# Pi vs Gemini CLI

> Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Pi's 68.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Pi leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-gemini-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-gemini-cli.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-gemini-cli.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-gemini-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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: 2026-10-08

Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Pi's 68.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Pi leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harness.

- Pi: grade B, 68.4/100, rank #170 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/earendil-pi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/earendil-pi.json
- Gemini CLI: grade BB, 72/100, rank #94 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Pi (B)

Good for: Developers and pipelines that want a small, scriptable coding agent they can extend in TypeScript and drive over JSONL or RPC, inside their own container.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No permission system or sandbox. Tool calls run with the user's rights and without an approval prompt

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 93 against 84
- Security & auth, 67 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Pi | Gemini CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 71 | Pi +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 93 | Gemini CLI +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 78 | Gemini CLI +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 67 | Gemini CLI +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | Pi +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 88 | Gemini CLI +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 87 | Gemini CLI +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **68.4 · B** | **72 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Pi | Gemini CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Earendil | Google |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-29 |
| 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 | 113k stars, 5.2M npm/wk | 107k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Pi.** Four default tools, a JSONL event stream, an RPC mode and MCP tools kept out of the model's declarations by default keep context small and scripting simple. Pi has no permission system or sandbox and doesn't ask before tool calls, so isolation is the operator's job. Version 1.0.0 is dated 1 October 2026.

**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

### Pi

1. Run Pi inside a container or VM for unattended work. It has no sandbox and doesn't ask before running shell commands
2. Use `pi --mode json` and wait for `agent_settled`. A failed response doesn't set a nonzero exit code in JSON mode
3. Split the JSONL stream on LF only. Node's `readline` also splits on U+2028 and U+2029, which are valid inside JSON strings
4. Pass `--no-approve` or `--approve` in scripts to make the project trust decision explicit
5. Set `PI_TELEMETRY=0` and `PI_SKIP_VERSION_CHECK=1`, or `PI_OFFLINE=1`, to stop the default requests to pi.dev

### 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, Pi or Gemini CLI?

Gemini CLI scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Pi's 68.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Pi leads on payments & pricing.

### Are Pi and Gemini CLI open source?

Yes. Pi is open source (MIT). Gemini CLI is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

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