Model · Google · released September 30, 2026 (limited release) · checked October 1, 2026

Gemini 4 Argon: benchmarks, price and when you can use it

Google’s first Gemini 4 model claims more top scores than any other frontier model. What it scores, what it will cost, who can use it now, and when to pick it.

The short answer

On Google’s own numbers, the strongest all-round frontier model—above all for long business workflows, legal and finance agents, and cyber defense—at an introductory price a fifth of GPT-6 Astra’s. But almost nobody can use it yet, and the price will double.

Google’s announcement (opens in a new tab)

1 · Performance · vendor-reported unless marked

What Google says it can do

Software engineering (DeepSWE v1.1): 77.9% vs 74.2% for Claude Opus 5.5 and 74.1% for GPT-6 Astra.Vendor-reported
Business workflows (AutomationBench): 51.3% vs 42.5% for Opus 5.5 and 41.4% for Astra.Vendor-reported
Legal agent (Harvey): 19.6% vs 5.4% for Astra and 3.8% for Opus 5.5.Vendor-reported
Finance agent (Vals Finance Agent v2): 65.4% vs 58.6% for Opus 5.5 and 53.5% for Astra.Vendor-reported
Long video (LVBench): 91.7% vs 87.5% for Astra and 83.7% for Opus 5.5.Vendor-reported
Finding vulnerabilities (CWE-bench v1): 68%, tied with Astra; Opus 5.5 at 67%.Vendor-reported
Prompt-injection attacks (Gray Swan): 0.7% succeeded vs 1.0% for Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1 and 8.5% for Astra. Lower is better.Vendor-reported
Where it trails: FrontierSWE v2: 55.0% vs Astra’s 65.5%. Terminal-Bench Science: 57.6% vs 68.1%. Terminal-Bench 4.0: 57.4% vs Opus 5.5’s 66.4%.Vendor-reported

Google’s own evaluations, from its announcement as compiled by VentureBeat; competitor scores come from public reports and settings differ. VentureBeat counts Argon leading or tying on 13 of 18 disclosed benchmarks. No independent results yet—we will add them here.

2 · Price and task cost

What it costs

Introductory API input: $2 per 1M tokens
Introductory API output: $10 per 1M tokens
Cached input: 95% off the input price
After the introductory period: $4 input / $20 output per 1M tokens. Google has not said when the introductory period ends.
Longest response: Up to 1M output tokens, up from 64K

3 · Where you can use it

Availability

Now: Cyber defenders in Google’s Fairwind Program—more than 650 partners, including governments, critical-infrastructure operators and core technology platforms—plus U.S. government pre-release testing.
Next: Paid Gemini API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers, “as soon as possible.” No date.
Not yet: Not on Google’s Gemini API pricing page as of October 1, 2026, and no public model ID.

4 · Our read · opinion

When to use it

Worth waiting for

Long, multi-step business work—legal, finance, automation—and defensive security, where Google’s numbers lead most clearly.

Keep GPT-6 Astra or Opus 5.5 for now

Hard science and terminal-heavy coding, where Google’s own tables put Argon behind—and you can use them today.

Compare at the later price

Introductory $2 / $10 matches GPT-6.1 Sol and Sonnet 5.5; the later $4 / $20 matches Opus 5.5. Test your own task at the price you will actually pay.

The Google desk →GPT-6.1 Sol →Claude Opus 5.5 →Claude Fable 5.1 →