Amazon Q Developer CLI vs Gemini CLI
Amazon Q Developer CLI and Gemini CLI side by side: what each one is, verified plan pricing and install commands where we have them, and the full review of each.
Amazon Q Developer CLI
AI-powered terminal assistant from AWS. Natural language chat, command autocompletion, code generation. Agentic mode reads files, runs commands, and calls AWS APIs. Free tier.
Gemini CLI
Open sourceGoogle's open-source (Apache 2.0) terminal agent for Gemini models. Since June 18, 2026 it serves paid Gemini API, Vertex AI, and Code Assist Standard or Enterprise users; free users moved to Antigravity CLI.
At a glance
| Field | | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | AI Coding |
| Website | aws.amazon.com | github.com |
| Pricing | Not verified yet | Gemini API key - usage-based billing at Gemini API rates; Vertex AI - billed to your Google Cloud project; Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise - included with your organization's license; Free tier, Google AI Pro, Ultra, and Google One - no longer served since June 18, 2026; use Antigravity CLI |
| Install | Not verified yet | npm install -g @google/gemini-cli or brew install gemini-cli or npx @google/gemini-cli |
| Models | Not verified yet | The /model command offers Auto (Gemini 3), which routes between Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash, Auto (Gemini 2.5), which routes between Gemini 2.5 Pro and Flash, or a manual pick. Pass --model to choose at startup. Context window is up to 1M tokens. |
| Last verified | Not verified yet | October 9, 2026 |
In Depth
Amazon Q Developer CLI
Amazon Q Developer CLI (the successor to Fig) brings an agentic, chat-driven coding assistant to your terminal. It generates code, suggests commands, explains flags, scaffolds files, and performs routine dev tasks using natural language, blending knowledge of your local workspace with command-line context. The agent mode uses Anthropic's Claude models for multi-step reasoning and can read and write files locally, call AWS APIs, run bash commands, and use MCP server-based tools while adapting to your feedback in real time. IDE-style autocomplete for hundreds of popular CLIs runs locally with sub-10ms latency via a lightweight on-device model. Available for macOS Terminal, iTerm2, and VS Code terminal. The free Individual tier is generous enough for daily use. Pro is $19/user/month with higher limits and admin controls.
Gemini CLI
Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal agent for Gemini models. It reads and edits large codebases, runs shell commands, connects MCP servers, takes project instructions from GEMINI.md files, checkpoints long sessions so you can resume them, and runs non-interactively with -p and --output-format json for scripts and CI, with a GitHub Action for pull request reviews and issue triage. The big 2026 change is who it is for. Google moved consumers to Antigravity CLI: on June 18, 2026 Gemini CLI stopped serving requests for the free Gemini Code Assist for individuals tier and for Google AI Pro, Ultra, and Google One users. Organizations on Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise keep full access, and anyone can still run it with a paid Gemini API key or through Vertex AI. The GitHub README still describes the old free tier, so trust the docs banner and Google's announcement over it. If you are an individual developer who picked Gemini CLI because it was free, read the migration guide and look at Antigravity CLI; if your team already pays for Gemini through Google Cloud, Gemini CLI is still actively shipped, with weekly stable releases.
FAQ
Answers taken from each tool's verified fact sheet, with the date it was last checked.
How much does Gemini CLI cost?
As of October 9, 2026: Gemini API key - usage-based billing at Gemini API rates; Vertex AI - billed to your Google Cloud project; Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise - included with your organization's license; Free tier, Google AI Pro, Ultra, and Google One - no longer served since June 18, 2026; use Antigravity CLI. Source: google-gemini/gemini-cli README, Gemini CLI release notes, Model selection docs, Google: transitioning Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI.
How do I install Gemini CLI?
Official install commands as of October 9, 2026: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli or brew install gemini-cli or npx @google/gemini-cli.
Which models does Gemini CLI use?
As of October 9, 2026: The /model command offers Auto (Gemini 3), which routes between Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash, Auto (Gemini 2.5), which routes between Gemini 2.5 Pro and Flash, or a manual pick. Pass --model to choose at startup. Context window is up to 1M tokens.
