Amp vs Gemini CLI (2026): Which Vibe Coding App Is Better?

Both are popular terminal coding agents. Here is how Amp and Gemini CLI stack up on price, strengths and weaknesses, and which one we would pick.

Amp

Frontier coding agent for the terminal and editor, from the makers of Sourcegraph

8.2 /10

Pricing: Free plan, paid from $20/mo

Pros

Strong results on hard, multi-step tasks
Shared threads for team review
Subagents and AGENTS.md built in

Cons

Usage-based costs add up on large tasks
Fewer configuration knobs by design

Visit Amp ↗

Gemini CLI

Google's open-source terminal agent, retired for consumer accounts in June 2026 (enterprise and API keys only)

6.8 /10

Pricing: Open source

Pros

Open source (Apache-2.0) and auditable
Large context window for big repositories
Still supported for enterprise licences and paid API keys

Cons

Retired for free, AI Pro/Ultra and individual accounts on 18 June 2026
Google's development focus has moved to the Antigravity CLI

Visit Gemini CLI ↗

Amp vs Gemini CLI at a glance

	Amp	Gemini CLI
Editor score	8.2 / 10	6.8 / 10
Pricing model	Freemium	Open source
Starting price	$20/mo	Free
Reader upvotes	0	0
Best for	terminal, agent	terminal, google, open source
Agent Skills support	Yes	Yes
Subagents support	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes
AGENTS.md support	Yes	Yes
Plugins support	Yes	Yes
Hooks support	No	Yes
Rules support	No	No
Agent skills in this directory	47	51
Subagents & agents in this directory	9	20
MCP servers in this directory	72	73

Our pick

Amp edges it with a score of 8.2 versus 6.8. Amp is the better fit if you value: strong results on hard, multi-step tasks, shared threads for team review. Choose Gemini CLI instead if you need: open source (apache-2.0) and auditable, large context window for big repositories.