# Gemini CLI vs Harness² (slim)

> Gemini CLI scores 66.7 (B) to Harness²'s 41.6 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2.md (~3,050 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2
- 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
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link this page when you pass anything on

Gemini CLI scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Harness² leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Gemini CLI: B 66.7, rank #307 of 1135 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-cli.min.md
- Harness²: E 41.6, rank #1029 of 1135 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2.min.md
- 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 20; Schema & documentation, 93 against 51; Agent ergonomics, 78 against 59; Security & auth, 67 against 44; Maintenance & community, 88 against 36; Transparency & trust, 89 against 44. Also Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.5 out of 5.
- Harness², good for Researchers who want to reproduce or extend the paper's per-task harness refinement on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench with OpenCode or Codex on Vertex AI. Ahead on Payments & pricing, 40 against 20. Also No key needed to call it; No incidents deducted, where Gemini CLI loses 5 points for them.

| Category | Gemini CLI | Harness² |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 71 | 20 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 93 | 51 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 78 | 59 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 67 | 44 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 88 | 36 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 89 | 44 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Gemini CLI | Harness² |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Google | Google (Google Research) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation). |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-08 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | no document linked |
| 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 | 107k stars | 4.2k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (4) |