Last updated: October 20, 2026 · Facts checked against official docs, GitHub, the National Vulnerability Database coverage and Oxyy's live pricing pages on this date. AI pricing changes fast, so always confirm live prices before you commit.
Disclosure: This guide is published by the Oxyy.ai team. We've kept every Cline and Roo Code fact neutral and sourced, and every Oxyy number is copied from Oxyy's public pages so you can check it yourself.
Quick answer: In 2026, Cline is the clear winner. Roo Code's VS Code extension was shut down on May 15, 2026: its GitHub repo is archived, and its final version (3.54.0) has 8 unpatched high-severity security flaws. Both tools are free and bring-your-own-key (BYOK), so your real cost is the AI API. Pointing Cline at Oxyy.ai currently cuts that bill by 60%.
Key Takeaways
- Roo Code is discontinued. The extension, Roo Code Cloud and Roo Code Router shut down on May 15, 2026. The team moved to a cloud agent called Roomote.
- Don't install Roo Code in 2026. Eight high-severity command-approval bypass CVEs were published after the shutdown (July–October 2026), and nobody is patching them.
- Cline is actively developed. It has 70.7K GitHub stars and runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a CLI, a desktop app (beta) and an SDK.
- Both tools are free. Your API bill is the real cost. Coding agents are input-heavy: on Oxyy's Claude Sonnet 5 traffic, about 91% of tokens are input (prompt) tokens.
- Cut the bill by 60%: Oxyy currently charges 40% of the standard price on 170+ models (launch promotion). Claude Sonnet 5 is $0.80 / $4.00 per 1M tokens instead of $2.00 / $10.00.
- Want Roo-style modes? Look at Zoo Code, the community fork that is still shipping (v3.84.0, September 2026).
Cline vs Roo Code at a Glance (2026)
| Factor | Cline | Roo Code | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status (Oct 2026) | Active, shipping regularly | Shut down May 15, 2026, repo archived | Cline |
| Security | Maintained and patched | 8 unpatched high-severity CVEs in v3.54.0 | Cline |
| License | Apache 2.0 | Apache 2.0 | Tie |
| Price of the tool | Free (BYOK) | Was free (BYOK) | Tie |
| Core workflow | Plan mode + Act mode | Code, Ask, Architect, Debug, Orchestrator + Custom Modes | Roo (historically) |
| Platforms | VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, Desktop (beta), SDK, ACP (Zed, Neovim) | VS Code only | Cline |
| Different model per phase | Yes (separate Plan / Act models) | Yes (each mode remembers its model) | Tie |
| Sub-agents | Yes, in CLI and Desktop | Yes (Orchestrator / Boomerang tasks) | Tie |
| MCP support | Yes + MCP marketplace | Yes + Roo Marketplace | Tie |
| GitHub stars | 70.7K | 24.3K (frozen) | Cline |
| OpenAI-compatible endpoint (e.g. Oxyy) | Yes | Yes | Tie |
The table already gives away the verdict. But if you're still running Roo Code, the next section is the most important one in this article.
What Happened to Roo Code in 2026?
Roo Code shut down on May 15, 2026. On April 22, 2026, Roo Code Inc. announced it would sunset the Roo Code VS Code extension, Roo Code Cloud and Roo Code Router, saying it doesn't believe "IDEs are the future of coding." The team now builds Roomote, a cloud coding agent that works from Slack, GitHub and Linear. Its own sunset notice recommends Cline to users who want a model-agnostic, open-source extension.
Roo Code Shutdown Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Late 2024 | Roo Code is forked from Cline |
| April 22, 2026 | Shutdown announced. The team says the extension passed 3 million downloads |
| April 23, 2026 | Zoo Code community fork is created |
| May 15, 2026 | Final release v3.54.0 ships. GitHub repo archived; extension, Cloud and Router shut down |
| July 20, 2026 | First post-shutdown CVE published (CVE-2026-63108), flagged "unsupported when assigned" |
| September 8, 2026 | Two more CVEs published (CVE-2026-82536, CVE-2026-82537) |
| October 13, 2026 | Five more CVEs published (CVE-2026-110202 to CVE-2026-110206) |
| October 15, 2026 | The extension is still installable from the VS Code Marketplace (2,078,718 installs) |
Why Installing Roo Code Now Is a Security Risk
All eight CVEs affect Roo Code through version 3.54.0, and each describes a way to bypass the command-approval check. The parser that decides whether a shell command is allowed reads some characters (redirects, pipes, quotes, command substitutions, comments) differently from the real shell. Through indirect prompt injection, such as instructions hidden in a repo file or a web page the agent reads, an attacker can get a denied command to run on your machine. The risk is highest with auto-approve turned on. Because the project is archived, no official patch is coming.
