Google DeepMind announced Gemini 4 Argon on September 30, 2026 — the first model of the Gemini 4 generation, and the answer to GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1. Unlike the Gemini 3 releases, it is not a general launch: access starts narrow.
Key facts
| Gemini 4 Argon | |
|---|---|
| Announced | September 30, 2026 |
| Price | $2 / $10 per 1M tokens (introductory); cached input 95% off |
| Output limit | Up to 1M tokens (previous Gemini models: 64K) |
| Inputs | Text, image, video, audio |
| Availability | Fairwind Program (trusted cyber defenders) first; paid API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers “as soon as possible” |
| Headline results | DeepSWE v1.1 77.9%, AutomationBench 51.3%, Vals Index 68.9%, LVBench 91.7% |
Why it matters
- A flagship priced like a mid-tier. At $2 / $10 Argon costs a fifth of GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1, and matches GPT-6.1 Sol. Google calls the price introductory and has not said what happens afterward.
- A new output ceiling. A 1M-token output limit lets a single agent trajectory run for hundreds of thousands of tokens without being cut off — useful for migrations and long audits.
- Cyber-first distribution. Google created the Fairwind Program for vetted defenders, critical-infrastructure operators and software maintainers, and ships Argon and Gemini 3.8 Flash’s Cyber variant to them with fewer cyber guardrails. Broad release is tied to the US government’s voluntary pre-release access process.
- Not a clean sweep. On Google’s own table Argon trails Claude Opus 5.5 on Terminal-Bench 4.0 (57.4% vs 66.4%) and GPT-6 Astra on Terminal-Bench Science 0.1 (57.6% vs 68.1%).
What to watch
- All numbers are Google-reported; each lab runs rivals under its own harness, so they disagree across vendors.
- No context-window spec has been published, and the final price after the introductory period is unknown.
- For something you can use today, Gemini 3.8 Flash (Sept 2, $0.75 / $3.75 through 2026) is Google’s widely available workhorse.
See the 2026 LLM guide for how Argon fits against the rest of the field.