Is Gemini CLI still free? What changed in 2026

Not with a Google account. On June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI stopped serving requests for people signed in with a personal Google account, whether free or on Google AI Pro or Ultra, and signing in with Google no longer works; Google moved those users to its new Antigravity CLI, which has a free plan with a weekly limit. Gemini CLI itself is still open source under Apache 2.0 and still updated, and it keeps working with paid Gemini API keys, Vertex AI and Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise licenses. Whether a free Gemini API key still works is unclear: Google's announcement promises only paid keys, while its quota page still lists a free key at 250 requests a day on Flash models.

Key takeaways

• Since June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI doesn't serve free, Google AI Pro or Ultra accounts.
• Still working: paid Gemini API keys, Vertex AI, and Code Assist Standard or Enterprise (Gemini Code Assist pricing).
• A free API key may still work at 250 requests a day on Flash models, per Google's quota page, but the announcement doesn't promise it, and the GitHub README still shows the old free limits.
• The replacement is Antigravity CLI (agy): closed source, with a free weekly quota, and it imports your Gemini CLI extensions, skills and MCP servers.

What exactly changed?

Google announced it on May 19, 2026 (Google Developers Blog): from June 18, Gemini CLI and the Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions stopped serving requests for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers and for people using them free through Gemini Code Assist for individuals. Google's deprecation page, updated September 2, adds that you can no longer sign in with Google in the IDE extensions or Gemini CLI. Gemini Code Assist for GitHub takes no new installs. Code Assist Standard and Enterprise licenses are unchanged.

Does a free Gemini API key still work with Gemini CLI?

Google's own pages disagree. The announcement says Gemini CLI remains available through paid Gemini API keys. Gemini CLI's quota page, updated the same day as the cutoff, still lists a free API key at 250 requests a day, Flash models only, though the same table still shows the retired Google-account limits, so it looks only partly updated. Google's API also changed in 2026: since May 28 every new key from AI Studio is an "auth key," and the API rejects unrestricted standard keys (Google). Google no longer publishes the free tier's rate limits; you see them per project in AI Studio.

The practical answer: create a key in AI Studio and try it. The free tier covers the Flash models, Gemini 3.8, 3.7, 3.6 and 3.5, but not 3.1 Pro (Google). If you're refused, Gemini CLI is now a paid tool for you.

Is Gemini CLI still maintained?

Yes. The repository isn't archived, has about 107,000 stars, and released version 0.62.0 on September 29, 2026, adding Gemini 3.8 Flash. It installs with npm install -g @google/gemini-cli or Homebrew. Its README still advertises the old free limits of 1,000 requests a day, which is where most of the confusion comes from.

What is Antigravity CLI?

Google's replacement, launched on May 19, 2026 with Antigravity 2.0. The command is agy; it's written in Go and runs the same agent as Google's Antigravity desktop app. Install it with curl -fsSL https://antigravity.google/cli/install.sh | bash on macOS and Linux, or the PowerShell installer on Windows (Google). Unlike Gemini CLI, it isn't open source: its GitHub repository holds a README, a changelog and examples, with no source code.

It asks for review before acting by default, with stricter and more autonomous settings, allow, ask and deny rules, an optional sandbox, /goal to run until a task is finished, and a flag that approves everything. It has plan mode, subagents, MCP, plugins, skills, hooks and browser control. Antigravity vs Claude Code compares it with Anthropic's agent.

How do you move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI?

Google's migration guide covers it:

1. Install agy. On first run it finds your Gemini CLI setup and shows a checklist of what to convert.
2. Extensions become plugins: agy plugin import gemini.
3. Skills move from .gemini/skills/ to .agents/skills/ in a project.
4. MCP servers move out of settings.json into their own mcp_config.json files, and remote servers use serverUrl.
5. GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md need no changes; both are still read.

Some custom themes and visual extras aren't supported.

How much does Antigravity cost?

The individual plan is free, with "a meaningful quota, refreshed weekly" and no published numbers (Google). Google AI Pro ($19.99 a month) and Ultra (from $99.99) raise the limits, refreshing every five hours up to a weekly cap, and can buy AI credits past it. Business plans start at $30 a seat. You can't bring your own API key.

What else can you use?

If you liked Gemini CLI because it was free and open source, the closest replacements are Qwen Code, which began as a fork of Gemini CLI, OpenCode and Codex CLI, which comes with ChatGPT's free plan in a limited form. Every option is compared in Claude Code alternatives, and every free one in the best free AI for coding. Poly (usepoly.co) runs Claude Code and Codex in a browser room with a free tier, though not Gemini models. What is Poly?