Continue vs Gemini Code Assist
Compare Continue and Gemini Code Assist by workflow, pricing, privacy, model support, and best use cases.
Continue
Choose Continue when model control, open-source extensibility, and repository-defined AI checks matter more than a fully managed AI editor experience.
Gemini Code Assist
Gemini Code Assist is a strong choice for teams that want AI coding assistance inside existing IDEs while staying aligned with Google Cloud, Gemini CLI, GitHub review, and enterprise admin workflows. It is less suitable for developers who need local model control, BYOK flexibility, or a standalone AI editor experience.
Key Differences
Workflow
Continue is an open-source AI coding agent and IDE extension ecosystem focused on configurable model access, repository-defined AI checks, and team-controlled coding workflows.
Gemini Code Assist is Google’s AI coding assistant for IDEs, GitHub, Gemini CLI, and Google Cloud workflows, positioned as a business-friendly alternative to Copilot, Cursor, and terminal coding agents.
compare.fields.localModels
Yes
No
BYOK
Yes
No
compare.fields.openSource
Yes
No
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Continue | Gemini Code Assist |
|---|---|---|
| Primary workflow | Continue is an open-source AI coding agent and IDE extension ecosystem focused on configurable model access, repository-defined AI checks, and team-controlled coding workflows. | Gemini Code Assist is Google’s AI coding assistant for IDEs, GitHub, Gemini CLI, and Google Cloud workflows, positioned as a business-friendly alternative to Copilot, Cursor, and terminal coding agents. |
| Type | extension | extension |
| Editor base | VS Code | VS Code |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | $3 | $22.8 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Local models | Yes | No |
| BYOK | Yes | No |
| Platforms | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, CLI, GitHub | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, GoLand, WebStorm, Android Studio, Cloud Shell Editor, Cloud Workstations, GitHub, Gemini CLI, Google Cloud, Firebase, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Apigee, Application Integration |
| Models | Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure, Amazon Bedrock, Ollama, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, xAI, Vertex AI, Inception, HuggingFace, Groq, Together AI, DeepInfra, OpenRouter, ClawRouter, Tetrate Agent Router Service, Cohere, NVIDIA, Cloudflare, MiniMax, LM Studio, llama.cpp, LlamaStack, llamafile, SambaNova, Watson x, Sagemaker, Nebius | Gemini 3, Gemini 2.5 |
| Enterprise features | Shared private agents, Team agent controls, Gmail/GitHub SSO on Team, SAML or OIDC SSO on Company, BYOK on Company, Commitment, invoicing, and SLA on Company, GitHub PR check integration, Centralized Mission Control management | Enterprise-grade security, Gen AI indemnification for code suggestions, Code customization from private repositories, Usage metrics and observability dashboard, Google Cloud admin and billing controls, VPC Service Controls configuration, Gemini Code Assist logging configuration, GitHub enterprise code review setup, Google Cloud service integrations, Increased agent usage in Enterprise, Integration with Apigee and Application Integration, Additional Gemini Cloud Assist features |
| Best for | Developers who want AI coding assistance inside VS Code without switching to a full AI-native editor., Teams that want AI review rules stored in the repository and enforced as PR status checks., Organizations that need model flexibility across cloud, local, self-hosted, and gateway providers., Developers building custom coding agents with YAML configuration, rules, prompts, models, and tools., Engineering teams experimenting with AI quality gates before adopting larger autonomous coding systems. | Developers using VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, or Google Cloud workstations, Teams building on Google Cloud, Firebase, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Apigee, or Application Integration, Organizations that want managed AI coding assistance with enterprise security and Google Cloud administration, Teams that want IDE assistance plus terminal workflows through Gemini CLI, Enterprises that need code customization based on private repositories and organization coding style |
| Not best for | Users who want a polished all-in-one AI IDE with minimal configuration., Teams that prefer a single vendor-managed model and billing experience., JetBrains-heavy teams that need the IDE plugin to be the primary supported path., Users who do not want token-based billing for hosted model usage., Organizations that are uncomfortable with the current read-only status of the legacy main GitHub repository. | Users looking for a fully open-source coding assistant, Developers who need local model support or BYOK routing inside the IDE assistant, Teams outside the Google Cloud ecosystem that want minimal cloud admin setup, Users who want a standalone AI-native editor like Cursor or Windsurf, Developers relying on the unpaid individual IDE extension for long-term usage after the Antigravity migration |
Use Case Winners
Both Continue and Gemini Code Assist have comparable signals here.
