# DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Gemini CLI (slim)

> Gemini CLI scores 66.7 (B) to DeepSeek Harness's 49.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-gemini-cli.md (~3,850 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-gemini-cli.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-gemini-cli
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-18
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Gemini CLI scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Harness (dsh)'s 49.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. DeepSeek Harness (dsh) leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- DeepSeek Harness (dsh): D 49.2, rank #909 of 1146 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepseek-harness.min.md
- Gemini CLI: B 66.7, rank #307 of 1146 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-cli.min.md
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh), good for Developers who use DeepSeek models and want a scriptable harness with ACP, a JSON event stream and a Python SDK. Ahead on Payments & pricing, 60 against 20. Also Free to start without a card.
- Gemini CLI, good for Teams with a paid Gemini API key, Vertex AI credentials or existing Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licences that want an open-source harness with documented headless output. Ahead on Reliability, 71 against 33; Schema & documentation, 93 against 77; Agent ergonomics, 78 against 68; Security & auth, 67 against 40; Maintenance & community, 88 against 71; Transparency & trust, 89 against 50. Also Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5.

| Category | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) | Gemini CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 33 | 71 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 77 | 93 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 68 | 78 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 40 | 67 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 71 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 50 | 89 |

| Fact (where they differ) | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) | Gemini CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | DeepSeek | Google |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-10-17 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 245k npm/wk | 107k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 3.5/5 (2) |