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Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini 4 Argon

Official Google API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-11-14. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.

Verdict

Same bill; Gemini 4 Carbon wins more LMArena tasks.

Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon have the same list price per token ($2 in, $10 out per 1M). Gemini 4 Carbon scores 31 points higher for coding; Gemini 4 Argon scores 8 points higher for creative writing. Across 5 shared LMArena tasks, Gemini 4 Carbon leads 4 to 1. A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $90 on Gemini 4 Carbon and $90 on Gemini 4 Argon.

  • Pick Gemini 4 Carbon if you care most about coding (+31), roleplay (+23) and agent tasks (+16).
  • Pick Gemini 4 Argon if you care most about creative writing (+8).
Sample month

Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).

Gemini 4 CarbonvsGemini 4 Argon
Price per 1M tokens
Input$2$2
Cached input$0.10$0.10
Output$10$10
Sample month, medium$90$90
Context
Context window1M1M
Quality (LMArena relative score, out of 100)
Coding75 (better)44
Chat100 (better)92
Creative writing92100 (better)
Roleplay and characters100 (better)77
Reasoning and mathn/a100
Visionn/an/a
Long documentsn/an/a
Cheap bulk and agents65 (better)49

Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.

Spec
Gemini 4 Carbon
Gemini 4 Argon
Price per 1M tokens
Input$2$2
Cached input$0.10$0.10
Output$10$10
Blend 3:1$4$4
Sample month, medium$90$90
Context
Context window1M tokens1M tokens
Quality (LMArena, out of 100)
Coding75/100 #4 of 5344/100 #11 of 53
Chat100/100 #1 of 5492/100 #2 of 54
Creative writing92/100 #3 of 54100/100 #1 of 54
Roleplay and characters100/100 #1 of 5477/100 #2 of 54
Reasoning and mathNot ranked100/100 #1 of 52
VisionNot rankedNot ranked
Long documentsNot rankedNot ranked
Cheap bulk and agents65/100 #3 of 4049/100 #9 of 40
Details
ProviderGoogleGoogle
API model idgemini-4-carbongemini-4-argon
NotesLaunch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out. Implicit caching only. Not on the Free tier. Public API from Nov 10, 2026.Launch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out.
Sources
Last checked2026-11-142026-11-14
Official pricingGoogle pricingGoogle pricing

API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.

Where each one ranks on LMArena

Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.

  • Coding (Code Arena): Gemini 4 Carbon #4 of 53 (75/100), Gemini 4 Argon #11 of 53 (44/100)
  • Chat (Text Arena): Gemini 4 Carbon #1 of 54 (100/100), Gemini 4 Argon #2 of 54 (92/100)
  • Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): Gemini 4 Carbon #3 of 54 (92/100), Gemini 4 Argon #1 of 54 (100/100)
  • Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): Gemini 4 Carbon #1 of 54 (100/100), Gemini 4 Argon #2 of 54 (77/100)
  • Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): Gemini 4 Carbon not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon #1 of 52 (100/100)
  • Vision (Vision Arena): Gemini 4 Carbon not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon not ranked
  • Long documents (Document Arena): Gemini 4 Carbon not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon not ranked
  • Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): Gemini 4 Carbon #3 of 40 (65/100), Gemini 4 Argon #9 of 40 (49/100)

Pricing details from the official pages

Gemini 4 Carbon lists $2 input, $10 output, $0.10 cached input per 1M tokens on Google pricing. Gemini 4 Argon lists $2 input, $10 output, $0.10 cached input per 1M tokens on Google pricing. Prices checked 2026-11-14.

  • Gemini 4 Carbon: Launch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out. Implicit caching only. Not on the Free tier. Public API from Nov 10, 2026.
  • Gemini 4 Argon: Launch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out.

Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $9 vs $9. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $90 vs $90. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $900 vs $900.

FAQ

Is Gemini 4 Carbon cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon?

They have the same list price: $2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens.

Which is better for coding, Gemini 4 Carbon or Gemini 4 Argon?

On LMArena's Code Arena Gemini 4 Carbon scores 75/100 (#4 of 53) and Gemini 4 Argon 44/100 (#11 of 53), so Gemini 4 Carbon is ahead by 31 points.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 4 Carbon: 1M tokens. Gemini 4 Argon: 1M tokens. Both list the same window.

How much do Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon cost per month?

Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $9 vs $9. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $90 vs $90. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $900 vs $900. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.

Where do these numbers come from?

Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.

Sources

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