Gemini CLI vs Claude Code: the end of the free tier, Google plans, limits and cost

Gemini CLI is Google's open-source agent for the terminal, under the Apache-2.0 licence; Claude Code is Anthropic's and runs Claude. Gemini CLI no longer has a free tier: on 18 June 2026 Google stopped serving free, Google AI Pro and Ultra users in it and moved them to Antigravity CLI. It now runs on a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence or a paid API key. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan, from $20 a month or $17 billed annually, or an API key. Every Google fact below was re-read from Google's own pages on 10 October 2026.

Is Gemini CLI still free?

No. Google announced on 19 May 2026 that "on June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI and Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions will stop serving requests for Google AI Pro and Ultra, as well as those using it free of charge". Gemini CLI's own docs now carry the notice that it "was replaced by Antigravity CLI" for unpaid and Google One users.

Until then a personal Google account got 1,000 model requests a day, Google AI Pro 1,500 and Ultra 2,000. Google's own quota table still lists those figures on 10 October 2026, under the banner that says those users moved to Antigravity CLI, so the table describes tiers that are gone, and so does any page that quotes it.

The free route from Google is now Antigravity CLI, agy, on Antigravity's individual plan with a weekly quota: Antigravity vs Claude Code.

Who can still use Gemini CLI

Google keeps Gemini CLI for three groups:

• Code Assist Standard — 1,500 model requests a day, $22.80 a user a month or $19 billed annually.
• Code Assist Enterprise — 2,000 a day, $54 a user a month or $45 billed annually.
• A paid API key — Gemini API or Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, billed per token, with limits set by the key's tier.

The repository stays Apache-2.0, and Google says it will keep Gemini CLI updated with new models and fixes for its enterprise customers. Releases continue: v0.64.0 came out on 13 October 2026. The limit counts model requests, not prompts: Google's quota page says "one prompt might result in multiple model requests", and the daily limit is shared across Pro and Flash.

Can I use my Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription?

Not in Gemini CLI since 18 June 2026. Sign in to Antigravity CLI with the same Google account instead: Pro and Ultra raise Antigravity's quota, refreshed every five hours up to a weekly limit. Google AI Pro is $19.99 a month in the US, Ultra $99.99 or $199.99.

Moving over keeps most of a setup. Antigravity CLI reads the same GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md files, agy plugin import gemini turns Gemini CLI extensions into Antigravity plugins, and a project's skills move from .gemini/skills/ to .agents/skills/.

Gemini CLI pricing, and what Claude Code costs

Google's notice keeps Gemini CLI on three paid routes: Gemini Code Assist Standard at $22.80 a user a month ($19 billed annually), Enterprise at $54 ($45 billed annually), or a paid Gemini API or Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform key, billed per token.

Claude Code's cheapest is Claude Pro at $20, or $17 billed annually. They cap use differently. Google counts requests a day. A Claude plan resets on a five-hour window with a weekly limit on top, and Max sells 5× or 20× Pro's usage at $100 and $200. The details: Claude Code pricing.

On an API key both bill per token. Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 output; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview $2 and $12 for prompts up to 200K tokens, and $4 and $18 above. Claude Sonnet 5.5 is $2 and $10, Opus 5.5 $4 and $20. Google bills cache reads per token and storage by the hour, and has no cache-write rate. Every Claude rate: Claude API pricing.

What a day of Gemini CLI costs in tokens is not on this page. Caprock reads Gemini CLI only in sessions it starts, and this machine has none measured, so there is no Gemini figure here, measured or estimated. On the Claude side, my median active day came to $153 at list prices, over 56 active days from 18 July to 2 October 2026 — a fee a Max plan covers inside its limits.

Which models each runs

Gemini CLI runs Gemini models. Its Auto setting picks between Pro and Flash for each task, Gemini 3 or Gemini 2.5, and you can pick one by hand with /model or --model; sub-agents may still use other models. Google's model page gives Gemini 3.1 Pro a 1M-token context window. Claude Code runs Claude models only; Claude 4.6 and later, except Haiku 5.5, run a 1M-token context at the standard price. Neither runs the other's models.

Where each runs

Gemini CLI installs with npm, Homebrew, MacPorts or Anaconda, or runs once with npx, and needs Node.js 20 or later. It runs in a terminal, in VS Code and compatible editors through a companion extension, and in JetBrains and Zed through the Agent Client Protocol. Claude Code runs in a terminal, a desktop app and IDE extensions, and can reach Claude through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry.

Which one to pick

Pick Gemini CLI if your company already has Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, or you want an open-source agent on a paid Gemini API key. If you wanted Google's agent for free or on Google AI Pro, that is Antigravity CLI now. Pick Claude Code if you want Claude, and on a plan if you use it most of the day. You can run both side by side; each needs its own sign-in.

Antigravity vs Claude Code, Codex vs Claude Code and Cursor vs Claude Code compare the other agents.

Gemini CLI, Claude Code and Amazon's Kiro CLI

Amazon's agent for the terminal is Kiro CLI. It succeeded the Amazon Q Developer CLI from 17 November 2025, and AWS's Q docs now say "The Q CLI has become the Kiro CLI". You install it with one curl line, start it with kiro-cli, and sign in with GitHub, Google, an AWS Builder ID or IAM Identity Center. Where Gemini CLI runs only Gemini and Claude Code only Claude, Kiro CLI lets Auto route each task or lets you pick a model: Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 or Haiku 5.5, OpenAI's GPT-5.6, or an open-weight model such as DeepSeek 3.2 or Qwen3 Coder Next. It ships under the AWS Intellectual Property License, where the Q Developer CLI was Apache 2.0. Kiro's plans, credits and spec-driven workflow against Claude Code: Kiro vs Claude Code.

See both in one place

Caprock reads Claude Code's transcripts from disk, whether or not it started the session, and prices every call, a list-price estimate as Claude Code's own /usage is, beside the plan's dollars and the share of the weekly limit the work used. It also starts Gemini CLI from its New agent sheet, asks it to write its telemetry to a file, and reads that file, so those sessions' turns, tokens and cost land in the same table. Gemini CLI sessions started in your own terminal are not seen. Caprock neither starts nor reads Antigravity CLI.

Free, open source; nothing leaves your machine. Install Caprock and it reads back every Claude Code session still on disk.