Bottom line: if Roo Code is still installed in your VS Code, plan your migration now. Jump to the migration guide.
What Is Cline?
Cline is a free, open-source (Apache 2.0) AI coding agent that plans, edits files across your project, runs terminal commands and uses a browser, asking for your approval at each step by default. It works with almost any AI model through your own API key, and runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a command-line tool, a desktop app (beta) and an SDK.
Key Cline facts (October 2026):
- 70.7K GitHub stars and 7.7K forks on
cline/cline - Cline says its VS Code extension has been installed by more than 11 million developers
- Since August 2026, the VS Code extension, CLI and SDK share one engine, the Cline SDK (100% rollout on August 23, 2026)
- Plan and Act modes, with the option to use a different model for each
- Checkpoints that let you roll back any agent change
- Project rules in
.clinerules/. Cline also reads.cursorrules,.windsurfrulesandAGENTS.md - MCP servers plus a built-in MCP marketplace
- Providers: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, Azure, Vertex, Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible API (which is how Oxyy plugs in)
What Was Roo Code?
Roo Code was an open-source (Apache 2.0) fork of Cline for VS Code, best known for role-based modes. It shipped five built-in modes (Code, Ask, Architect, Debug and Orchestrator, also called Boomerang) and let you create Custom Modes, each with its own instructions, tool permissions and model. At shutdown it had 24,289 GitHub stars, 282 contributors and about 2 million Marketplace installs.
So what did Roo actually do better, and does any of it still matter? Here's the honest head-to-head.
Cline vs Roo Code: Head-to-Head Comparison
1. Workflow: Plan/Act vs Modes
Cline uses a two-phase loop. In Plan mode it reads your codebase and proposes a strategy without touching files. You refine the plan, then switch to Act mode to execute it. You always know whether the agent is thinking or doing.
Roo Code used several modes plus fully custom ones: for example a "docs-only" mode that can read everything but only write Markdown, or a reviewer mode that never edits. This was Roo's real advantage.
Verdict: Roo was more configurable. Cline is simpler, and the only one of the two still maintained.
2. Model Flexibility and Cost Control
Both are model-agnostic BYOK tools. Cline has a "use different models for Plan and Act" setting. Roo let each mode remember its own model. Either way, the biggest cost lever is the same: use a strong model for planning and a cheaper one for execution, and buy those tokens at the lowest price you can find (see how to cut your bill).
Verdict: Tie on flexibility.
3. Safety and Human Approval
Cline asks for approval on every file edit and terminal command by default, with optional auto-approve and checkpoints for rollback. Roo had a similar permission model, but was known for leaning harder into autonomy. Its own founders said they started Roo Code by adding what is now known as "dangerously-skip-permissions." Today the deciding factor is maintenance: Roo's approval parser has eight public bypasses and no fixes.
Verdict: Cline, clearly.
4. Platforms and Surfaces
Cline runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a CLI (npm i -g cline) with a headless mode for CI/CD, a desktop app (beta), an SDK (@cline/sdk) and ACP-compatible editors like Zed and Neovim. Roo Code was VS Code only.
Verdict: Cline.
5. Multi-Agent / Sub-Agents
Roo's Orchestrator mode split big tasks into subtasks for other modes. Cline supports sub-agents in its CLI and Desktop app; the VS Code extension doesn't use them yet.
Verdict: Roo pioneered it. Cline now covers it outside VS Code.
6. Community and Long-Term Support
Cline has 70.7K stars, active commits and a company behind it. Roo Code is frozen. Its community fork Zoo Code is shipping, but with about 1,900 stars it's a much smaller project.
Verdict: Cline.
Cline vs Roo Code Pricing (2026)
Both Cline and Roo Code are free to use. You pay only for AI model usage, either through your own API key (BYOK) or through the tool's built-in provider.
| Option | Cline | Roo Code |
|---|---|---|
| Extension / tool | Free (Apache 2.0) | Was free; now discontinued |
| Built-in model billing | Cline provider: pay-as-you-go credits, inference "at cost" | Roo Code Router: shut down May 15, 2026 (balances refunded) |
| Subscription | ClinePass: $9.99/month for selected open models (GLM, Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen and others); the $4.99 first-month offer ended in September 2026 | Roo Code Cloud: shut down |
| Team / enterprise | Enterprise: custom pricing (SSO, RBAC, SLA, central billing) | N/A |
| BYOK | Yes: you pay the provider directly | Yes (while it existed) |
Here's the part most comparison articles skip: "free" agents can quietly cost hundreds of dollars a month.
