Short answer
Google released Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28, 2026, calling it its strongest model, with a focus on cybersecurity and long-running tasks. You can't call it through the API yet. This week Google is giving access to a subset of cyber defenders, then phasing in more trusted partners through its Fairwind Program; for developers, businesses and consumers it only says "as soon as possible," with no date. The introductory price matches Gemini 4 Argon: $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with cached input 95% off the input price, rising to $4 / $20 after the introductory period. Once Google opens Carbon to developers, TeamoRouter will add it, and its model ID and price will show on the pricing page. Until then you can use Gemini 4 Argon (gemini-4-argon) from the same family.
No card at all? You can also top up with USDT, USDC or ETH: click Pay with crypto in the top-up dialog and send it from Binance, OKX or any wallet. The minimum is $5 and no browser extension is needed. Step by step: Pay for Claude and GPT APIs with crypto (USDT).
What Google announced
Everything below is from Google's post Gemini 4 Carbon: our next frontier model (October 28, 2026).
- Overall: #1 on version 5.0 of the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, with a score of 59.
- Cybersecurity (Google notes these were evaluated without guardrails):
- Finding vulnerabilities: 88.2% on SEC-bench Pro
- Checking whether they are exploitable: 54.8% on ExploitGym
- Patching them: 71.0% on CWE-bench
- On Google's internal benchmarks, more than 2x the success rate of Argon at generating secure code.
- Coding and long tasks: Google says its teams have seen Carbon run for days on multi-step engineering work such as finding and patching subtle bugs across large codebases. For web development it gained 89 Elo points to reach #4 (1768) on WebDev Arena.
- Reliability:
- Successful cheating on Terminal-Bench 4.0 dropped to 0.0%.
- Unsupported claims fell by about half compared with Argon in internal testing.
- Attack success rate on the indirect prompt injection (IPI) benchmark is 0.0%, versus 0.7% for Argon.
When the API will be available
- This week: a subset of cyber defenders.
- Next: more trusted partners, phased in through the Fairwind Program.
- Developers, businesses and consumers: "as soon as possible," after more feedback and guardrail work. No date given.
As of October 29, Carbon is not in the Gemini API changelog and Google has not published its model ID.
Pricing
Google's list price per 1 million tokens, in USD:
| Introductory | After the introductory period | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $2 | $4 |
| Output | $10 | $20 |
| Cached input | 95% off the input price ($0.10) | not published |
The introductory price is the same as Gemini 4 Argon's. Google has not said how long Carbon's introductory period lasts. Once Carbon is on TeamoRouter, the pricing page shows the current price.
How Carbon differs from Argon
| Gemini 4 Carbon | Gemini 4 Argon | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Released, not yet open to developers | Available |
| Model ID on TeamoRouter | none yet | gemini-4-argon |
| Introductory list price, input / output per 1M | $2 / $10 | $2 / $10 |
| Google's positioning | Strongest model, focused on cybersecurity and long-running tasks | First Gemini 4 model, built for long, multi-step work |
Google says Carbon builds on Argon and keeps its layered safety stack, with the biggest gains in cybersecurity and in how it handles ambiguous or high-pressure tasks: fewer shortcuts, less fabrication, and raising discrepancies with the user before acting.
Did the leak hold up?
On October 9, Business Insider reported that Google employees were testing a Gemini 4 build called Carbon on Jetski, Google's internal coding platform, and one employee said its coding felt comparable to Claude Opus 5.5. Carbon has now shipped under its own name rather than as an Argon update. Google's launch post does not compare it with Opus 5.5 directly.
Use Gemini 4 Argon now
Same key and base URL as every other model:
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.teamorouter.ai/v1", api_key="YOUR_KEY")
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gemini-4-argon",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Refactor this function to remove the nested loops: ..."}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)
When Carbon is added, change model to its ID. Gemini-native request format and more examples: Gemini 4 Argon API.
Paying for usage
No subscription: you top up a balance from $5 and pay only for the tokens you use, by card or with USDT, USDC or ETH from any exchange app (how to pay with crypto). The same key works for Gemini, Claude and GPT. If you are weighing a Claude plan instead, see Claude Pro and Max subscriptions vs paying per token.
FAQ
Is Gemini 4 Carbon out? Yes. Google released it on October 28, 2026, but for now only a subset of cyber defenders can use it.
Can I call Gemini 4 Carbon through the API? Not yet. Google has not given a date for developer access or published a model ID.
How much does Gemini 4 Carbon cost? $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens at launch, with cached input 95% off; $4 / $20 after the introductory period.
What does Carbon do better than Argon? According to Google: cybersecurity (finding, validating and patching vulnerabilities), long-running coding tasks and reliability. The introductory price is the same.
Will Carbon be on TeamoRouter? Once Google opens it to developers, TeamoRouter will list it under Google's own model ID. When it shows on the pricing page, change the model name in your request.
Related
- Gemini 4 Argon API: model ID, pricing and request examples
- Claude Opus 5.5 API: the model the leak compared Carbon to