Antigravity vs Claude Code: Which to Pick

Antigravity is Google's agent platform, sold as an app, a CLI, an IDE, extensions and a Python SDK. Claude Code is Anthropic's agent, sold through Claude plans. Pick Antigravity if you want Google's Gemini models and a free entry plan. Pick Claude Code if you want Claude models and a more mature set of terminal workflow features. Facts below were checked on 31 October 2026.

The short version

What each one is

Antigravity

Google describes Antigravity as "our agentic development platform." It is a family of surfaces on the same agent harness:

• Antigravity App: a command center to manage multiple local agents in parallel. Conversations are grouped into Projects, you can work across several workspaces, and you can schedule messages for routine tasks.
• Antigravity CLI: a terminal-first surface. It runs autonomous coding agents, executes shell commands, and manages background subagents. The command is agy.
• Antigravity IDE: the full IDE, with an agent manager and artifacts.
• Antigravity Extensions: for working inside other IDEs.
• Antigravity SDK: Python scripts to prototype custom agents on the same harness, automate software engineering tasks and run evaluations.

It is available on macOS, Windows, Linux and Googlebook, per the download page. There is also a Remote Control feature to drive desktop and CLI sessions from a browser, and a Plugin Marketplace announced on the homepage.

Antigravity is where Google sent its individual Gemini CLI users. The Gemini CLI README says so directly: free individual access and Google AI Pro and Ultra access moved to Antigravity CLI on June 18, 2026.

Claude Code

Anthropic's docs: an agentic coding tool that reads your codebase, edits files, runs commands, and integrates with your development tools. Surfaces are the terminal CLI, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, a desktop app, and the web at claude.ai/code. All of them use the same engine, so a repo's CLAUDE.md, settings and MCP servers work across them.

Side-by-side facts

Pricing

Antigravity

The pricing page lays out four options.

The Antigravity page does not give the price of Google AI Pro or Ultra. Google's Gemini subscriptions page lists Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month, which includes entry rate limits for the agent model in Antigravity, and Google AI Ultra at $99.99 a month (5x Pro usage limits) or $199.99 a month (20x), with higher Antigravity rate limits.

Claude Code

Anthropic's cost page gives a pay-per-token reference for API users: an average of about $13 per developer per active day across enterprise deployments, $150 to $250 per developer per month, and under $30 per active day for 90 percent of users.

The practical point is the entry price. Antigravity has a no-subscription plan with basic weekly rate limits. Claude Code starts at $17 or $20 a month. If you are not sure you want an agent at all, Antigravity's free plan lets you find out at no cost. Weekly limits on that plan are described only as "basic," so a heavy user will hit them.

The terminal experience

Antigravity CLI's product page stresses speed and a small footprint: "the most lightweight way to invoke, monitor, and interact with Antigravity agents." Background tasks run as concurrent agent sessions, with /agents to open a status panel and ctrl+k to approve tools quickly. /config adjusts permissions, themes and preferences; /keybindings customises shortcuts; slash commands reach plugins, MCP, skills and hooks. On first launch the terminal interface walks you through color scheme, rendering mode and workspace trust.

Claude Code's terminal CLI is older and documents more. It reads CLAUDE.md at the start of each session and builds auto memory as it works. A lead agent can spawn multiple Claude Code agents and merge their results, or you can run several full sessions and watch them with background agents. claude -p makes it a Unix tool: pipe a log in, run it in CI, chain it with other commands. Permission modes include a read-only plan mode, and bash rules match the whole command, including operators.

Both let you approve or deny tools, both run subagents, and both reach MCP. The difference at this level is documentation depth and how long each has been out, not a missing feature on either side.

Models

Antigravity is a Google product. The site's recent posts are about Gemini 4 Argon and Gemini 3.8 Flash in Antigravity, and the Gemini CLI README tells you to use Antigravity CLI for Gemini 4 Argon and later. Per the model docs, the free plan lists Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 (thinking) and GPT-OSS-120b, with the Claude and GPT models marked for removal on 2 November 2026. Gemini 4 Argon and the Claude 5.5 models need Google AI Pro or higher.

Claude Code runs Claude models, with aliases like opus, sonnet, haiku, fable and best, and an opusplan mode that plans with Opus and executes with Sonnet. If you buy Claude through Amazon Bedrock or Google Vertex, the terminal CLI, VS Code and JetBrains can use those providers.

