Today ainotis Join

My notis

ModelsPublished Top storyAll news from that day

Ongoing case: Frontier model API prices Price change · 13 stories

Google opens Gemini 4 Argon to paid API and Ultra users

On 13 October Google said paid Gemini API users and Google AI Ultra subscribers can use Gemini 4 Argon, which Google began rolling out to trusted cyber defenders on 30 September.

By ai notis. An AI newsroom with a human editor. Every fact links to its source. How we work

Share

Check our sources · 12 facts from 3 sources
Gemini 4 Argon launch artwork: the model's name beside a large soft white numeral 4 on a blue gradientImage: Google
Google's launch artwork for Gemini 4 Argon, from its 13 October developer post. source · The company's own image of its product, used to report on it

Key points

  1. Google says paid-tier Gemini API developers and Google AI Ultra subscribers can use the model. The pricing page says it is not on the Free tier or Google AI Pro.
  2. On the Standard tier, the pricing page lists input at $2.00 and output at $10.00 per million tokens to 30 November 2026, then $4.00 and $20.00 from 1 December.
  3. The page also lists a Batch tier at $1.00 input and $5.00 output per million tokens through 30 November 2026, and context caching at $0.10, with implicit caching only.

What happened

Google said on 13 October 2026 that developers can build with Gemini 4 Argon, which it describes as its frontier model for complex workflows across real-world software engineering, enterprise knowledge work and cybersecurity defense.

The post says to start building using the paid tier of the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Android Studio, and that Google AI Ultra subscribers can try the model in AI Studio and in Google Antigravity, its agent-first development platform.

The Gemini API pricing page lists the model as gemini-4-argon and says it is not available on the Free tier or on the Google AI Pro plan.

On the Standard tier, the pricing page lists the paid-tier input price at $2.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $4.00 per million tokens from 1 December 2026.

The output price, which includes thinking tokens, is listed at $10.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $20.00 per million tokens from 1 December 2026. Context caching is listed at $0.10 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $0.20 from 1 December 2026, with implicit caching only and no explicit caching.

The page also lists a Batch tier with input at $1.00 and output at $5.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026, rising to $2.00 and $10.00 from 1 December 2026.

The pricing page describes the model as built for complex software engineering, deep mathematical and scientific problem solving, autonomous multi-step agents, and long-decode generation up to 1M tokens.

Google first announced Gemini 4 Argon on 30 September 2026, saying it was rolling out to a set of trusted cyber defenders through its Fairwind Program.

In that post Google said Argon would launch at an introductory price of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, rising to $4 and $20 after the introductory period, with cached input tokens priced at 95% off the input token price.

The 30 September post also said Google was expanding the model's output token limit to 1M tokens, up from 64K. It said Google was engaged in the U.S. government's voluntary process for pre-release model access while it gradually expanded access.

What it means for you

Our view

The listed Standard tier prices rise from $2.00 to $4.00 for input and from $10.00 to $20.00 for output on 1 December 2026, so a budget built on today's rate will not hold past 30 November. Google's pricing page describes the model as built for complex software engineering and autonomous multi-step agents.

It is not on the Free tier or the Google AI Pro plan, so teams on those plans have no access. Caching is implicit only, which leaves no explicit control over what is cached.

If you plan to try it, price a representative workload at both the current and the 1 December rates, and check whether the Batch tier suits jobs that can wait.

It adds no new facts.

Share this story

Your reaction

We count reactions per story and day, never who reacted. The counts help us choose what goes in the monthly issue. If you are signed in, your own page shows yours too.

Check our sources

Every sentence above is checked against these 3 sources.

1 Gemini 4 Argon is now available for developersGoogle · 13 Oct 2026 · 2 facts Open the source archived copy

  1. Google said on 13 October 2026 that developers can build with Gemini 4 Argon, which it describes as its frontier model for complex workflows across real-world software engineering, enterprise knowledge work and cybersecurity defense.

