// the bench
we test the tools so you don't burn the credits.
hands-on reviews of the editors, agents, and models vibe coders actually use. scored out of 10. when a link pays us, we say so — and if we haven't said so, it doesn't.
- ·7 min7.8/10geminigoogleterminalagentsreviewopen-sourcecli
gemini cli review: google's free terminal agent with a 1m-token window
Google's open-source terminal coding agent launched in June 2025 and quietly became the most accessible entry point in the category. The free tier is genuinely free — Gemini 2.5 Pro, 60 requests per minute, no credit card. The 1M-token context window is real and large enough to load an entire mid-size repo in a single call. The tradeoffs are real too.
read it → - ·8 min7.8/10githubcopiloteditorsreviewagents
github copilot review: the enterprise standard, now with a credit meter you need to understand
GitHub Copilot is the most widely deployed AI coding tool on earth — 90% of Fortune 100 companies, every major IDE, and a feature roadmap that shipped Vision, Browser Tools, and a desktop app all in July 2026. the credit-meter billing switch in June 2026 is the part you need to read carefully before you commit to a plan.
read it → - ·8 min9.1/10anthropicagentsreview
claude code review: the terminal is the moat
anthropic's terminal-first agent is the most capable coding tool we've used — agent teams, a 1M-token context window, and codebase reasoning nothing else matches. it's also the one most likely to scare off the people vibe coding invites in.
read it → - ·7 min8.4/10cursoreditorsreview
cursor review: the smoothest on-ramp, mind the meter
cursor is still the easiest way to feel the future of coding for $20 — composer 1.5 is fast, background agents do real work, and it's vs code under the hood. the catch hasn't changed either: the billing model is homework.
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