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Gemini (Google)

A Tier · 8.3/10

**Googlebook opened pre-orders 2026-09-21 at $899** -- a new laptop line built for on-device Gemini (Magic Pointer, Rambler dictation, Gemini Spark running with the lid closed) that bundles twelve months of Google AI Pro, shipping 10/04 in the US. **Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking launched 2026-09-15** -- native speech-to-speech models in the Gemini API at $0.005/min audio in and $0.018/min audio out (audio-in a tenth of GPT-Live-1's $0.05/min voice layer, and on the same price row as the older 3.1 Flash Live), with Extended Thinking taking the #1 spot on Artificial Analysis' Speech to Speech Quality Index (82.6) and rolling into Gemini Live, Search Live and Workspace Docs/Gmail/Keep. **Gemini app for Windows shipped 2026-09-10** (Alt+Space overlay, Google-app connectors, Gemini Spark on desktop) and the Sept 9 AI-plan refresh added Google Pics and Sheets canvas for AI Pro/Ultra plus Gemini Spark hooks into Chrome and Google Photos. Google's LLM with deep Google Workspace integration, 2M token context window, and native code execution -- **Gemini 3.8 Flash launched 2026-09-02** -- the third Flash release in six weeks -- at the SAME $0.75/$3.75 per 1M intro rate as 3.7 Flash and, critically, **on the same 2026-12-31 expiry** (then $1.50/$7.50), so the discount window did not reset. HLE-Verified 54.9%; Google warns it uses more tokens per task because it 'works harder', so cost per task can rise at an unchanged rate. **Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber** is trusted-defenders-only via the new **Fairwind Program**. Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13) remains fully supported for efficiency-first work. Gemini 3.5 Pro STILL delayed and partner-testing-only (Bloomberg, 7/16 -- coding shortfalls, no ship date), so Flash keeps shipping while the Pro line stalls. Gemini 4 pre-training underway. **Two new models in Aug 2026: Gemini 3.5 Transcribe (2026-08-26) speech-to-text and Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash (2026-08-27) production video with 40s scene extension, start/end frames and 4K** -- Transcribe's rate card has since appeared (about $0.005/min blended, verified 9/17); Omni 1.1 Flash's still has not

Last updated: 2026-09-21Free tier available

Score Breakdown

8.0
Ease of Use
8.0
Output Quality
9.0
Value
8.0
Features

Benchmark Scores

Benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash (vendor-published 2026-05-19; third-party verification pending) -- legacy 3.1 Ultra retained below for context

Chatbot Arena ELOHuman preference rating1500
BenchmarkScore
Terminal-Bench 2.176.2%
MCP Atlas83.6%
CharXiv Reasoning (multimodal)84.2%
MMLU (3.1 Ultra baseline)90.5%
SWE-bench Verified (3.1 Ultra baseline)80.6%

Last updated: 2026-05-19

Visit Gemini (Google)

Personality & Tone

The Google research assistant

Tone: Neutral, thorough, and slightly corporate. Gemini leans academic, cites sources readily in Deep Research mode, and keeps its tone even across topics -- rarely funny, rarely snarky.

Quirks: Tightly integrated with Google products -- pulls from Search and Workspace by default, which is useful for grounded answers but means you hear Google's worldview. Can feel evasive or overly safe on opinionated or politically charged questions.

The Good and the Bad

What we like

  • +2 million token context window is the largest available -- can process entire books and full codebases in one prompt
  • +Best Google Workspace integration (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar)
  • +Free tier is more generous than Claude's
  • +Gemini Advanced includes 2TB Google One storage -- real added value
  • +API pricing is very competitive, especially for Flash model

What could be better

  • −Output quality for creative writing is the weakest of the big three (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini)
  • −Hallucination rate is higher than Claude in our testing
  • −Google's track record of killing products makes long-term commitment feel risky
  • −The Gemini app UI feels like Google slapped AI onto an existing product

Pricing

Free

$0
  • ✓Gemini 3.6 Flash (GA 2026-07-21)
  • ✓Basic features
  • ✓Google integration
  • ✓Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13) is in Gemini Spark for Pro/Ultra, not the free tier

Google AI Pro

$19.99/month
  • ✓Gemini 3.1 Ultra (Gemini 3.5 Pro expected but not yet shipped as of July 2026)
  • ✓2M token context
  • ✓Code Execution sandbox
  • ✓2TB Google storage
  • ✓Workspace integration
  • ✓Lyria 3 access

Google AI Ultra

$249.99/month
  • ✓Gemini 3.1 Ultra (max usage)
  • ✓Gemini 3.1 Flash Live audio
  • ✓Gemini Spark agent access (expanded 2026-07-30 to 160+ countries and DOWN to the AI Pro tier; Chrome auto-browse US-first; unavailable in the EEA, UK, Switzerland and Nigeria)
  • ✓Lyria 3 Pro full access
  • ✓Highest API priority
  • ✓30TB Google storage

API

$0.075-5/per 1M tokens
  • ✓All models
  • ✓2M context
  • ✓Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13) at $0.75/M input and $3.75/M output -- INTRO pricing through 2026-12-31, doubling to $1.50/$7.50 on 2027-01-01
  • ✓Flash-Lite at $0.25/M input
  • ✓Grounding with Google Search
  • ✓Code Execution
  • ✓Mandatory spend caps (April 2026)

