Google makes Gemini 4 Argon broadly available, with introductory API pricing through November 30

SentiSense · Published Oct 13, 2026, 12:00 PM ET · Updated Oct 13, 2026, 5:16 PM ET

Google released Gemini 4 Argon, its newest frontier model, to developers, businesses and paying Gemini app subscribers on Tuesday. Introductory API pricing of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens runs through November 30, then doubles. Independent benchmarks put Argon roughly level with leading models from Anthropic and OpenAI rather than clearly ahead, and Alphabet shares closed up about 0.3%.

GOOGL made Gemini 4 Argon, its newest frontier model, available to developers, businesses and paying Gemini app users on Tuesday. Tulsee Doshi, Gemini product lead at Google DeepMind, called Argon a "powerhouse" model for coding, cybersecurity and knowledge work in finance and law, and said it is the first of a family of new Gemini models. Google first unveiled Argon last month but limited it to trusted partners testing it for cyber vulnerabilities.

API pricing starts at an introductory $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens through November 30, after which it doubles to $4 and $20. VentureBeat notes the introductory rate matches Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GPT-6.1 Sol and is half the price of Claude Opus 5.5. In the Gemini app, Argon is limited to AI Pro subscribers at $19.99 a month and AI Ultra subscribers at $99.99 a month, and it also powers AI Mode in Search for those tiers. Reuters named Deloitte, LexisNexis, Ambience Healthcare and Isomorphic Labs among early customers.

Performance looks competitive rather than dominant. On Vals AI's index as of October 12, Argon scored 68.90%, ahead of Claude Sonnet 5.5 at 67.04% and Claude Opus 5.5 at 66.97%, while the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index puts Argon at 53, tied with GPT-6 Astra and behind Opus 5.5 at 58. Several of the benchmark wins Google highlights are its own figures. Internally, Google says Argon helped engineers increase AI-generated code production by 35%.

The launch is about recovering ground. Google chose not to ship its previously promised Gemini 3.5 Pro, and Reuters describes Argon as a bid to regain momentum against OpenAI and Anthropic after a DeepMind leadership shake-up. It arrives a day after META said its Muse Wonder models brought it to the AI frontier, and a month after OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6. Alphabet shares closed up about 0.3% at $353.78, according to SentiSense market data. The next test is whether enterprise usage holds once the introductory pricing ends on November 30.

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