Zed vs OpenHands vs Gemini CLI

Side by side, as alternatives to Cursor. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

Zedzed-industries/zed

OpenHandsOpenHands/OpenHands

Gemini CLIgoogle-gemini/gemini-cli

Cursorpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage source ↗

Code in an AI-first editor

Partly

Yes

Multi-line tab completion and next-edit prediction

Partly

Yes

Let an agent plan and edit across many files

Partly

Yes

Run terminal commands and tests from the agent

Partly

Yes

Ask questions about your whole codebase

Partly

Yes

Connect tools and data through MCP

Partly

Yes

Run agents in the cloud in the background

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

6 of 7 jobs

4 of 7 jobs

All 7

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

92,013

91,499

107,492Top

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

453Top

345

—

Latest release

v1.25.2 · 2026-10-21

v1.30.0 · 2026-10-22Top

v0.65.0 · 2026-10-20

—

Commits / 12 wk

1,417

740

194

—

People committing / 12 mo

312+

54+

82+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

413 / 484

464 / 367

123 / 206

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Yes, a desktop editor installed on your computer

Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster

Yes, the CLI runs in your terminal; the Gemini models themselves run on Google's servers

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE)

MIT

Apache-2.0

—

Model weights licence

No separate model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Allowed; GPL-3.0 is copyleft, so changes you distribute must stay GPL

Yes, MIT allows commercial use

Allowed under Apache-2.0

—

Paid services needed?Differs

Editor is free; AI works with your own API keys or local models (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp); Zed Pro is optional for hosted models and Zed edit prediction

Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional

A paid service is required since June 18, 2026; the free Google-account tier moved to Antigravity CLI. No local model support

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

64-bit OS; Windows needs a DirectX 11 GPU, Linux a Vulkan 1.3 driver, Macs from about 2015 on; local models need more

No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory

4GB+ RAM for short sessions, 16GB+ for large codebases; needs Node.js 20+ and an internet connection

—

Operating systemsDiffers

macOS (10.15+, Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10 1903+ and 11, Linux x86_64 and Arm64; no web version

macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows

Windows 11 24H2+, macOS 15+ and Ubuntu 20.04+

—

Setup effortDiffers

Easy; download installer, Homebrew, winget or a one-line Linux script, then add an API key or local model

Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model

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.

Zed vs OpenHands vs Gemini CLI (as alternatives to Cursor)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 22 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=zed,openhands,gemini-cli&product=cursor

Cursor: Free plan with limited AI use; Plus $8/month, Premium $30/month, Super $100/month, Ultra $200/month; third-party models billed separately by usage
Zed: free software; does 6 of 7 Cursor jobs
OpenHands: free software; does 4 of 7 Cursor jobs
Gemini CLI: free software; does 4 of 7 Cursor jobs

- Zed: 92,013 GitHub stars, 1,417 commits in 12 weeks, licence GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE)
- OpenHands: 91,499 GitHub stars, 740 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Gemini CLI: 107,492 GitHub stars, 194 commits in 12 weeks, licence Apache-2.0

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Zed Yes, a desktop editor installed on your computer; OpenHands Yes; Agent Canvas and the agent server run on your machine by default, or on your own Docker host, VM or Kubernetes cluster; Gemini CLI Yes, the CLI runs in your terminal; the Gemini models themselves run on Google's servers
- Code licence: Zed GPL-3.0-or-later for most code, with some Apache-2.0 components (LICENSE-GPL and LICENSE-APACHE); OpenHands MIT; Gemini CLI Apache-2.0
- Commercial use: Zed Allowed; GPL-3.0 is copyleft, so changes you distribute must stay GPL; OpenHands Yes, MIT allows commercial use; Gemini CLI Allowed under Apache-2.0
- Paid services needed?: Zed Editor is free; AI works with your own API keys or local models (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp); Zed Pro is optional for hosted models and Zed edit prediction; OpenHands Not required with local models (LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM, SGLang); cloud model APIs and OpenHands Cloud are optional; Gemini CLI A paid service is required since June 18, 2026; the free Google-account tier moved to Antigravity CLI. No local model support
- Hardware: Zed 64-bit OS; Windows needs a DirectX 11 GPU, Linux a Vulkan 1.3 driver, Macs from about 2015 on; local models need more; OpenHands No requirements given for Agent Canvas itself; the recommended local model needs a 24GB GPU or an Apple Silicon Mac with 64GB memory; Gemini CLI 4GB+ RAM for short sessions, 16GB+ for large codebases; needs Node.js 20+ and an internet connection
- Operating systems: Zed macOS (10.15+, Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10 1903+ and 11, Linux x86_64 and Arm64; no web version; OpenHands macOS, Linux and Windows (PowerShell or WSL2); the CLI and per-conversation Docker sandboxes need WSL on Windows; Gemini CLI Windows 11 24H2+, macOS 15+ and Ubuntu 20.04+
- Setup effort: Zed Easy; download installer, Homebrew, winget or a one-line Linux script, then add an API key or local model; OpenHands Medium; install Node.js 24 and uv then the npm package, or run the Docker image, then add a model; Gemini CLI Easy; run with npx or install with npm, Homebrew or MacPorts, then sign in or set an API key

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

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Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. zed-industries/zed ↗OpenHands/OpenHands ↗google-gemini/gemini-cli ↗

Zed vs OpenHands vs Gemini CLI

Stars over time

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