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Google builds Gemini 4 Hydrogen for fast everyday coding and agent work

Google says Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 51 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, above Gemini 4 Argon's 50, at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens.

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Check our sources · 10 facts from 1 source
Gemini 4 Hydrogen launch artwork: the model's name beside a translucent blue sphere on a blue gradient scattered with small number fours.Image: Google
source · The company's own image of its product, used to report on it

Key points

  1. Google says Hydrogen is built for rapid execution in everyday coding and agentic workflows, while Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon handle deep, long-horizon reasoning on the hardest problems.
  2. Compared with Gemini 3.8 Flash, Google says Hydrogen finishes tasks 2.5 times faster at its default setting and scores 57% against 18.2% on Terminal-Bench 4.1.
  3. From 12 November it is available in Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, the Gemini app and Google Search; free app users get it when auto model selection picks it.

What happened

Google released Gemini 4 Hydrogen on 12 November as the Gemini 4 model for rapid execution in everyday coding and agentic workflows, leaving deep, long-horizon reasoning to its larger Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon. Google announced it in a blog post by Koray Kavukcuoglu, its chief AI architect, and points to a model card for the details.

The comparisons below are Google's own. It says Hydrogen scores 51 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at its default high thinking level, ahead of Argon at 50, and 54 at its xhigh setting.

Against Gemini 3.8 Flash, Google says Hydrogen finishes tasks 2.5 times faster at the default level and more than triples its Terminal-Bench 4.1 score, 57% against 18.2%. Google says partners saw it run 2x to 2.8x faster than 3.8 Flash on enterprise workflows while using 12% to 23% fewer tokens.

Hydrogen has four thinking levels, low, medium, high (the default) and a new xhigh. Google says its own evaluations show Hydrogen reducing overreach in agentic tasks by up to 81%, and it reports a 96.7% honesty rate on its internal agent honesty evaluation.

It is available from 12 November in all tiers of Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, Gemini for business, the Gemini app and Google Search. Paid Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it in Google Antigravity.

Google prices Hydrogen at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens, flat across its 1 million-token context window.

What it means for you

Our view

Every performance figure here is Google's own, taken from its blog post, so test it against a sample of your own work before relying on it. The price is flat across the 1 million-token context window, which makes the cost of a long prompt easy to estimate.

Free Gemini app users cannot choose Hydrogen, because they get it only when auto selection picks it for their prompt. If you run coding or agent workloads, run Hydrogen on a set of your own tasks and compare the cost per finished task with your current model.

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Check our sources

Every sentence above is checked against this source.

1 Introducing Gemini 4 HydrogenGoogle · 12 Nov 2026 · 10 facts Open the source archived copy

  1. Google's blog post of November 12, 2026 introduces Gemini 4 Hydrogen, with the byline of Koray Kavukcuoglu, SVP, Google DeepMind and Chief AI Architect, Google.

    Introducing Gemini 4 Hydrogen Nov 12, 2026 ... Koray Kavukcuoglu SVP, Google DeepMind and Chief AI Architect, Google
    cite

  2. Google says Gemini 4 Hydrogen is built for rapid execution across diverse agentic workflows, with speed and efficiency for everyday coding and agentic workflows, while its frontier models Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon excel at deep, long-horizon reasoning on the hardest problems.

    Today, we’re introducing Gemini 4 Hydrogen, bringing cutting-edge intelligence to everyone — with speed and efficiency for everyday coding and agentic workflows. While our frontier models, Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon, excel at deep, long-horizon reasoning on your hardest problems, Hydrogen is built for rapid execution across diverse agentic workflows.
    cite

  3. Google says Hydrogen surpasses Argon on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at its default high thinking level, 51 against 50, and reaches 54 at its highest xhigh thinking setting.

    Hydrogen surpasses Argon on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at its default high thinking level (51 vs. 50, and reaching 54 at its highest xhigh thinking setting)
    cite

  4. Google says that, compared with Gemini 3.8 Flash, Hydrogen finishes tasks 2.5 times faster at its high default setting and more than triples Terminal-Bench 4.1 scores, 57% against 18.2%.

    finishing tasks 2.5 times faster at its high default setting while more than tripling Terminal-Bench 4.1 scores (57% vs. 18.2%)
    cite

  5. Google says that in early testing its partners saw Hydrogen run 2x to 2.8x faster than Gemini 3.8 Flash on complex graph, SQL and data-heavy enterprise workflows while reducing token usage by 12% to 23%.

    in early testing across complex graphs, SQL, and data-heavy enterprise workflows, our partners have seen Hydrogen run 2x to 2.8x faster while reducing token usage by 12% to 23%, compared to 3.8 Flash.
    cite

  6. Google says Hydrogen has four thinking levels: low, medium, high (the default) and a new xhigh tier.

    Hydrogen’s four thinking levels — low, medium, high (default), and a new xhigh tier
    cite

  7. Google says Hydrogen reduces overreach in agentic tasks by up to 81% and under-service by up to 79%, and reports a 96.7% honesty rate on its internal agent honesty evaluation.

    It reduces overreach in agentic tasks by up to 81% and under-service by up to 79% ... and achieves a 96.7% honesty rate on our internal agent honesty evaluation.
    cite

  8. Google says that starting 12 November Hydrogen is available for all tiers of Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, Gemini for business, the Gemini app and Google Search, and to paid Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in Google Antigravity; its footnote says free Gemini app users get Hydrogen through auto model selection when it is the appropriate model for the prompt.

    Toned down to what the source says
    With Hydrogen, we’re also bringing Gemini 4 to everyone — for all tiers of Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, Gemini for business, the Gemini app, Google Search, and paid Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in Google Antigravity. ... In the Gemini app, free users will get access to Gemini 4 Hydrogen via auto model selection when it’s the appropriate model for the prompt.
    cite

  9. Google says Gemini 4 Hydrogen is priced flat across its entire 1 million-token context window at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens.

    Gemini 4 Hydrogen is priced flat across its entire 1 million-token context window at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens.
    cite

  10. Google's post says Hydrogen pairs native 1 million-token input with up to 1 million output tokens, and refers readers to the Gemini 4 Hydrogen model card for more details.

    Hydrogen pairs native 1 million-token input with up to 1 million output tokens ... For more details see the Gemini 4 Hydrogen model card.
    cite

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