ClinevsGemini Code Assist
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Cline
Cline Bot Inc. · IDE extension
#11OSSMCP
Panel
6.810 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.8
- Usefulness
- 7.2
- Cost
- 6.3
- Longevity
- 6.8
“Asks permission before every command, which is why your first move is finding the auto-approve list.”
Gemini Code Assist
Google · IDE extension
#91MCP
Panel
5.70 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.5
- Usefulness
- 5.7
- Cost
- 5.5
- Longevity
- 6.0
“Installs into Android Studio and Cloud Shell too, so there is no corner of Google's estate where the agent cannot find you.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Cline | Gemini Code Assist |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | IDE extension | IDE extension |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | No |
| Browser control | YesBrowser control lives in the IDE extension, which drives Chrome over the DevTools protocol with puppeteer-core; the CLI's ClineCore tool set only has fetch_web. | No |
| Sandboxed execution | NoThe CLI's CLINE_SANDBOX mode only redirects session, database and provider state to a separate data directory; there is no container, VM or OS-level isolation in the repository. | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | No |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Cline provider, Ollama, LM Studio | Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro |
| Bring your own model | Yes | No |
| Local models | Yes | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | mixed | seat |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $19/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Bring your own key | Yes | No |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | proprietary |
| GitHub stars | 69,688 | n/a |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Cline | Gemini Code Assist | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 5.8 | Cline — The open editor agent to pick if you want to approve every action and choose your own model; slower than the closed tools, and yours. |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 5.8 | Cline — Approvals slow it down by design, the bill scales with how much it reads, and there is no sandbox behind the approve button. |
| El Profesor | 6.3 | 5.8 | Cline — A human-in-the-loop design with a plan-act split, open source and inspectable; capability is asserted by docs and demonstrated by no published number. |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 6.8 | Gemini Code Assist — Google shut the free individual tier on June 18, 2026 and pointed consumers at Antigravity, which makes this a Google Cloud line item, not a growth bet. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 6.3 | Gemini Code Assist — Sixty Standard seats is $1,140 a month on a twelve-month commitment, and there is no headless mode, so nothing it does can run in CI. |
| El Hacker | 9.0 | 3.8 | Cline — Apache-2.0, every prompt readable, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint including my local box, MCP from a JSON file; this is what ownership looks like. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.