Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#1

Post by elC0mpa » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 3:49 AM UTC

Hey guys, I have a question related to these agentic clis

I work full time as a Software Engineer and recently started using tools like Claude Code and Gemini CLI. I just want to know your opinion about these because from y point of view they both have different disadvantages:

Gemini CLI usually takes long (~5ms) in plan mode because it uses Gemini Pro 3.1, but I have never been running out of tokens. However, Claude is pretty fast but I usually run out of tokens.

Just want to know if any of you have some workaround for any of these tools or a way to solve this.

Thank you!!!!

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#2

Post by jackkinsella » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 5:24 AM UTC

I love Gemini for general knowledge and think it far outperforms Claude for research, but personally I cannot use Gemini for programming due to: 1. it taking so long 2. it not giving any information about its thought process / what it's doing "in its head", whereas Claude code tells you what it's thinking and allows you to interrupt.

So for now, I would personally recommend dropping Gemini for the actual implementation of programming or anything involving analysis of your codebase.

I don't doubt that Google has smart people on this, and that this may improve in a few months' time.

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#3

Post by elC0mpa » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 5:35 AM UTC

jackkinsella wrote: post #2

I love Gemini for general knowledge and think it far outperforms Claude for research, but personally I cannot use Gemini for programming due to: 1. it taking so long 2. it not giving any information about its thought process / what it's doing "in its head", whereas Claude code tells you what it's thinking and allows you to interrupt. So for now, I would personally recommend dropping Gemini for the actual implementati…

I understand your position, however for some strange reason (maybe because like I am the kind of software engineer who liks to do most by himself) I haven't noticed any issue every time I ask Gemini to do something. Thanks anyways for your comment!!!

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#4

Post by as1as » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 10:17 AM UTC

I think Claude is far better than Gemini, the lack of usage is a chronic problem. Even using the Max model is not enough. If I used that much, I think I worked a lot and took a rest. LOL.

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#5

Post by the_robvb » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 2:24 PM UTC

I haven't used Gemini CLI, but when I'm using Claude I use Opus for planning, and Sonnet for executing things. I barely use Haiku, but I sometimes use it for brainstorming or really simple tasks.

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#6

Post by codegodnvn » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 3:05 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#7

Post by DevKoan » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 4:32 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#8

Post by valentinconan » Tue, Mar 31, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

I used to use Gemini CLI and was pretty happy with it… until I started using Claude Code. I think it’s, for now, the most advanced AI tool available right now. You can manage skills, the MCP, plugins, agents, hooks… It’s a truly comprehensive tool, but its main drawback is the token consumption of the Anthropic model, especially in recent days. There are solutions to reduce input tokens, for example this GitHub project https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk. It uses hooks to replace certain commands with optimized ones and helps reduce the number of input tokens. It’s a start...

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#9

Post by jaikechen » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 12:35 AM UTC

claude make the plan, and let gemini implement.

Re: Ask HN: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code

#10

Post by elC0mpa » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

valentinconan wrote: post #8

I used to use Gemini CLI and was pretty happy with it… until I started using Claude Code. I think it’s, for now, the most advanced AI tool available right now. You can manage skills, the MCP, plugins, agents, hooks… It’s a truly comprehensive tool, but its main drawback is the token consumption of the Anthropic model, especially in recent days. There are solutions to reduce input tokens, for example this GitHub proje…

Thanks, anyways I have the Google AI Pro subscription for one year, so for now I will continue using Gemini