Cline launches a $9.99/month subscription with 2–5× discounted GLM-5.2, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen, and more — plus a $1.99 promo via npm i -g cline. Pricing, quota gaps, vs BYOK, and who should switch.
June 29, 2026 — 9:00 PM PT:Cline — the open-source coding agent behind the npm i -g cline install path — announced a $9.99/month subscription that bundles 2–5× discounted access to GLM-5.2 and other open-weight models: DeepSeek, Kimi, MiniMax, Mimo, and Qwen. A $1.99 promotional price applies when signing up through the npm flow shown in their launch video.
The thread hit 764K+ views in under a day. The timing lands squarely in the post–Fable 5 ban window: developers who lost unrestricted frontier API access are looking for managed open-weight routes that do not require juggling five provider dashboards every week.
TL;DR — Cline Open-Weights Subscription
Question
Answer
Price
$9.99/mo standard; $1.99 promo via npm i -g cline sign-up flow
Discount claim
2–5× cheaper vs buying the same models direct — volume-negotiated
Headline model
GLM-5.2 — Cline says they have been "impressed" with it
We've been impressed with GLM-5.2 and so are introducing a $9.99/month subscription to give you 2-5x discounted access to it and other open weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, MiniMax, Mimo, Qwen.
Use it on Cline CLI & IDE with $1.99 special promo if sign up via: npm i -g cline
Three structural bets are visible in that sentence:
GLM-5.2 as the hero model — not a generic "500 models" catalog pitch. Cline is anchoring on the same model Zhipu shipped one day after the U.S. Fable 5 export ban, now topping open-source coding benchmarks.
Open weights only — DeepSeek (V4 preview → official mid-July), Kimi (K2.7-Code), Qwen, and smaller Chinese labs — the stack developers already route through when Anthropic and OpenAI gate frontier access.
Subscription economics — flat monthly fee instead of per-provider prepaid balances. Cline's reply to quota questions: they are "actively trying to increase quota usage through volume based discounts" and "reduce costs and increase quota through increased volume."
That is reseller logic: Cline aggregates demand, negotiates with upstream APIs, and passes part of the savings as 2–5× effective discount. The trade-off is opacity — you buy convenience, not a published tokens-per-dollar table.
Each path means another API key, another billing portal, and another model availability surprise when a provider throttles or re-prices. Cline's pitch addresses that operational tax directly.
The recurring praise theme: stop chasing providers every week. That matches how Kilo Code markets BYOK freedom — but Cline is betting many users prefer one curated bundle over 500-model choice paralysis.
What People Are Asking — And What Cline Has Not Answered
"How many requests / tokens do I get?"
@prathamdby asked for transparency — currently on OpenCode Go and might switch if usage limits are clear.
Cline's reply:"it's hard to say exact numbers since we actively trying to increase quota usage through volume based discounts!"
@quantumaidev pushed on the 2–5× discount definition — tokens or requests?
Cline's reply:"hard to say but we are actively trying to reduce costs and increase quota through increased volume"
explainx.ai read: Treat advertised discount as effective $/token vs retail API, not a fixed monthly cap. If you need hard budget ceilings for production teams, BYOK + provider dashboards or DeepSeek's published peak/off-peak tables remain more auditable.
"Where is the $1.99 promo?"
@janekm reported following the sign-up flow from the video but not seeing $1.99 at checkout.
No public clarification followed in the captured thread. Before subscribing:
bash
npm i -g cline
Then walk Cline's in-app billing and confirm the price line — promo eligibility may depend on account age, region, or a limited window Cline has not documented in the tweet.
"Cline vs OpenCode Go vs Kilo Pass?"
Option
Entry price
Model scope
Transparency
Cline open-weights sub
$9.99/mo ($1.99 promo)
GLM-5.2 + named Chinese open weights
Low — no public token table
Kilo Pass Starter
$19/mo
500+ models via managed credits
Medium — credit tiers documented
BYOK (Cline / Kilo / OpenCode)
Pay providers directly
Full catalog you configure
High — provider invoices
OpenCode Go
Varies
Managed OpenCode subscription
Depends on OpenCode tier
Cline occupies the cheapest managed bundle slot if the promo holds — but Kilo's OpenCode core and broader model catalog may win for teams already standardized on that stack.
Cline in the Agent Lineage
Cline is the original open-source VS Code agent in a fork tree that shaped much of the ecosystem:
snippet
Cline → Roo Code → Kilo Code (OpenCode core)
If you already run Kilo Code with BYOK, Cline's subscription is additive, not a migration — unless you specifically want managed GLM-5.2 routing without a Z.ai API key.
GLM-5.3 community poll — vision tops the wishlist while GLM-5.2 already wins coding
The through-line: frontier closed APIs get gated; open-weight stacks get cheaper and easier to consume. Cline's $9.99 bundle is an agent-host subscription on that curve — not a new model, but a distribution and billing layer that matters if key juggling was blocking adoption.
Pricing, promo eligibility, and bundled models reflect Cline's June 29, 2026 announcement. Quota details may change as Cline negotiates volume discounts — verify in-product before budgeting. Last updated: July 1, 2026.
