Cline: how many tokens per task, and what does it cost?
Cline costs $0.42 per task ($0.63 per solved task at a 66.8% success rate). AgentBurn snapshot 2026-10-27. Every figure carries a provenance label: source-backed, derived, or left empty when no public basis exists.
What it is. Open-source VS Code agent with human approval on every tool call
Cline is the batteries-included agent for VS Code: it plans, edits files, runs terminal commands and can drive a browser, pausing for human approval on each tool call. TrustTheBench's 2026 sweep measured 66.8% on SWE-bench Verified at $0.42 per task, making it one of the cheapest ways to run an agentic edit loop on your own API key.
| Tokens per task | not published | Not published |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per task | $0.42 | Source-backed |
| Success rate | 66.8% | Source-backed |
| Cost per solved task | $0.63 | — |
| Tool calls per task | not published | — |
| Retry overhead | not published | — |
| Minutes per task | not published | — |
| Estimated runs per day | 95,000 (model estimate) | Model estimate |
Where the tokens go
This is the per-task split AgentBurn records for Cline, step by step.
| Step | What happens | Share of tokens | Tool calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Understand request | Reads the task and the open files in the editor | 12% | 5 |
| Investigate | Searches the workspace and reads relevant files | 22% | 14 |
| Write code | Applies diffs after per-step approval | 30% | 16 |
| Run and fix | Executes commands in the integrated terminal | 24% | 10 |
| Verify | Checks the final diff and reports the outcome | 12% | 3 |
What each number is based on
AgentBurn labels every field. Source-backed means the cited page states the figure; derived means a formula on this page produced it; not published means no public basis exists and the field is left empty rather than estimated.
| Field | Basis | Note |
|---|---|---|
| tokensPerTask | Not published | TrustTheBench does not publish token counts. |
| costPerTaskUsd | Source-backed | TrustTheBench 2026 leaderboard — Cline: score 75.2, $0.42/task. |
| successRatePct | Source-backed | TrustTheBench 2026 leaderboard — Cline success 66.8% (resolved 63.8%). |
| runsPerDay | Model estimate | No public source publishes daily run volume; this is a model estimate from pricing tiers and community reports, shown only in estimated-volume context. |
Frequently asked
How many tokens does Cline use per task?
No public tokens-per-task figure exists for Cline; AgentBurn leaves the field empty rather than estimating it.
What does Cline cost per task?
$0.42 per task, based on the source linked in the provenance table.
What is the cost per solved task for Cline?
$0.63 — cost per task divided by a 66.8% success rate, so retries are already inside the figure.
Sources
- TrustTheBench — Autonomous Coding Agents Leaderboard 2026 (SWE-bench Verified and cost per task)
- Vendor site: https://cline.bot
- Repository: https://github.com/cline/cline
- Open dataset: /data/projects.json
- Methodology: how these numbers are built
Cite this page
AgentBurn (2026-10-27). "Cline". https://getagentburn.com/projects/cline/
Machine-readable: projects.json · Markdown version