Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6 Astra: API price, context and cost per task
Google's new flagship against OpenAI's. In Artificial Analysis summaries cited at launch, Argon matched GPT-6 Astra on the Intelligence Index while costing much less per task.
On output, Gemini 4 Argon is 5x cheaper ($10 vs $50 per million tokens). On input, Gemini 4 Argon is 5x cheaper ($2 vs $10 per million tokens). GPT-6 Astra reads more per request: 1,050,000 tokens against 1,048,576.
Data updated 2026-11-11 - source: public OpenRouter model list, refreshed daily. Prices in USD, excluding VAT.
Specs and prices side by side
| Gemini 4 Argon | GPT-6 Astra | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | OpenAI | |
| Input, per 1M tokens | $2 | $10 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $10 | $50 |
| Cached input, per 1M | $0.1 | $1 |
| Batch (input / output) | $1 / $5 | $5 / $25 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 | 1,050,000 |
| Max output | 943,718 | 128,000 |
| Input types | text, images, files, audio, video | text, images, files |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| On OpenRouter since | 13 Oct 2026 | 4 Sep 2026 |
Highlighted: the cheaper price or the larger limit. "Not published" means the figure is not in the public model listing yet.
What a month of work costs
Four typical workloads at today's list prices. Reasoning models also bill their thinking as output tokens, so treat output-heavy numbers as a floor.
| Workload | Gemini 4 Argon | GPT-6 Astra | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot10,000 conversations a month, about 1,500 input and 400 output tokens each | $70 | $350 | Gemini 4 Argon 5x cheaper |
| Coding agent300 tasks a month, about 80,000 input tokens (code context re-read across steps) and 8,000 output tokens each | $72 | $360 | Gemini 4 Argon 5x cheaper |
| Coding agent with caching70% of input served from the prompt cache | $40.08 | $209 | |
| Long-document analysis1,000 documents a month, about 50,000 tokens in and a 1,500-token summary out | $115 | $575 | Gemini 4 Argon 5x cheaper |
| Content drafting600 articles a month, about 3,000 tokens of brief in and 2,500 tokens of draft out | $18.60 | $93 | Gemini 4 Argon 5x cheaper |
Price stability over the last 30 days
- Gemini 4 Argon: no change in the last 30 days.
- GPT-6 Astra: no change in the last 30 days.
What the vendors and benchmarks say
Gemini 4 Argon
"Gemini 4 Argon is Google's flagship reasoning model, built for complex software engineering, deep mathematical and scientific problem solving, and autonomous multi-step agents."model card on OpenRouter
- Announced on 30 September 2026 - Google's first new flagship generation since Gemini 3 in November 2025. Source: Google
- The output limit grew from 64,000 to 1,000,000 tokens, which Google calls the highest in the industry. Source: Google
- Introductory API rate: $2 input / $10 output per million tokens, cached input 95% cheaper. After the introductory period: $4 / $20. Source: Google
- Google-reported results: DeepSWE v1.1 77.9%, AutomationBench 51.3% (1st), LVBench 91.7%. Text Arena 1525 (1st), but Code Arena WebDev 1679 (8th). Source: Google; arena rankings
- Staged access: trusted testers first, then paying API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers. Not in the public API as of 30 September 2026. Source: Google
GPT-6 Astra
"GPT-6 Astra is OpenAI's flagship model for demanding end-to-end work."model card on OpenRouter
- OpenAI's flagship, presented on 3 September 2026 and rolled out in stages. Source: OpenAI
- Terminal-Bench 4.0: 57.9% (figure reported by OpenAI); GDPval-AA v2.1: 1542 Elo. Source: Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 launch comparison
Which one to pick
If that parity holds on your workload, Argon is the price-performance pick - even after the introductory period, its announced $4 / $20 rate stays well below Astra's list price. The catch is access: Argon went to trusted testers and paying API customers first and was not in the public API on 30 September. Astra is available today and has the larger 1.05M-token context window.
Cheaper models with a similar context window
Models from our comparison set that cost less than both on a blended basis and support tool calling. They are not equivalent in quality - test before switching.
- Qwen3.8 Max (Alibaba (Qwen)): $2 / $6 per million tokens, 1M context
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Google): $0.825 / $4.13 per million tokens, 1.05M context
- DeepSeek V4 Pro (DeepSeek): $0.955 / $1.91 per million tokens, 1.05M context
Related reading
- Gemini 4 Argon Test: 23 Tasks vs Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Astra
- Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6 Astra vs Claude Opus 5.5 Benchmarks
- Gemini 4 Carbon test: 50+ tasks vs Argon, Claude Fable 5.2 and GPT-6.1 Sol
- Claude Fable 5.2 vs GPT-6.1 Sol vs Gemini 4 Argon: Price, Benchmarks
- GPT-6.1 Terra vs Gemini 4 Argon: Polish Test Results
- Claude Fable 5.2 vs GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 4 Carbon
How we calculate
Prices are the public per-token list rates from OpenRouter's model list, which match the vendors' own API prices for first-party models and show the current routed price for open-weight models served by several hosts. Monthly costs multiply those rates by the token volumes in each workload; caching assumes the stated share of input is billed at the cached-input rate. Benchmarks and claims are quoted from the named sources, mostly the vendors themselves - treat them as a guide and test on your own tasks. See also the AI cost calculator and all tracked model prices.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-6 Astra?
As of 11 Nov 2026, Gemini 4 Argon costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens; GPT-6 Astra costs $10 and $50. Gemini 4 Argon is cheaper in 4 of the 4 monthly workloads we price on this page. The real bill also depends on how many reasoning tokens each model writes.
Which has the larger context window?
Gemini 4 Argon reads up to 1,048,576 tokens and can write up to 943,718; GPT-6 Astra reads up to 1,050,000 and writes up to 128,000.
How much does a support chatbot cost on each model?
For 10,000 conversations a month (about 15 million input and 4 million output tokens) you would pay about $70 on Gemini 4 Argon and $350 on GPT-6 Astra at list prices, before any caching or batch discounts.
Do they offer prompt caching or batch discounts?
Gemini 4 Argon lists cached input at $0.1 per million and a batch rate of $1 / $5. GPT-6 Astra lists cached input at $1 per million and a batch rate of $5 / $25. Caching matters most for agents and chatbots that resend the same context on every turn.
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