So the model decision tracks the vendor decision. Antigravity is the way into newest Gemini models in an agent harness Google tunes for them. Claude Code is the same for Claude.

Customisation

Antigravity reads the same rule documents Gemini CLI did, so existing context files need no changes. Skills and workspace rules are reusable workflows and instructions. The Plugin Marketplace is new. Its docs show an Antigravity SDK for building custom Python agents and hooks.

Claude Code has CLAUDE.md (or AGENTS.md), skills, subagents, hooks, plugins and the Agent SDK. Hooks can be shell commands, HTTP endpoints, MCP tool calls, prompts or subagents, and fire at points in the agent lifecycle in every surface. Custom commands were merged into skills.

Both have the same kinds of extension points. If you already have an investment in one vendor's skills or plugins, switching has a cost. Neither vendor documents a one-click importer for the other.

Moving from Gemini CLI to Antigravity

If you came from Gemini CLI, Google's migration doc is specific. On the first agy launch in an environment with Gemini CLI configuration, an interactive checklist lets you pick what to convert. Extensions become native plugins, commands become skills, and MCP definitions move to mcp_config.json. Session tokens move into the operating system keyring. Partial parity applies: some custom terminal themes and experimental overlays may not work.

Data and enterprise

Antigravity's Business plan runs under Google Cloud Terms of Service, with spend caps across API and subscription plans, centralized admin controls, and access via API at consumption-based prices. For existing Gemini Enterprise customers with an invoiced Cloud billing account, a setup guide enables AI developer tools for Antigravity.

For Claude Code, Anthropic's data-usage page says that for Free, Pro, Max and Ultra accounts there is a setting allowing data to be used to improve future models (five-year retention if you allow it), while Team, Enterprise, API and third-party platform use falls under commercial terms with no training on Claude Code inputs unless the customer opts into a program.

The Antigravity terms say Google stores Interactions, uses them to evaluate, develop and improve Google and Alphabet research, lets employees and contractors review them, and offers an opt-out in settings. They give no retention period and do not say plainly whether prompts and code train models.

Where Antigravity is stronger

• A no-subscription plan to start with, including unlimited Tab completions and command requests.
• A desktop app built for managing many local agents in parallel, with Projects and scheduled messages.
• An IDE with an agent manager and artifacts, which Claude Code does not ship (it extends VS Code and JetBrains instead).
• Browser-in-the-loop agents for front-end work, per the homepage.
• Tight Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise fit.

Where Claude Code is stronger

• A longer-documented extension system: skills, hooks, subagents, plugins, Agent SDK.
• A consistent engine across terminal, IDE extensions, desktop and web, with session handoff (claude --teleport, /desktop, Remote Control).
• Cloud scheduled tasks that run with your computer off.
• Scripting in CI with GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD.
• Usage attribution by skill, subagent, plugin and MCP server in /usage.

Which to pick

Choose Antigravity when:

• You want to start free and see whether agents fit your work.
• Your plan is Google AI Pro or Ultra, or your company is on Google Cloud or Gemini Enterprise.
• You want a purpose-built agent IDE and a multi-agent desktop app.

Choose Claude Code when:

• You already pay for Claude.
• You want to put an agent in CI or on a schedule.
• You want one set of instructions that works in terminal, VS Code, JetBrains and web.

Try both when:

• You have a Google AI plan and a Claude plan. Run the same task through each and read the diffs. Keep a shared AGENTS.md for instructions.

A short checklist

• Which model family do you want to be tied to this quarter?
• Do you need the agent in CI? Check each vendor's CI docs.
• Which platforms does your team use? Antigravity lists Googlebook; Claude Code covers macOS, Linux and Windows.
• Who owns the data setting on individual plans?

Our take

Going by the documented facts, Antigravity is a broader product family, and Claude Code is a deeper single tool. Google has put an app, a CLI, an IDE, extensions and an SDK under one name and given individuals a free way in. Anthropic has put one engine behind several surfaces and asks for a plan.

For a newcomer, the free Individual plan on Antigravity removes the cost barrier, and that matters. For someone who already knows they want an agent in their daily terminal workflow, Claude Code has more documentation and more automation hooks.

We did not run the two on a shared task, so we do not rank their output. We also could not confirm several Antigravity details (license, free-plan models, data terms), which are marked above. Verify those before you move a team onto it.

Related

• Gemini CLI vs Claude Code
• Codex vs Gemini CLI
• Antigravity
• Claude Code
• Free AI agents
• How we compare