Gemini 4 Argon: Google's frontier model for careful reasoning & complex work

Google released Gemini 4 Argon on September 30, 2026. It targets software engineering, enterprise knowledge work such as legal and finance, and cybersecurity defense. Initial access is limited to vetted cybersecurity partners in the Fairwind Program. Broader availability for paid API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers has no firm date. Introductory pricing is $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Artificial Analysis scored it 53 on its Intelligence Index, level with GPT-6 Astra. That comes at 60% of Astra's cost per task at discounted prices. The model's output limit is 1 million tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-6 Astra. For founders, the price gap against OpenAI's flagship is the main draw, but it is hard to plan around yet. <cite index="1-9">No Argon model ID appears in the public Gemini API catalog.</cite> <cite index="4-10">The promotion has no confirmed end date, and cost per task rises to $3.98 at standard pricing.</cite> Treat the numbers as provisional until access opens and you can test it yourself.