Gemini CLI and GitHub Copilot CLI, fact by fact
| Fact | Gemini CLI | GitHub Copilot CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Stars | not tracked for Gemini CLI | 11,244Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Newest commit | not tracked for Gemini CLI | 7 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Contributors | not tracked for Gemini CLI | 26Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| License | not tracked for Gemini CLI | OtherVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Latest stable release | not tracked for Gemini CLI | v1.0.93published 7 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| npm downloads | not tracked for Gemini CLI | 1,723,666 a week@github/copilotVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Repository | not tracked for Gemini CLI | github/copilot-cliShellVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
What our catalogue holds
These are curated rows, not readings. We state no difference between the two columns because we have not checked either of them.
| Catalogue field | Gemini CLI | GitHub Copilot CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CLI Tool | CLI Tool |
| Where it runs | Terminal | Terminal |
| Pricing string, uncheckedWrong on 43 of our 190 rows. Not a price of ours. | Open Source | Copilot subscription |
| Vendor page | github.com | github.com |
What we know about GitHub Copilot CLI
Copilot CLI bills the agent from a dollar-denominated credit balance rather than per token: Pro carries $15 of GitHub AI Credits a month, Pro+ $70 and Max $200.
“Credits used when interacting with Copilot features. Chat, agent mode, code review, Copilot cloud agent, Copilot CLI, and Copilot Apps consume GitHub AI Credits. Free plan supports CLI and agent mode.”
Work across code and GitHub state — issues, pull requests, repositories — in one session, because the agent ships with GitHub's MCP server enabled.
“- **MCP-powered extensibility:** Take advantage of the fact that the coding agent ships with GitHub's MCP server by default and supports custom MCP servers to extend capabilities.”
Hold one very long session: at 95% of the token limit Copilot compacts the history in the background instead of stopping.
“Auto-compaction : When your conversation approaches 95% of the token limit, Copilot automatically compresses your history in the background without interrupting your workflow. This enables virtually infinite sessions.”
Agree the scope before any code is written: plan mode asks clarifying questions and produces a plan first.
“In plan mode, Copilot analyzes your request, asks clarifying questions to understand scope and requirements, and builds a plan before writing any code.”
Your employer can switch the tool off: when Copilot comes from an organization, an administrator must enable the Copilot CLI policy first.
“GitHub Copilot CLI is available with all Copilot plans. If you receive Copilot from an organization, the Copilot CLI policy must be enabled in the organization's settings.”
You cannot bring an arbitrary model: one that lacks tool calling or streaming makes the CLI return an error, and GitHub asks for a 128k context window.
“Models used with Copilot CLI must support tool calling (function calling) and streaming . If the model does not support these capabilities, Copilot CLI will return an error. For best results, the model should have a context window of at least 128k tokens.”
Model access fails in the field: a 403 on listing models is open with 30 comments, and sporadic policy blocking on model retrieval is open with 29.
“Failed to list models: 403 : unauthorized: not authorized to use this Copilot feature”
A developer with no GitHub Copilot subscription who wants an agent on day one should pick OpenCode or Crush; Copilot CLI needs an active Copilot plan.
“- An **active Copilot subscription**. See [Copilot plans](https://github.com/features/copilot/plans?ref_cta=Copilot+plans+signup&ref_loc=install-copilot-cli&ref_page=docs).”
What GitHub Copilot CLI costs
Copilot CLI is on the $0 Free plan; paid plans are Pro at $10 per user per month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100.
“Pro · For everyday coding with agents in GitHub Copilot. · $ 10 USD per user / month”
The Max plan is built for sustained agent work and carries $100 a month of GitHub AI Credits.
“GitHub Copilot Max is built for heavy Copilot usage, including sustained agent-driven workflows, and includes $100/month in GitHub AI Credits.”
What this page does not answer
We have researched GitHub Copilot CLI and we have not researched Gemini CLI. That means the judgments above answer for one tool and not for the other, and we publish no price for Gemini CLI because we have not read its pricing page. Nothing on this page about Gemini CLI is our opinion; there is not enough evidence yet for one.
Questions people ask
- Are Gemini CLI and GitHub Copilot CLI still maintained?
- Gemini CLI has no repository we track. GitHub Copilot CLI committed to github/copilot-cli (main) on 7 Oct 2026. Both readings come from the default branch of each repository, on the date shown beside them.
- What does GitHub Copilot CLI cost?
- Gemini CLI: we have not read its pricing page, so we publish no price for it. GitHub Copilot CLI: Copilot CLI is on the $0 Free plan; paid plans are Pro at $10 per user per month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100. The Max plan is built for sustained agent work and carries $100 a month of GitHub AI Credits. Every figure here is quoted from the vendor's own page and linked beside the claim.
- Is Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot CLI open source?
- We have not read a licence for Gemini CLI. GitHub Copilot CLI's repository github/copilot-cli reports the Other licence. We read the licence GitHub reports for the repository, which is not the same question as whether the hosted product is free.
How we check this page
- Machine facts. Stars, contributors, the newest commit on the default branch, the licence GitHub reports and the latest stable release come from the GitHub API, and download counts from npm, PyPI, Homebrew and the VS Code Marketplace. Each value carries the day it was last confirmed, never the day this page was built. The line under each label is arithmetic on those two values.
- Judgments. Every claim about what a tool suits, what it is bad at and what it costs is quoted from a page we read, and that page is linked beside the claim. Where there is no link, we wrote no claim.
- Index status. GitHub Copilot CLI carries claims we read, quoted and linked; Gemini CLI does not. So this page is offered to search engines.
Related comparisons
Pairs we can answer for come first.
