Google Launches Gemini 4 Hydrogen, a Free and Affordable Model

Google launches Gemini 4 Hydrogen, the cheapest version in the Gemini 4 range. This model becomes the free offering and is set to power the AI features of Google Search. Its pricing will change on December 1, 2026, with a more significant discount compared to Carbon and Argon.

Hydrogen becomes free and is set to equip Google Search

Hydrogen becomes the model offered at the free level. It is also intended to power AI functionalities in Google Search.

Prices aligned before December 1, then significant discount announced

The pricing for the Gemini 4 range is organized into two periods: until November 30, 2026, and from December 1, 2026. Currently, Hydrogen is offered at the same price as Carbon and Argon, but the prices of Carbon and Argon are set to double on December 1, 2026. Today, Hydrogen provides only a 25% discount compared to its more powerful counterparts, but this discount will reach 75% after December 1, 2026. Despite this announced decrease, Hydrogen remains significantly more expensive than Claude Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 and GPT-6 Luna at $0.50, making it 15 times more costly.

Hydrogen, execution engine; Carbon and Argon for expertise

According to Google, Carbon and Argon are intended for tasks requiring in-depth architectural analysis or the detection of complex bugs, while Hydrogen is described as a fast and rigorous model for coding, executing tests, and verifying changes. Hydrogen has been designed for daily standalone use or to be combined with Carbon and Argon as a high-performance execution engine in processes involving multiple models. Google also notes that Argon offers the capabilities of Gemini 4 but with faster responses and lower token usage per turn compared to Carbon, allowing it to maintain the same pricing while consuming fewer tokens per operation.