Google launched Gemini 4 Hydrogen today. It is the lowest cost option in the Gemini 4 family.
The pricing structure is confusing. Carbon and Argon are currently the same price, and both will double on December 1st. Hydrogen is currently priced at $1.50 per million input tokens, which is a 25% discount compared to its siblings.
After December 1st, Hydrogen will cost $1.00 per million input tokens. This will make it a 75% discount compared to the other models. It is still much more expensive than Claude Haiku 5.5 and GPT-6 Luna, which charge $0.10 and $0.50 respectively.
Google says Argon delivers Gemini 4 intelligence with faster responses and lower token spend per turn compared to Gemini 4 Carbon. The pricing suggests Argon may use fewer tokens per task despite the identical cost.
I asked the models to generate images of pelicans. The results show a clear gap in quality.
Comparison grid
Carbon and Argon produce rich, accessorised seaside scenes at every thinking level. Hydrogen produces far plainer pelicans at a fraction of the cost and time.
Detail decreases for all three models as thinking drops from high to low.
What it means
Hydrogen is the new free tier model. It will power AI features in Google Search. Google describes it as a fast, disciplined execution model for writing code, running tests, and verifying changes. It is built to stand on its own as a model for everyday work or to pair with Carbon and Argon as the high-efficiency execution engine in multi-model workflows.