Continue supports local model workflows.
Gemini Code Assist lists more team or enterprise controls.
Both Continue and Gemini Code Assist have comparable signals here.
Continue supports more model/provider options or BYOK-style workflows.
Continue is marked as open source.
Pricing Comparison
Continue
- Open-source Extension / CLI$0
Apache-2.0 codebase with VS Code extension, CLI, and JetBrains plugin artifacts available from official channels.
- Starter$3 / million tokens
Pay-as-you-go usage for creating and running agents, integrations, and frontier model credits.
- Team$20 / seat/month
Team management, private shared agents, agent controls, Gmail/GitHub SSO, and $10 credits per seat.
- CompanyCustom
Enterprise plan with SAML or OIDC SSO, BYOK, commitments, invoicing, and SLA.
Gemini Code Assist
- Gemini Code Assist for individuals$0 / month
Free version for eligible personal Gmail accounts; Google notes unpaid IDE extension access is being replaced by Antigravity on June 18, 2026.
- Standard Monthly$22.80 / user/month
Business plan with IDE code assistance, local codebase awareness, code transformation, agent mode, Gemini CLI, and enterprise-grade security.
- Standard Annual$19 / user/month
Annual commitment pricing with upfront annual commitment.
- Enterprise Monthly$54 / user/month
Adds code customization, expanded Google Cloud integrations, and increased agent usage.
- Enterprise Annual$45 / user/month
Annual commitment pricing with upfront annual commitment.
Privacy & Security
Continue
Continue documents anonymous telemetry in the open-source extensions, says it strips personally identifiable information, and provides opt-out controls for IDE extensions and the CLI. Local and offline setups are documented, but privacy also depends on the chosen model provider, GitHub integration, telemetry settings, and any configured data destinations.
Gemini Code Assist
Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise documentation says Google does not use customer data to train models without permission. Gemini Code Assist for individuals has a separate privacy notice and may use data to improve Google machine learning models unless the user opts out. Teams should review edition-specific privacy notices, administrator controls, repository access, code customization settings, GitHub app permissions, and Google Cloud data governance before rollout.
Choose Continue if...
- Developers who want AI coding assistance inside VS Code without switching to a full AI-native editor.
- Teams that want AI review rules stored in the repository and enforced as PR status checks.
- Organizations that need model flexibility across cloud, local, self-hosted, and gateway providers.
- Developers building custom coding agents with YAML configuration, rules, prompts, models, and tools.
- Engineering teams experimenting with AI quality gates before adopting larger autonomous coding systems.
Choose Gemini Code Assist if...
- Developers using VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, or Google Cloud workstations
- Teams building on Google Cloud, Firebase, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Apigee, or Application Integration
- Organizations that want managed AI coding assistance with enterprise security and Google Cloud administration
- Teams that want IDE assistance plus terminal workflows through Gemini CLI
- Enterprises that need code customization based on private repositories and organization coding style
Avoid Continue if...
- Users who want a polished all-in-one AI IDE with minimal configuration.
- Teams that prefer a single vendor-managed model and billing experience.
- JetBrains-heavy teams that need the IDE plugin to be the primary supported path.
- Users who do not want token-based billing for hosted model usage.
- Organizations that are uncomfortable with the current read-only status of the legacy main GitHub repository.
Avoid Gemini Code Assist if...
- Users looking for a fully open-source coding assistant
- Developers who need local model support or BYOK routing inside the IDE assistant
- Teams outside the Google Cloud ecosystem that want minimal cloud admin setup
- Users who want a standalone AI-native editor like Cursor or Windsurf
- Developers relying on the unpaid individual IDE extension for long-term usage after the Antigravity migration