ClinevsJetBrains AI Assistant
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
6.85 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.”
JetBrains AI Assistant
JetBrains · IDE extension
#18MCP
Panel
7.11 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.8
- Usefulness
- 6.7
- Cost
- 6.8
- Longevity
- 8.2
“Writes your commit messages, which is the only part of the job most of us actually wanted automated.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Cline | JetBrains AI Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Yes |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| 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. | NoNo browser or Playwright tool; the built-in tools cover code analysis, debugging, files, databases and Jupyter only. |
| 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 | NoAI Assistant runs only inside a JetBrains IDE and has no CLI or non-interactive mode; JetBrains' scriptable agent is the separate Junie CLI. |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Cline provider, Ollama, LM Studio | Claude, Gemini, GPT, Grok |
| Bring your own model | Yes | YesBYOK accepts any OpenAI-compatible provider by base URL, plus Google Vertex AI via Express mode or Application Default Credentials. |
| Local models | Yes | YesOllama and LM Studio are first-class BYOK providers configured by the base URL of the local instance. |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | mixed | mixed |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $10/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | YesYour own provider key or Vertex AI credentials, and BYOK plus local models work without a paid JetBrains AI subscription. |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | proprietary |
| GitHub stars | 69,688 | n/a |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Cline | JetBrains AI Assistant | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 7.5 | no preference |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 6.5 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 6.3 | 6.8 | JetBrains AI Assistant — Context is bounded to files within the project directory, and since 2025.2 the IDE exposes its own MCP server, so the design assumes external agents will read the IDE, not only the reverse. |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 7.8 | JetBrains AI Assistant — JetBrains sells this as a layer on IDEs developers already pay for, AI Pro at $10 and Ultimate at $30 with a credit that equals one dollar; pricing so legible it barely needs a sales team. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 7.5 | JetBrains AI Assistant — AI Enterprise is $60 per user, $3,600 a month for sixty, admins can preconfigure MCP servers and block engineers from adding their own, and the IDE is already on the invoice. |
| El Hacker | 9.0 | 6.8 | 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.