OpenPilot 作者比較 Cursor、Cline、Continue 與 OpenPilot 的功能取捨

I'm the solo dev behind OpenPilot, an open-source desktop agent that runs on whatever model you give it. People keep asking how it compares to Cursor, Cline and Continue, so here's my best attempt at a fair answer. I'm obviously biased, so I've stuck to things you can check in each project's own docs or code, and I've linked them. Where another tool is better, I say so.

Everything below was checked on October 17, 2026. These tools change fast, so if something is out of date, tell me in the comments and I'll fix it.

The short version

• Cursor is the most polished experience: a full editor with Tab completion, cloud agents and its own models. It's proprietary, and on the Free and Plus plans you can't use your own API keys or third-party models.
• Cline is the most capable open-source option. It's Apache-2.0 and ships as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a CLI and an early desktop app. It works with basically any provider, including Ollama and LM Studio. If you want open source and maximum features, start there.
• Continue was a pioneering open-source assistant, but its repo is now read-only and no longer actively maintained, after a final 2.0.0 release.
• OpenPilot is a small, chat-first desktop app (MIT, Electron). You point it at a folder, bring any OpenAI-compatible model, and approve what it runs. It's simpler and much younger than the others, and it's a one-person project.

Side by side

Sources: Cursor BYOK docs, Cursor plans, Cline README, Continue README and docs, OpenPilot source.

A "—" means I couldn't confirm it from official docs. Please don't read it as "no".

Cursor

Cursor is a full editor, and it's genuinely good at being one: Tab completion, Plan Mode, cloud agents, code review and a long list of integrations. Its BYOK docs are clear about the trade-offs.

• Supported key providers are OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure OpenAI and AWS Bedrock.
• Custom keys only work for chat models. Tab keeps using Cursor's built-in models.
• Requests are routed through Cursor's servers for final prompt building, even with your own key. Cursor says the key isn't stored.
• On the current plans table, Free and Plus don't include third-party models or your own API keys. Premium ($30/mo) and up do.

If you're happy inside Cursor and paying for a plan that fits, I honestly don't think you need OpenPilot. Where it's a poor fit is if you want to run a model on your own machine, use a provider that isn't on that list, or keep requests from passing through a third-party backend.

Cline

Cline is what I'd recommend to most people asking for "open-source Cursor". It runs in VS Code and JetBrains, as a CLI (npm i -g cline), and now as a desktop app. Its features include:

• Plan and Act modes
• Checkpoints, so you can undo the agent's work
• Diffs you can review
• Linter and compiler awareness
• Rules and skills, MCP and plugins
• Multi-agent teams and scheduled agents
• A huge provider list: Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible API

By default it asks before every file edit and terminal command, and you can switch on auto-approve.

Compared with that, OpenPilot is a much smaller tool. Cline's desktop app is newer (v0.0.x at the time of writing), but the project overall is far more mature than mine.

Continue

Continue deserves credit for pushing open-source, any-model coding assistants early. As of now, its README says the continuedev/continue repository is no longer actively maintained and is read-only. The team shipped a final 2.0.0 of the VS Code extension, CLI and JetBrains plugin, and that release also removed anonymous telemetry. You can still install it, but don't expect fixes.

OpenPilot: what it actually is

I built OpenPilot because I wanted a Cursor-style agent where I pick the model, including local ones, without living inside a particular editor. In practice:

• It's a desktop chat app. You add one or more models with a name, a base URL and a key. There are presets for OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Groq, Together, Mistral, xAI, MiniMax and Ollama, or you can use any custom OpenAI-compatible URL. You can switch models per chat.
• You pick a workspace folder. The agent can list, read, write and edit files there, and edits show a diff preview. It can also run shell commands (output streams into the chat), plan with a todo list, and hand side tasks to short-lived subagents.
• Shell commands, file writes and file edits pause on an Allow / Deny card unless you turn on "Enable all permissions" in Settings → Agent, which is off by default. I wrote up how that loop works, and where it doesn't protect you, in a separate post.
• MCP servers can be turned on per chat. It also has skills (type /), persistent memory, token usage by model, and optional web search through TinyFish.
• Keys stay on your machine. There's no account.

Honest limits:

• It's a solo project at v1.0.5.
• The Windows installer is unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn you. macOS is an unsigned beta, and on Linux you build from source.
• There's no checkpoint or undo. Work in a git repo.
• There's no Tab autocomplete, and it isn't an editor. I use it next to one.
• Small local models (I've tested Qwen 3 8B and 27B) do fine on focused edits but get lost on long multi-step tasks. There's no loop guard yet.
• Anonymous usage telemetry (app opens, feature and model use, token counts; no chats, files, paths or keys) is on by default. You can turn it off in onboarding or Settings → About.

So which one?

• You want the best editor experience and you're fine paying: Cursor.
• You want open source with the most features, inside your editor or CLI: Cline.
• You want a small, standalone open-source app where any OpenAI-compatible or local model drives an agent in a folder, and you approve each command: try OpenPilot, and tell me what breaks.

Links: GitHub · openpilot.in · Run it with Ollama + Qwen 3 · Run it with LM Studio

Disclosure: I drafted this post with help from an AI assistant and checked the claims against each project's docs and source on Oct 17, 2026. If I got something wrong about any of these tools, please correct me in the comments and I'll update it.