Cline vs Relay.app — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Cline starts at Free. Relay.app starts at $38/mo. Cline is $38/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Relay.app.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Cline (Per Usage) — Cline bills purely on usage. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
- Relay.app (Hybrid) — Relay.app is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $38/mo plus metered usage on top. Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
Open-source autonomous coding agent that runs in VS Code as an extension. Cline itself is free — users bring their own LLM API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, OpenRouter, local models via Ollama). Cost is entirely determined by underlying LLM token usage. Popular with developers who want an agent-first coding experience but prefer to pay direct LLM costs rather than a marked-up subscription.
AI-native workflow automation platform — workflows can pause for human approval and use AI to draft any step. Pricing: Free (400 runs/mo), Pro $9/user/mo (5K runs), Team $59/mo (5 users, 20K runs), Enterprise custom. Positioned as the AI-native alternative to Zapier and Make for teams that want human-in-the-loop workflows.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Cline monthly | Cline annual | Relay.app monthly | Relay.app annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Cline (extension) / Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | — / Professional | — | — | $38 | $19 |
| Teams | Teams / Team | $20 | $20 | $118 | $59 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Cline is worth it if… developers who already have LLM API access and want an autonomous coding agent without a subscription markup. The BYOK model is the differentiator — typical monthly cost is $5-50 in Claude Sonnet tokens depending on usage, which beats most $20-60/mo subscription tools if you're a light user.
Relay.app is worth it if… g. AI drafts a customer email, human reviews before sending.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Cline is per usage, Relay.app is hybrid.
Choose Cline over Relay.app if…
Choose Cline if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, a free entry tier).
- You match the profile Cline is built for: developers who already have LLM API access and want an autonomous coding agent without a subscription markup.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Relay.app if…
- You're fine with a base subscription plus metered usage on top (from $38/mo).
- You match the profile Relay.app is built for: Relay.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Cline | Relay.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Entry price | Free | $38/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Hybrid |
| Last verified | September 20, 2026 | September 20, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 20, 2026. Tracked daily.