Gemini 4 Carbon price: $2 per million input tokens for now

Gemini 4 Carbon costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens during an introductory period, according to Google's announcement. After that the Gemini 4 Carbon price is $4 and $20. As of October 29, 2026, Google has not said when the introductory period ends, and most people cannot buy the model yet.

That second point matters more than the first. Google announced Carbon on October 28 and is giving it first to a subset of cyber defenders. The Gemini API pricing page does not list it.

Gemini 4 Carbon price per million tokens

These are the rates in Google's October 28 post.

Google says the introductory price is the same as Gemini 4 Argon's. Cached input, meaning tokens the API has already seen in an earlier request, gets a 95% discount on the input price.

Artificial Analysis, which tests models independently, lists the same standard rates: $4 and $20, with a 50% launch discount and no confirmed end date. It gives cached input as $0.20 per million tokens at the standard price.

What Google has not said about the price

• How long the introductory price lasts. The post gives no end date.
• Whether the cache discount continues after the introductory period.
• Where you can pay. The post names no API model ID, plan or app tier for Carbon.
• Free access. Nothing in the post mentions a free tier.

We checked the Gemini API pricing page on October 29. It has no Carbon entry, no model ID and no "coming soon" note. The only Gemini 4 model it lists is Argon, at $2 input and $10 output per million tokens, rising to $4 and $20 on December 1, 2026. That date is for Argon. Google has not tied Carbon's increase to any date.

How Carbon's cost compares

Carbon's rate card matches Argon's, so the extra capability costs nothing more per token for now. Artificial Analysis measured what a task actually costs, because models use different numbers of tokens. On its Intelligence Index tasks, at standard pricing, it reports:

Artificial Analysis says Carbon uses about 123,000 output tokens per task, 29% fewer than Opus 5.5 at max effort. That is why a model with a high per-token price can still come out cheaper per task. It also gives Carbon a score of 59 on its Intelligence Index v5, first place, and a 1 million token context window. Google's post does not state a context window.

Those figures use the standard $4 and $20 rates, not the introductory ones. While the discount lasts, the same tasks would cost less.

Who can use Gemini 4 Carbon now

Starting the week of October 28, a subset of cyber defenders has access. Google says more trusted partners will follow through the Fairwind Program, and that developers, businesses and consumers get Carbon "as soon as possible," with no date. Our article on whether Gemini 4 Carbon is available covers who qualifies and how access works. Our launch report covers Google's security benchmarks.

What to watch next

The pricing page is the place to watch. When Carbon gets a model ID and a listing there, the end of the introductory period should be on it.