Cline vs Cascade

• 1 minute

I’ve been doing some experiments at work, testing the same prompts with the same models but two different AI coding assistants: Cline and Cascade.

Here’s an example where I gave the same prompt to both tools (using Claude 3.7 Sonnet):

What is “_data” used for in shared models?

Cascade gave me a brief but incorrect answer. Cline, on the other hand, gave me a much more detailed—and correct—explanation of what _data is, how it works, and even included examples.

In general, I’ve found this to be the case: Cline tends to produce much better output than Cascade, even when using the same model.

The image shows a side-by-side comparison of two AI coding assistants, Cline (left) and Cascade (right), in a dark-themed code editor. The task involves understanding the "_data" property in shared models. In Cline, the response explains that "_data" stores computed or derived data for analysis, separate from "data," which holds original loaded data. Examples from various models highlight its role in organizing references, computed flags, and transformed data. In Cascade, the analysis of "base-model.js" reveals that BaseModel uses a static property convention to specify where data is stored, allowing consistent access while letting derived models define their own storage.

Additional notes:

  • Plan vs Act: In this example, I didn’t ask Cline/Cascade to actually generate any code, I only asked them to explain how a part of the project worked. However, in other cases where I’ve used them to generate code, I get similar results. In general, Cline tends to outperform Cascade with more accurate and functional code.
  • System Prompts: Since both tools are using the same model (Claude 3.7 Sonnet), I assume the difference in performance boils down to their different system prompts. For example, Cline’s system prompt seems to encourage much more thinking than Cascade’s system prompt.
  • Cost: Assuming Cascade credits are $10 per 300 credits, then this example cost Cascade $0.10 and Cline ≈$0.18. Honestly, I’d rather pay the extra $0.08 to get a correct answer (versus $0.10 essentially wasted). However, I’m curious to see how often Cline is potentially overspending because of it’s bias towards thinking.