The Real Cost of a BYOK Coding Agent
A coding agent doesn't send one prompt. On every step it re-sends your instructions, the conversation so far, tool results and file contents. That makes agent traffic overwhelmingly input-heavy.
Real data point: on Oxyy's public activity chart for Claude Sonnet 5, the window we checked showed 363.5M prompt tokens vs 25.5M completion and 8.5M reasoning tokens. That's about 91% input. So the input price, and how much of it hits the prompt cache, decides most of your bill.
Three ways to shrink an agent bill:
- Lower the per-token price: the biggest lever, covered next.
- Use prompt caching: cached input on Claude Sonnet 5 costs a tenth of the normal input rate.
- Split models: plan with a frontier model, act with a cheaper one.
How to Cut Your BYOK API Bill by 60% With Oxyy
Oxyy.ai is a unified AI API gateway: one OpenAI-compatible endpoint and one API key for 170+ models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Z.ai, Moonshot, Qwen and more. Right now Oxyy runs a 60% "Launch Promo" discount on every rate, including input, output, cached input and cache writes. You pay 40% of the standard price.
Oxyy Prices for Popular Coding Models (per 1M tokens)
| Model (Oxyy model ID) | Standard input / output | Oxyy input / output | Oxyy cached input | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Claude Opus 5 (claude-opus-5) | $5.00 / $25.00 | $2.00 / $10.00 | $0.20 | 60% |
Claude Sonnet 5 (claude-sonnet-5) | $2.00 / $10.00 | $0.80 / $4.00 | $0.08 | 60% |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 (claude-sonnet-4-6) | $3.00 / $15.00 | $1.20 / $6.00 | — | 60% |
GPT-5.5 (gpt-5.5) | $5.00 / $30.00 | $2.00 / $12.00 | $0.20 | 60% |
Gemini 3.1 Pro (gemini-3.1-pro-preview) | $2.00 / $12.00 | $0.80 / $4.80 | — | 60% |
GLM-5.3 (glm-5.3) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $0.56 / $1.76 | — | 60% |
DeepSeek-V4-Pro (deepseek-v4-pro) | $0.66 / $1.98 | $0.264 / $0.792 | — | 60% |
Claude Haiku 4.5 (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) | $1.00 / $5.00 | $0.40 / $2.00 | — | 60% |
Source: oxyy.ai/pricing and individual model pages, checked October 20, 2026. "Standard" is the standard price Oxyy lists for each model. GPT-5.5 prompts over 272K tokens are billed at a higher long-context rate. The 60% discount is a current launch promotion and may change.
How Much Can a Cline User Save? (Worked Example)
Take an illustrative heavy month for one developer: 150M input tokens and 6M output tokens, no caching, to keep the math simple.
| Route | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Direct / Cline provider (standard price) | $360.00 | $900.00 |
| Gateway with +5.5% credit fee (e.g. OpenRouter card purchases) | $379.80 | $949.50 |
| Oxyy (60% off) | $144.00 | $360.00 |
| Monthly saving vs standard | $216 | $540 |
| Yearly saving | $2,592 | $6,480 |
For a team of 10 developers on Claude Sonnet 5 with the same usage, that's $3,600 vs $1,440 a month: $25,920 saved per year. Your numbers will differ, but the ratio stays the same: on Oxyy you pay 40% of the standard price.
Oxyy by the Numbers (Live, October 2026)
Oxyy publishes its gateway stats on its About page, read live from the gateway rather than written by hand:
- 178 models from 16 model vendors
- 14 upstream providers and 685 routable endpoints
- 5.8 million requests and about 50 billion tokens processed in the last 30 days
- 4 SDKs supported: OpenAI, Anthropic and Google GenAI work unchanged against the same key
Latency and Throughput: What Oxyy Publishes
Unlike most gateways, Oxyy shows live performance on every model page: throughput, end-to-end latency, time to first token (TTFT) at several percentiles, and a 30-day success rate. A snapshot from October 20, 2026 (P50, last 24 hours):
| Model | Served by | Throughput (P50) | End-to-end latency (P50) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | 57–69 tok/s | ~4.1–4.4 s |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | 25–27 tok/s | ~9.4 s |
Two things to know when reading these numbers. First, Claude requests on Oxyy are served by Anthropic itself upstream, so model quality is the same as going direct. Second, "end-to-end" covers whole agent turns with large contexts and thinking, not one-line chat replies, so expect seconds rather than milliseconds for any provider. Before you move a team over, check the 30-day success rate on the page for the exact model you plan to use, and run a short trial on your own repo.
