Comparison

Cline vs Kiro

How the two compare on the things that decide whether your setup carries over: open standards, license, models and where they run.

ClineKiro
MakerClineAWS
LicenseApache-2.0Proprietary
ModelsSee vendor docsSee vendor docs
Runs inIDE, CLIIDE, CLI
MCPMCP: supportedMCP: supported
Agent Skills?Agent Skills: not yet verifiedAgent Skills: supported
AGENTS.md?AGENTS.md: not yet verified?AGENTS.md: not yet verified
ACPACP: supportedACP: supported

Key differences

  • Cline is open source (Apache-2.0); Kiro is proprietary. If you need to self-host, audit or fork the harness, that settles it.
  • Kiro supports Agent Skills; we have not verified it for Cline.
  • Both support MCP, ACP, so MCP servers, skills and repo instructions you set up carry over if you switch.

In their own words

Cline

Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code and JetBrains with a plan/act workflow and an MCP marketplace.

Website

Kiro

Spec-driven agentic IDE and CLI: turns prompts into requirements, designs and tasks before writing code.

Website

FAQ

Is Cline or Kiro open source?
Cline is open source under Apache-2.0. Kiro is proprietary.
Do Cline and Kiro support MCP servers?
Cline: yes. Kiro: yes.
Can I reuse Agent Skills between Cline and Kiro?
Only if both support the Agent Skills format. Check the table above.

Set up MCP servers in either one

All official MCP servers

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Reviewed Oct 5, 2026.