Cline vs Zed Pricing | Costbench
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25 seats

Cline vs Zed

AI Coding Assistants pricing comparison · 2026

Cline pricing ranges from $0–$20/month, while Zed ranges from $0–$30/user/month. Zed is typically 25% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

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2 products · AI Coding Assistants
Side-by-side · live
Cline
Cline (formerly Claude Dev) is an autonomous AI coding assistant designed as a VS Code and
verified 6w ago
$240 $9.0K
View pricing →
Z
Zed
Zed is a fast, multiplayer code editor (open-source) with built-in AI features.
verified 11w ago
$240 $9.0K
View pricing →
Verdict · list-price math · year 1
Cline saves $3.0K vs Zed · 25 seats
Cheapest $6.0K
Spread 33%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Teams
$6.0K/yr
year 1 license · $20/seat
Business
$9.0K/yr
year 1 license · $30/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
Median annual
$240/yr
Vendr · n=14
No Vendr data
Not in Vendr's deal flow
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 4 sourced facts
1 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median · 1 review platform
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 9 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 1 contract
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence Limited confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
1 documented
  • API Token Costs Without Caching
    5-30% of license costs
    1 source
5 documented
  • Token-based Billing
    $5, 10%, $2, $8, $0.37, 23,000
    1 source
  • Expensive Service Provisioning
    1 source
  • Vendor Lock-in
    1 source
  • Training and Enablement
    $10,000 annually
    1 source
  • Administrative Overhead
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Cline
Zed
Auto-renewal
Yes
Cancellation
before the renewal date (Zed); 30-90 day non-renewal notice period (general SaaS)
Commitment
order form contracts for 25 or more seats (Zed Business plans)
Price escalation
5-30% of license costs
10% (for token usage beyond credit); 5-8% (general SaaS subscription fees)
Can downgrade
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
Trustpilot
1out of 5 (1)
Watch out
Tool creates errors that consume additional API credits to fix
No public ratings yet
Best for
Individual developers who want a best-in-class code editor without hosted AI, or who prefer to bring their own API keys
Watch out
Limited Extension Ecosystem
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
AI Coding Assistants

Cline

$0–$20
/month
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
AI Coding Assistants

Zed

$0–$30
/user/month
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Cline Zed
Open Source (Free) Free /month Free /user/month
Teams $20 /month $10 /user/month
Enterprise Custom $30 /user/month

Contract Terms

Term Cline Zed
Auto-renewal Yes
Cancellation before the renewal date (Zed); 30-90 day non-renewal notice period (general SaaS)
Minimum commitment order form contracts for 25 or more seats (Zed Business plans)
Price escalation 5-30% of license costs 10% (for token usage beyond credit); 5-8% (general SaaS subscription fees)

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