Why Cline Users Pick Oxyy
- 60% off every rate (current launch promo), cached tokens included
- One key, 170+ models: switch from Claude to GPT to Gemini to GLM by changing the model ID in Cline
- Prompt caching passes through: per-block
cache_controlis preserved on the Anthropic endpoint, so Cline's long system prompt is cached instead of re-billed - Automatic failover: if one upstream provider errors, the gateway retries another one serving the same model
- Free starting balance, no card required to try
- Credits never expire, with no subscription, no seats and no monthly minimum
- Higher rate limits unlock automatically as you top up
- Your prompts and code aren't used for training
- A startup program for early-stage teams
How to Connect Cline to Oxyy (Step by Step)
There are two ways to connect. Method A works for every model. Method B is the best choice for Claude because it uses the native Anthropic format, so prompt caching works.
Method A: OpenAI Compatible (Any Model)
- Create an Oxyy account at oxyy.ai/register. A free starting balance is applied automatically.
- Generate an API key on the API keys page and copy it.
- Open Cline settings (the ⚙️ icon in the Cline panel).
- Set API Provider to OpenAI Compatible.
- Set Base URL to
https://api.oxyy.ai/v1. - Paste your Oxyy API key.
- Enter a Model ID, for example
claude-sonnet-5,gpt-5.5,gemini-3.1-pro-previeworglm-5.3. - Optional, under Model Configuration: set the context window, max output tokens and Oxyy's input/output prices (e.g. 0.80 / 4.00 for Claude Sonnet 5) so Cline's cost counter matches your real bill.
- Save and send a test task.
Method B: Anthropic Provider With Custom Base URL (Best for Claude)
- In Cline settings, set API Provider to Anthropic.
- Paste your Oxyy API key into the Anthropic API Key field.
- Tick Use custom base URL and enter
https://api.oxyy.ai(no/v1; the Anthropic format adds it). - Pick your Claude model. If the exact model you want isn't in Cline's dropdown, use Method A with the Oxyy model ID instead.
Tip: In Method B, Cline's built-in cost display uses Anthropic's standard prices, so it will show about 2.5× what you actually pay. Your Oxyy activity log itemizes every charge at the real discounted rate.
Cost-saving combo: turn on Cline's option to use different models for Plan and Act. Plan with claude-opus-5 ($2 / $10 on Oxyy) and act with claude-sonnet-5 ($0.80 / $4) or glm-5.3 ($0.56 / $1.76).
How to Migrate From Roo Code to Cline
- Back up your Roo config: copy
.roomodesand the.roo/folder (including.roo/rules-*/) out of your projects. - Uninstall Roo Code from VS Code. Don't just disable it, since the vulnerable code stays on disk.
- Install Cline from the VS Code Marketplace (or the JetBrains plugin, or the CLI with
npm i -g cline). - Move your rules: paste the contents of your Roo rule files into
.clinerules/orAGENTS.md. Cline reads both. - Map your modes: Architect/Ask → Plan mode; Code/Debug → Act mode. Put mode-specific instructions in separate rule files.
- Reconnect your provider: use the same OpenAI-compatible settings you had in Roo, or follow the Oxyy setup above to cut costs at the same time.
- Re-add MCP servers through Cline's MCP settings or marketplace.
- Turn auto-approve on gradually: start with read-only actions and add terminal commands only once you trust the setup.
Roo Code Alternatives Besides Cline
| Alternative | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cline | The original project Roo was forked from; active and multi-platform | Almost everyone |
| Zoo Code | Community fork of Roo Code (Apache 2.0); v3.84.0 shipped Sept 26, 2026; JetBrains beta; imports Roo custom modes and settings | Users who want their Roo modes back |
| Kilo Code | Agent that started as a Roo fork; VS Code extension rebuilt with parallel agents and sub-agent delegation | Developers who want parallel agents in VS Code |
| Roomote | The Roo team's new cloud agent (from $49/month for up to 10 users; free self-hosted at that size) | Teams that want a Slack/GitHub cloud agent, not an IDE extension |
All the IDE options above accept an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so the same Oxyy base URL and key work in any of them.
