orca vs gemini-cli
Two of the top coding agents and assistants, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
orca
Desktop app that runs CLI coding agents in parallel git worktrees
gemini-cli
Terminal coding agent that runs Gemini models with file, shell and MCP tools
| What we compare | orca | gemini-cli |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 81, widely used | 88, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 81, healthy | 91, healthy |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 70, partly | 0, none |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 90.2k | 107.3k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | Apache-2.0 (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
orca
Orca is a cross-platform desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) that runs several CLI coding agents side by side, each in its own isolated git worktree. It bundles terminals with splits, an editor, an embedded Chromium browser, GitHub and Linear task views, and diff annotation. A mobile companion app and an `orca` CLI let you monitor and script agent workflows.
Who it is for: Developers running several CLI coding agents in parallel on one repo
Strengths
- Works with any agent that runs in a terminal, including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi
- Each agent gets its own git worktree; fan one prompt across several and compare
- Agents can run on a remote machine over SSH with port forwarding
- MIT license; desktop builds for macOS, Windows, Linux plus Homebrew and AUR packages
Weaknesses
- No Docker or self-hosted server install; it is a desktop app
- Mobile pairing relay lives in a separate pnpm workspace under cloud/
- Collects anonymous usage telemetry; opt-out is documented but not the default
- Ships daily and the README says its feature list lags behind
- no GPU
- Needs git, CLI coding agent of your choice
gemini-cli
Gemini CLI is a TypeScript terminal agent, installed from npm, Homebrew, MacPorts or conda, that sends prompts to Gemini models and can edit files, run shell commands, fetch web pages and ground answers with Google Search. It supports MCP servers, GEMINI.md context files, conversation checkpointing, a headless mode with JSON and stream-JSON output, and a GitHub Action for PR review and issue triage.
Who it is for: Developers who want a Gemini-backed coding agent in the terminal or CI
Strengths
- Free tier with Google login: 60 requests/min, 1,000 requests/day
- 1M token context window with Gemini 3 models
- Headless mode emits plain text, JSON or newline-delimited stream-JSON
- Auth via Google login, Gemini API key or Vertex AI
Weaknesses
- Only talks to Gemini models; no other providers listed in the README
- Needs a Google account, API key or Vertex AI credentials; no local models
- Preview and nightly channels may contain regressions
- Free-tier quotas and terms are governed by Google, not the project
- no GPU
- Docker
- Needs Node.js, Gemini API, Google account login or Vertex AI
- Models: Gemini 3, Gemini 2.5 Flash