Antigravity CLI vs Gemini CLI vs Claude Code (May 2026)
Antigravity CLI vs Gemini CLI vs Claude Code (May 2026)
Gemini CLI is being retired. Antigravity CLI is the replacement. Google announced the transition at Google I/O 2026 on May 19, 2026, and Claude Code is still the terminal agent to beat. Here’s the practical comparison.
Last verified: May 21, 2026
TL;DR table
| Antigravity CLI | Gemini CLI | Claude Code | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Google (retiring) | Anthropic | |
| Status | New (May 19, 2026) | Deprecated June 18, 2026 (consumer) | Active, mature |
| Default model | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Gemini 3.1 Pro | Claude Opus 4.7 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 200,000 |
| Multi-agent | Yes (parallel) | Limited | Yes (parallel agents) |
| Shared session with desktop app | Yes (Antigravity 2.0) | No | Claude.ai pairing |
| Plugins / MCP | Yes (MCP + plugins) | MCP | MCP |
| Auth | Google account / API key | Google account / API key | Anthropic account / API key |
| Languages | Go | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Best for | Cheap parallel agents on Google stack | (Don’t start new projects) | Highest-quality single-agent coding |
Why Gemini CLI is going away
Google’s announcement from May 19, 2026 is unambiguous: “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 using Gemini Code Assist for individuals.”
Enterprise access continues unchanged. Everyone else has roughly four weeks to migrate.
The reason isn’t that Gemini CLI was bad. It’s that Google built Antigravity — a unified agent harness powering the Antigravity 2.0 desktop app, AI Studio, the new Managed Agents endpoint in the Gemini API, and now the terminal. Running two parallel CLIs with different architectures was a tax Google decided to stop paying.
What Antigravity CLI brings that Gemini CLI didn’t
| Capability | Gemini CLI | Antigravity CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-agent (parallel) | Single agent | Yes — manager view from terminal |
| Shared session with desktop | No | Yes — pick up where Antigravity 2.0 left off |
| Same agent harness as Google’s products | No | Yes |
| Subagents (dynamic spawning) | No | Yes |
| Plugin system | Limited | Yes |
| Background / scheduled tasks | No | Yes |
| Built-in SSH-style remote auth | No | Yes |
| Default model | Gemini 3.1 Pro | Gemini 3.5 Flash (4x faster, ~5x cheaper) |
Antigravity CLI vs Claude Code — the real fight
Gemini CLI is dead. The actual question for May 2026 is whether you should pick Antigravity CLI or Claude Code as your terminal agent.
Model choice
- Antigravity CLI defaults to Gemini 3.5 Flash — 1M context, ~4x output speed, $1.50/$9 per 1M tokens (input/output), 76.2% Terminal-Bench 2.1.
- Claude Code defaults to Claude Opus 4.7 — 200K context, $15/$75 per 1M tokens, 64.3% SWE-bench Pro (best in class), 66.1% Terminal-Bench 2.1.
The model gap is quality vs price-speed. Opus 4.7 is the SWE-bench Pro champion — Anthropic’s lead on code quality is still real. But Gemini 3.5 Flash costs ~10x less per output token, runs 4x faster, and has 5x the context.
Agent architecture
- Claude Code is single-agent-first. You can spawn parallel agents (via the Agent SDK), but the default workflow is one strong agent doing serial work with good interrupt-and-continue UX.
- Antigravity CLI is multi-agent-first. The terminal surfaces the same “manager view” as the desktop app — dispatch N tasks to N agents, review when they’re done.
If you’re doing one focused refactor with high quality bar, Claude Code wins. If you’re dispatching 12 small parallel tasks to chew through a backlog, Antigravity CLI wins.
Plugin and tool ecosystem
Both speak MCP (Model Context Protocol). Both can connect to GitHub, your filesystem, custom tools. Claude Code has a larger MCP server ecosystem because of a 9-month head start. Antigravity CLI inherits MCP from Antigravity 2.0 plus Google-specific integrations (Google Cloud, Firebase, Workspace).
Pricing
| Antigravity CLI | Claude Code | |
|---|---|---|
| CLI app | Free | Free |
| Default model API rate (in / out) | $1.50 / $9.00 per 1M tokens | $15 / $75 per 1M tokens |
| Subscription option | Google AI Pro $19.99/mo, AI Ultra $99.99/mo (new) | Claude Pro $20/mo, Max $100–$200/mo |
| Free tier | Yes (low quota) | No persistent free tier |
For high-volume agentic loops, Antigravity CLI is meaningfully cheaper — that’s the new $100/mo Google AI Ultra plan’s whole pitch, with 5x Pro quotas specifically tuned for Antigravity workloads.
Migration plan if you’re on Gemini CLI today
- Before June 18, 2026: install Antigravity CLI (
brew install google/antigravity/antigravity-clion macOS, or download from antigravity.google). - Sign in with the same Google account you used for Gemini CLI — your AI Pro / Ultra plan and quotas carry over.
- Project files — Antigravity CLI uses a different config layout (
.antigravity/vs.gemini/). Runantigravity migratefrom inside an existing Gemini CLI project. - Custom tools / MCP servers — should work unchanged; both speak MCP.
- Enterprise customers: you can stay on Gemini CLI past June 18, but Google strongly recommends migrating since new features only ship to Antigravity CLI.
Which one to pick
| If you want… | Pick |
|---|---|
| Highest code quality, single-agent flow | Claude Code |
| Best price-performance for high-volume agentic loops | Antigravity CLI |
| Tight integration with Google Cloud / Firebase / Workspace | Antigravity CLI |
| Tight integration with Anthropic’s Claude Agent SDK | Claude Code |
| Multi-agent manager view in the terminal | Antigravity CLI |
| 1M-token context window | Antigravity CLI |
| Most mature terminal-agent UX | Claude Code |
| You were on Gemini CLI | Migrate to Antigravity CLI before June 18 |
TL;DR
Gemini CLI is retiring June 18, 2026 — migrate to Antigravity CLI. Between the two real options for May 2026, Claude Code wins on single-agent code quality (Opus 4.7 is the SWE-bench Pro champ), and Antigravity CLI wins on price-performance and multi-agent throughput (Gemini 3.5 Flash is 4x faster and 10x cheaper per output token). Most serious teams will run both — Claude Code for high-quality work, Antigravity CLI for cheap parallel agentic loops.