    Starting today, developers can build with Gemini 4 Argon , our frontier model for complex workflows across real-world software engineering, enterprise knowledge work, and cybersecurity defense.
    cite

  2. The post says to start building using the paid tier of the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Android Studio, and that Google AI Ultra subscribers can try the model in AI Studio and in Google Antigravity, its agent-first development platform.

    Start building using the paid tier of the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Android Studio, and Google AI Ultra subscribers can try it in AI Studio, and our agent-first development platform, Google Antigravity.
    cite
2 Gemini Developer API pricingGoogle · 7 Oct 2026 · 6 facts Open the source archived copy

  1. The Gemini API pricing page lists the model as gemini-4-argon and says it is not available on the Free tier or on the Google AI Pro plan.

    Note: Gemini 4 Argon is not available on the Free tier or on the Google AI Pro plan.
    cite

  2. On the Standard tier, the pricing page lists the paid-tier input price at $2.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $4.00 per million tokens from 1 December 2026.

    Input price Not available $2.00 through November 30, 2026. $4.00 starting December 1, 2026.
    cite

  3. The output price, which includes thinking tokens, is listed at $10.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $20.00 per million tokens from 1 December 2026.

    Output price (including thinking tokens) Not available $10.00 through November 30, 2026. $20.00 starting December 1, 2026.
    cite

  4. Context caching is listed at $0.10 per million tokens through 30 November 2026 and $0.20 from 1 December 2026, with implicit caching only and no explicit caching.

    Context caching price Not available $0.10 through November 30, 2026. $0.20 starting December 1, 2026. Implicit caching only (explicit caching is not supported).
    cite

  5. The page also lists a Batch tier with input at $1.00 and output at $5.00 per million tokens through 30 November 2026, rising to $2.00 and $10.00 from 1 December 2026.

    Batch ... Input price Not available $1.00 through November 30, 2026. $2.00 starting December 1, 2026. Output price (including thinking tokens) Not available $5.00 through November 30, 2026. $10.00 starting December 1, 2026.
    cite

  6. The pricing page describes the model as built for complex software engineering, deep mathematical and scientific problem solving, autonomous multi-step agents, and long-decode generation up to 1M tokens.

    Our flagship reasoning model, built for complex software engineering, deep mathematical and scientific problem solving, autonomous multi-step agents, and long-decode generation up to 1M tokens.
    cite
3 Gemini 4 Argon: our next era of frontier intelligenceGoogle · 30 Sep 2026 · 4 facts Open the source archived copy

  1. Google first announced Gemini 4 Argon on 30 September 2026, saying it was rolling out to a set of trusted cyber defenders through its Fairwind Program.

    Today, we’re announcing our new frontier model, Gemini 4 Argon, which is rolling out to a set of trusted cyber defenders through our Fairwind Program.
    cite

  2. In that post Google said Argon would launch at an introductory price of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, rising to $4 and $20 after the introductory period, with cached input tokens priced at 95% off the input token price.

    Argon will launch at an introductory price of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with cached input tokens priced at 95% off input token price. ... After the introductory period expires, the price of $4 per 1M input tokens and $20 per 1M output tokens will apply.
    cite

  3. The 30 September post also said Google was expanding the model's output token limit to 1M tokens, up from 64K.

    we are significantly expanding the model’s output token limit to an industry-leading 1M tokens, up from the previous 64K tokens.
    cite

  4. It said Google was engaged in the U.S. government's voluntary process for pre-release model access while it gradually expanded access.

    We are actively engaged in the U.S. government’s voluntary process for pre-release model access while we gradually expand access.
    cite

Topics

The morning email

On the mornings we publish: the three top stories and up to four short ones. Free.

We email you a link to confirm. An issue may include one sponsor, always labelled Sponsored · Advertisement. Our emails count opens and clicks, not who made them. Unsubscribe in one click. What we keep