Jan vs Cline
A side-by-side comparison of two open-source tools to help you choose the right one.
| Feature | CL | |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | An offline AI assistant that runs on your device. | An autonomous coding agent inside VS Code. |
| GitHub stars | 30K | 47K |
| License | AGPL 3.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Pricing | Free & Open Source | Free & Open Source |
| Self-hostable | ||
| Replaces | ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot | Claude Code, GitHub Copilot |
| Rating | 4.6 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
Jan features
- Runs open models entirely offline on CPU or GPU
- Cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux)
- Optional connection to remote model APIs
- Local API server compatible with OpenAI clients
- No telemetry by default
Cline features
- Plan Mode reviews changes before they're applied
- Edits files and runs commands autonomously
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool integration
- Bring your own keys — no vendor lock-in
- Works with frontier and local models