Cline vs Roo Code: Which Should You Choose?
| If you… | Choose |
|---|---|
| Are starting fresh in 2026 | Cline |
| Still have Roo Code installed | Migrate to Cline (or Zoo Code) now |
| Rely on Roo Custom Modes | Zoo Code, or Cline with per-task rule files |
| Use JetBrains or need a CLI for CI/CD | Cline |
| Need SSO, RBAC and central billing | Cline Enterprise |
| Want the lowest API bill for any of these tools | Connect it to Oxyy (60% off, current promo) |
Final Verdict
Cline wins the Cline vs Roo Code comparison in 2026, mostly because only Cline still exists. Roo Code introduced great ideas like custom modes and orchestration, but it's now archived software with eight unpatched high-severity vulnerabilities. Cline is free, open source, actively developed and available far beyond VS Code.
Since the tool is free, your real decision is where your tokens come from. Coding agents burn through input tokens, and on Oxyy every one of them currently costs 40% of the standard price: Claude Sonnet 5 at $0.80 / $4.00, Opus 5 at $2 / $10, GPT-5.5 at $2 / $12. Setup takes about two minutes, credits never expire, and you can try it on a free balance first.
Get your free Oxyy API key and connect it to Cline →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Roo Code still available in 2026?
No. The Roo Code VS Code extension, Roo Code Cloud and Roo Code Router shut down on May 15, 2026. The GitHub repository is archived and the final version is 3.54.0. The Marketplace listing still exists, but the extension is unmaintained and shouldn't be installed.
Why did Roo Code shut down?
Roo Code Inc. said it doesn't believe IDEs are the future of coding and moved its team to Roomote, a cloud coding agent that works from Slack, GitHub and Linear. The company recommended Cline to users who want an open-source, model-agnostic extension.
Is Roo Code safe to use?
Not anymore. Eight high-severity CVEs published between July and October 2026 let attackers bypass Roo Code's command-approval checks through prompt injection, so denied shell commands can run on your machine. None will be patched because the project is archived.
Is Cline better than Roo Code?
Yes, in 2026. Cline is actively maintained, supports VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, desktop and SDK, and has 70.7K GitHub stars. Roo Code had more configurable modes, but it's discontinued and has unpatched security flaws.
Is Cline free?
Yes. Cline is free and open source under Apache 2.0. You pay only for AI model usage, through your own API key, Cline's pay-as-you-go credits, or the optional $9.99/month ClinePass for selected open models.
What is the best Roo Code alternative?
Cline is the best Roo Code alternative for most developers, and it's the one Roo's own team recommended. If you want Roo-style custom modes, Zoo Code is a community fork that keeps shipping and can import Roo settings.
What is the cheapest API for Cline?
Oxyy.ai is one of the cheapest ways to run Cline on frontier models. It currently charges 40% of the standard price (a 60% launch promo) on 170+ models. For example, Claude Sonnet 5 is $0.80 input and $4.00 output per 1M tokens instead of $2.00 and $10.00.
How do I use Oxyy with Cline?
In Cline settings, choose OpenAI Compatible, set the base URL to https://api.oxyy.ai/v1, paste your Oxyy API key and enter a model ID such as claude-sonnet-5. For Claude models you can also choose the Anthropic provider with the custom base URL https://api.oxyy.ai.
Does prompt caching work through Oxyy?
Yes. Oxyy bills cached input at the cache-read rate and preserves Anthropic cache_control blocks on its Anthropic endpoint. Cached input on Claude Sonnet 5 costs $0.08 per 1M tokens on Oxyy.
Is the 60% Oxyy discount permanent?
The 60% discount is labeled a "Launch Promo" on Oxyy's model pages, applied to every rate. Oxyy shows both the standard price and the charged price on each model page, so you can always see exactly what you'll pay.
Do Oxyy credits expire?
No. Unused Oxyy credit never expires. There's no subscription, no seat fee and no monthly minimum, and new accounts get a free starting balance without a card.
How much can I save running Cline on Oxyy?
You save 60% of the standard model price during the current promotion. A developer using 150M input and 6M output tokens a month on Claude Sonnet 5 would pay $144 on Oxyy instead of $360, saving $2,592 a year.
Can I use different models for planning and coding in Cline?
Yes. Cline lets you use a different model for Plan mode and Act mode. A cost-efficient setup is a strong model like Claude Opus 5 for planning and a cheaper model like Claude Sonnet 5 or GLM-5.3 for execution.
Does Cline work with JetBrains?
Yes. Cline offers a JetBrains plugin alongside its VS Code extension, CLI, desktop app (beta) and SDK. Roo Code only ever supported VS Code.
What is Zoo Code?
Zoo Code is a community fork of Roo Code created on April 23, 2026. It keeps the Apache 2.0 license, shipped v3.84.0 on September 26, 2026, adds a JetBrains beta and can import Roo Code custom modes and settings.