The verdict
Cline appears in 1 AI-ranked category.
Strongest open-source (BYOK) autonomous agent that actually drives the editor/terminal/browser with Plan/Act modes, MCP, and model flexibility; high capability when paired with frontier models at controllable cost
Where Cline falls short, per the models
- Grok Requires managing
Poll history — On this board 5 of 10 polls since Jun 29 · now #7
#7 → – → – → – → – → #8 → #5 → #7 → – → #7
Top alternatives per the models: Claude Code · Cursor · GitHub Copilot · Windsurf
Watch Cline
Boards re-poll weekly and the models change their minds. One short email only when Cline's standing moves — a rank change, a rival overtaking, or new reasoning from the models. Nothing otherwise.
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Cline ranks #7 for best ai coding assistant by AI-model consensus. Put the badge in your README, docs or site — it updates automatically as the models re-rank.
[](https://modelsagree.com/best/best-ai-coding-assistant?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=badge-cline)<a href="https://modelsagree.com/best/best-ai-coding-assistant?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=badge-cline"><img src="https://modelsagree.com/badge/cline.svg" alt="Cline — ranked #7 for Best AI coding assistant by AI models on ModelsAgree" height="28"></a>Rankings are computed from what the models answer, re-polled on demand · raw reasoning shown verbatim · methodology