Claude Code vs Cursor vs Cline
Three popular AI coding agents. All three read project files. All three work with VibeKit. The differences come down to workflow, cost structure, and where you do your work.
Pick Claude Code if...
- ·You live in the terminal
- ·You want the best multi-step planning
- ·You're already paying for Anthropic
- ·You want auto-loaded CLAUDE.md + Skills
Pick Cursor if...
- ·You want a polished IDE
- ·You work with a team / pair programming
- ·You want flexible model choice
- ·Tab autocomplete is non-negotiable
Pick Cline if...
- ·You want it free / open source
- ·You want full control over model + API costs
- ·You're fine with VS Code extension UX
- ·You like seeing every API call
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | Claude Code | Cursor | Cline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Subscription ($20–200/mo) or pay-as-you-go | Free / Pro $20/mo / Business $40/mo | Free OSS — pay your own model API costs |
| Default model | Claude Sonnet/Opus (Anthropic) | GPT-4 / Claude / Gemini (your choice) | BYOM — Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama |
| IDE integration | Terminal + VS Code extension | Standalone IDE (VS Code fork) | VS Code extension |
| Terminal-first workflow | |||
| Reads project context files | |||
| Auto-loads CLAUDE.md | |||
| Multi-step task planning | |||
| Background agent / async tasks | |||
| MCP server support | |||
| Skills / custom workflows | |||
| Works with VibeKit | |||
| Best for solo indie hackers | |||
| Best for teams / pair programming | |||
| Best for cost-conscious / open source |
Using VibeKit with each
VibeKit doesn't care which agent you use — the four files (project-description.md, project-phases.md, design-style-guide.md, prompt.md) are agent-agnostic markdown.
Drop master_prompt.md into your project as CLAUDE.md (or alongside it). Claude Code auto-loads it. Then paste prompt.md to start Phase 1.
Save master_prompt.md as .cursorrules (or in /Rules for newer versions). Reference project-description.md and project-phases.md from the chat. Open prompt.md and run.
Reference master_prompt.md in your custom instructions. Open prompt.md and ask Cline to read all five framework files before starting Phase 1.
Our take
For most VibeKit users we recommend Claude Code — the auto-loaded CLAUDE.md + Skills system fits VibeKit's "lock the rules at the start of every session" philosophy perfectly, and Claude's planning quality on multi-phase work is currently best-in-class.
Pick Cursor if you do most of your work in an IDE and want pair-programming-style collaboration. Pick Cline if you want full control and are willing to manage your own model + API costs. All three will produce excellent VibeKit projects.