Why it matters
If you build with AI models, Google has a new top model at USD 2 input and USD 10 output per million tokens until 30 November, and both prices double on 1 December. If you pay for Gemini, Argon is in the app for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, and the free plan is not on Google's list.
My read: you have until 30 November to find out what a top model does for you at half the December price.
What it is
What it is
Argon is Google's latest frontier model and the first of the Gemini 4 family. Koray Kavukcuoglu, chief AI architect at Google DeepMind, announced it in a launch post on 13 October.
Google built it for deep work on hard tasks in coding, finance, legal, cybersecurity and science. It says Argon worked on one codebase on its own overnight, and that it answers more directly, with less hedging. Less hedging, from a language model. Brave.
Google's Chrome team pointed it at a legacy folder of about 6 million lines inside a 40 million line codebase. Google calls the result months of work in weeks. Legacy code, finally somebody else's problem.
Source: Google's launch post
Where it ranks and where it trails
Where it ranks and where it trails
Google says Argon ranks number 1 on the Vals Index, which measures finance, coding, legal and tax work.
By Google's own self-reported scores, it trailed OpenAI's Astra and Anthropic's Opus on two of the four coding benchmarks Google included, according to Reuters. Points for putting those in the post.
Sources: Google's launch post and Reuters via Khaleej Times, 1 October 2026
What it costs
What it costs
API prices in USD per million tokens.
| Model | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon, until 30 November 2026 | 2 | 10 |
| Gemini 4 Argon, from 1 December 2026 | 4 | 20 |
| OpenAI GPT-6 Astra, standard tier up to 272K input | 10 | 50 |
| Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1 | 10 | 50 |
| Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5 | 4 | 20 |
Cached input is 95 % off for Argon. The Argon price doubles on 1 December, so enjoy November. The OpenAI and Anthropic prices were checked on 16 October 2026.
Who has it
Who has it
The free plan is not in Google's list. The post does not mention Workspace accounts, and one Workspace account we checked on 16 October showed no Argon in the model picker.
- Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search, since 13 October.
- Google AI Ultra subscribers, in Google Antigravity.
- Developers and enterprises worldwide through the API (paid tier), in AI Studio and the Gemini platform.
Sources: launch post and Gemini app availability
The months before
The months before
- June 2026 Sundar Pichai said Gemini 3.5 Pro would be released that month.
- Reported 1 October 2026 Google no longer plans to release it. Anthropic and OpenAI kept releasing new top models during Google's months of delays.
- 13 October 2026 Google launches Gemini 4 Argon, the first model of the Gemini 4 family.
Try it
Try it
Google published these with the launch. The ray-tracing engine is on GitHub and runs in any browser. The three AI Studio apps open in Google AI Studio. Start with Desk Racer.
- Open in AI StudioDesk Racer
Argon turned photos of a real desk into a playable miniature racing game. Productivity will not recover.
Our screenshot, 19 Oct 2026 - Open in AI StudioWizard Chess 3D
A 3D game Argon wrote in Antigravity, with shatter physics and a single-player AI to lose against.
Our screenshot, 19 Oct 2026 - Open in AI StudioChaco Canyon 3D
Argon rebuilt Chaco Canyon in 3D from about 50 GB of LiDAR scans, maps, drawings and archives. That is a lot of homework.
Our screenshot, 19 Oct 2026 - Open on GitHubThe 3D engine
Two engines written by Argon: a Python ray tracer and a WebGL2 scene you can resize. Apache 2.0 licence, so yes, you can take it apart.
Our screenshot, 19 Oct 2026
AI Studio asks you to sign in with a Google account. A free one does it (we checked, in a private window).
Yes, that's my AI avatar in the video. Same opinions, better lighting.