# Droid CLI vs Gemini CLI

> Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) to Droid CLI's 59.1 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-gemini-cli
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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-gemini-cli.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- Droid CLI: grade C, 59.1/100, rank #560 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/droid-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/droid-cli.json
- Gemini CLI: grade BB, 72/100, rank #114 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-cli.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 167 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Droid CLI (C)

Good for: Teams that want a terminal coding agent with tiered autonomy, command rules and an optional sandbox, and that will pay for a Factory plan.

Watch for: No free tier or trial was found. Plans start at $20 a month and included usage is stated only as rolling rate limits without numbers

### Gemini CLI (BB)

Good for: Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness with a free tier and documented headless output.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 71 against 49
- Schema & documentation, 93 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 72
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 79
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Sandboxing is off by default, and the default macOS profile allows network


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Droid CLI | Gemini CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 49 | 71 | Gemini CLI +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 93 | Gemini CLI +14 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 78 | Gemini CLI +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 67 | Gemini CLI +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 40 | Gemini CLI +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 88 | Gemini CLI +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 87 | Gemini CLI +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **59.1 · C** | **72 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Droid CLI | Gemini CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Factory | Google |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Factory's Terms and Conditions. The `droid` npm package is marked `UNLICENSED` and the public repository holds documentation only. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-14 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-20 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 49 stars, 7.8k npm/wk | 107k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Droid CLI.** `droid exec` is read-only unless `--auto` raises the autonomy level, with command rules, an optional kernel-enforced sandbox, JSON output and documented exit codes. No free tier, status page or security.txt was found, the source is closed, and usage metrics go to Factory by default.

**Gemini CLI.** Apache-2.0, CI passing on main, and 583 open issues with priority labels. Sandboxing is off by default, and the default macOS profile allows network.

## Before you call either

### Droid CLI

1. Set `FACTORY_API_KEY` (starts `fk-`) from the API keys page in Factory settings for headless runs. Interactive use signs in through a browser
2. Start with `droid exec` and no flags for analysis. Add `--auto low` for edits and `--auto medium` for installs, tests and local commits
3. Use `--output-format json` and read `is_error`, `num_turns` and `session_id`. Treat a non-zero exit code as failure
4. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true before running on untrusted code. In `droid exec` a sandbox violation is denied without a prompt
5. Pin the version in CI with `npm install -g droid@<version>`, or set `FACTORY_DROID_AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=false` on standalone installs, which update themselves

### Gemini CLI

1. Set `GEMINI_TRUST_WORKSPACE` to true only for trusted inputs in CI. Since 0.39.1 headless mode doesn't trust a folder on its own
2. Turn on the sandbox with `-s` or `tools.sandbox`, and pick a proxied Seatbelt profile on macOS to cut network
3. Set `privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled` to false to stop usage statistics
4. Read the exit code. 42 is bad input and 53 is the turn limit
5. Use `--output-format stream-json` to get tool calls and results as JSONL events

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Droid CLI or Gemini CLI?

Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Droid CLI and Gemini CLI open source?

No open-source release is listed for Droid CLI. Gemini CLI is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-gemini-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-gemini-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "droid-cli", "b": "gemini-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare droid-cli gemini-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/droid-cli.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-cli.json

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