Agentic harness comparison
Gemini CLI vs Antigravity
Compared on where each one runs, which editors it supports, how autonomous it is, and how it bills — the four things that actually decide Gemini CLI vs Antigravity. Rankings reflect fit and trade-offs, not a single universal winner; partner links, when present, do not replace that methodology.
Details last verified September 26, 2026
Gemini CLI
Terminal (open source; enterprise or paid API key since 2026-06-18) · Agentic
Antigravity
Own IDE, CLI, and IDE extensions · Agentic
| Specification | Gemini CLI | Antigravity |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | ||
| Vendor | ||
| Runs in | ||
| Runs in | Terminal (open source; enterprise or paid API key since 2026-06-18) | Own IDE, CLI, and IDE extensions |
| Editor support | ||
| Editor support | Any (editor-agnostic), Gemini Code Assist IDE extension (Standard/Enterprise) | Antigravity IDE, VS Code, JetBrains, Zed, Visual Studio 2026, Antigravity CLI, Desktop app |
| Autonomy | ||
| Autonomy | Agentic | Agentic |
| Pricing model | ||
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Hybrid |
| Requires changing editor | ||
| Requires changing editor | Winner: No | Yes |
Benchmark scores carry the month they were measured. Values we could not confirm are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.
Gemini CLI
Google's open-source (Apache 2.0) terminal AI agent for Gemini — since 2026-06-18 served only through Gemini Code Assist Standard/Enterprise licences, Google Cloud, or a paid Gemini API key. Individuals on free, Google AI Pro, or Google AI Ultra accounts were moved to Antigravity CLI.
Best for
- Teams with a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence
- Google Cloud organisations that already govern Gemini access
- Existing Gemini CLI scripts and MCP setups billed to a paid Gemini API key
Watch out
The consumer tier is shut down (verified 2026-09-26, developers.google.com/gemini-code-assist/docs/deprecations/code-assist-individuals and the developers.googleblog.com transition post). Since 2026-06-18, Gemini CLI and the Code Assist IDE extensions no longer serve Code Assist for individuals (free), Google AI Pro, or Google AI Ultra, and 'Login with Google' no longer works — the old 60 requests/min and 1,000 requests/day free tier is gone, even though the GitHub README still shows it. What still works: Gemini Code Assist Standard/Enterprise licences, Google Cloud, and paid Gemini or Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform API keys, which Google's transition post says keep Gemini CLI accessible (usage-billed). Individuals without a paid key should use Antigravity CLI (`agy`; see Antigravity). The Apache 2.0 repo stays open source.
Antigravity
Google's agent-first IDE built natively around Gemini, with IDE extensions for VS Code/JetBrains/Zed, Antigravity CLI (Google's replacement for consumer Gemini CLI since 2026-06-18), a desktop app, and coordinated multi-agent workspaces — generally available with a $0 Individual plan, and bundled into Gemini Enterprise.
Best for
- Agent-first workflows
- Individuals moving off consumer Gemini CLI (Antigravity CLI)
- Multi-agent coordination across editor + terminal + browser
Watch out
Generally Available (verified 2026-09-26, antigravity.google/pricing): the Individual plan is $0 with Gemini 3.8/3.7/3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Claude Sonnet and Opus 4.6 and gpt-oss-120b under basic weekly limits; Google AI Pro and Ultra add higher limits and a flexible credit pool; an organisation plan comes through Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise (bundled into Gemini Enterprise Standard/Plus since 2026-08-20). Antigravity CLI (command `agy`) is Google's official successor to consumer Gemini CLI: written in Go, it runs multiple agents, uses plugins in place of extensions, runs on macOS, Linux and Windows, and signs in through the browser (a Gemini API key works only with `modelProvider` set to gemini in settings.json) (antigravity.google/docs/cli and the developers.googleblog.com transition post). Gemini 3.8 Flash rolled out across Antigravity surfaces around 2026-09-01. Model-agnostic routing to Claude/GPT-OSS also available. One secondary source cites 76.2% SWE-bench Verified — unconfirmed by Google, treat as indicative. Adopting the IDE means a tool switch; extensions soften that for VS Code/JetBrains/Zed users.
Common questions
Gemini CLI vs Antigravity
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Do I have to change editor to use Gemini CLI or Antigravity?
How are Gemini CLI and Antigravity priced?
Is Gemini CLI or Antigravity better for large refactors?
Should I run Gemini CLI and Antigravity together?
Will my project rules transfer between Gemini CLI and Antigravity?
Do coding agents replace code review?
Should we harden MCP before rolling out a coding agent?
Next step
Which one fits
Autonomy and editor constraints decide this far more reliably than a benchmark score.
If most of your week is small, frequent edits, an assistive workflow beats delegation and an agentic harness sits idle while billing. If you regularly hand over work spanning many files, the reverse is true.
Where one tool requires changing editor and the other does not, that difference usually outweighs any capability gap across a team — rollouts fail on adoption, not capability.