Gemini CLI vs Claude Code
Side by side, as alternatives to Claude Code. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.
Also replaces Claude Code: + OpenCode+ OpenAI Codex CLI+ Zed+ OpenHands+ Cline+ goose
Gemini CLIgoogle-gemini/gemini-cli
Claude Codepaid product
Cost and coverage
Price
$0 software; you run it
Included with Claude Pro ($20/month, or $17/month billed annually), Max (from $100/month), Team and Enterprise; not on the free plan source ↗
Edit code across a repo from the terminal with an AI agent
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Run commands and tests
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Use the agent inside VS Code or JetBrains
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Connect tools and data through MCP
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Write commits and pull requests
No: No
Confirmed: Yes
Run the agent headless in scripts or CI (GitHub Actions)
Partial: Partly
Confirmed: Yes
Jobs covered
5 of 6 jobs
All 6
Popularity and activity (from GitHub)
Stars
107,492
—
Gain this week
Unknown
—
Signal
Building history
—
Commits / 4 wk
82
—
Latest release
v0.65.0 · 2026-10-20
—
Commits / 12 wk
194
—
People committing / 12 mo
82+
—
Issues opened / closed, 30 days
123 / 206
—
Facts, with sources on each project page
Runs on my machine?
Confirmed: Yes, the CLI runs in your terminal; the Gemini models themselves run on Google's servers
Hosted by the vendor
Code licence
Confirmed: Apache-2.0
—
Model weights licence
Confirmed: No separate model weights
—
Commercial use
Confirmed: Allowed under Apache-2.0
—
Paid services needed?
No: A paid service is required since June 18, 2026; the free Google-account tier moved to Antigravity CLI. No local model support
Subscription
Hardware
Confirmed: 4GB+ RAM for short sessions, 16GB+ for large codebases; needs Node.js 20+ and an internet connection
—
Operating systems
Confirmed: Windows 11 24H2+, macOS 15+ and Ubuntu 20.04+
—
Setup effort
Confirmed: Easy; run with npx or install with npm, Homebrew or MacPorts, then sign in or set an API key
—
Stars over time
Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.
The chart appears after a few nightly checks.
Notes for a video or post
A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.
Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.
Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. google-gemini/gemini-cli ↗