Known Issues

  • GOOGLEBOOK: A LAPTOP LINE DESIGNED AROUND ON-DEVICE GEMINI, WITH A YEAR OF GOOGLE AI PRO IN THE BOX (2026-09-21, vendor-primary): Google opened pre-orders for **Googlebook**, 'a new category of laptops' built on the Android stack with ChromeOS desktop foundations and 'designed for Gemini Intelligence'. **Price and bundle:** from **$899**, and 'every Googlebook includes **12 months of Google AI Pro** providing 5TB of cloud storage and our Gemini Advanced tools, plus 3 months of YouTube Premium, Adobe Photoshop, and more', with feature drops for up to 10 years. Devices reach shelves **October 4 in the US** and October 5 in Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia. **What the Gemini integration actually is:** **Magic Pointer** -- wiggle the cursor to bring Gemini to whatever is on screen (schedule a plan from a web page into Calendar, check whether a hovered email is spam, combine selected images); **Rambler** voice dictation; custom widget creation; and the Chrome/Android Gemini features (task automations, Gemini Live, proactive suggestions) out of the box, including **Gemini Spark continuing to work with the laptop closed**. Google says Gemini 'only acts when you ask it to, and you can switch it off'. **Why it is on this page:** it is the first hardware SKU that bundles a Google AI Pro subscription, so for anyone planning to buy AI Pro anyway the effective laptop price is lower by a year of the plan -- and it puts Gemini in the same on-device, OS-level position that Copilot holds on Windows PCs and that Perplexity is buying via HP pre-loads. Google's posts say 'on-device Gemini' and 'built-in intelligence' but do not name the local model or say which features run offline, so treat 'on-device' as Google's framing rather than a verified local-inference claim.Source: Google (blog.google/products-and-platforms/devices/googlebook/pre-order-googlebook/ and .../googlebook-built-in-intelligence/, root-RSS pubDate 'Mon, 21 Sep 2026') -- fetched 2026-09-21 via curl · 2026-09-21
  • GEMINI 3.8 LIVE AND 3.8 LIVE EXTENDED THINKING -- NATIVE SPEECH-TO-SPEECH AT $0.005/MIN IN, $0.018/MIN OUT, AND THE FIRST GEMINI AUDIO LAUNCH WITH A RATE CARD ON DAY ONE (2026-09-15, vendor-primary): Google launched two new live dialogue models. **Gemini 3.8 Live** is 'built for scale and cost efficiency, combining conversational intelligence with fluid dialogue and visual grounding'; **Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking** is 'built for high-complexity tasks, with increased intelligence and multi-step reasoning' and reasons and speaks simultaneously, using verbal cues like 'Let me check that' and narrating progress on background tasks. **Vendor-cited results, all attributed to third parties:** Extended Thinking takes the **#1 overall spot on Artificial Analysis' Speech to Speech Quality Index (82.6)**, 68.6% on tau-Voice and 35.1% on Sierra's tau-Voice-banking, 97.7% on Big Bench Audio; 3.8 Live places **second in Speech Agent Arena**; both push the Pareto frontier on ServiceNow's EVA-Bench (Google notes that run used the Live API on Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform). **Capabilities:** asynchronous function calling (tools run in the background while audio keeps streaming), live visual context, alphanumeric precision for confirmation codes and claim numbers, automatic switching among **97 languages** mid-conversation, incremental content updates, and configurable thinking on Extended Thinking. **PRICING, READ OFF THE LIVE RATE CARD (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, section 'Gemini 3.8 Live, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, and Gemini 3.1 Flash Live Preview'):** per 1M tokens **$0.75 text in / $4.50 text out**, **$3.00 or $0.005/min audio in**, **$1.00 or $0.002/min image/video in**, **$12.00 or $0.018/min audio out (thinking tokens included)**; free tier available; Google Search grounding shares the 5,000 free requests/month pool across Gemini 3.x then $14 per 1,000. **Both models and the older 3.1 Flash Live Preview sit on ONE shared price row**, so the upgrade is free at the rate-card level. Google's own footnote derives the per-minute figures from $3/1M in and $12/1M out. Model IDs: `gemini-3.8-live`, `gemini-3.8-live-extended-thinking`. **FOR COMPARISON: OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 API (9/10) charges $0.05/min for its voice layer with the backend model billed separately -- Gemini's audio-out rate is under 40% of that, and its audio-in rate a tenth, though Gemini bills text and tool tokens on top too, so per-task cost depends on the mix.** **Availability:** developers via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio (ai.studio/live) and via Live API partners Agora, Fishjam, LangChain, LiveKit, Pipecat, Vercel and Vision Agents; enterprises in private preview in Gemini Enterprise, 'coming soon' to Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience; everyone via Search Live (3.8 Live) and **Gemini Live in the app (Extended Thinking)**; Workspace gets Extended Thinking in **Docs Live for Google AI Pro and Ultra, and in Gmail Live and Keep Live for all Google AI subscribers**, with business customers 'coming soon'. Salesforce, Genspark and Lumeris named as launch partners. All generated audio carries SynthID. **Note the launch post carries an 'Updated September 17, 2026' stamp two days after publication; the availability list above is the updated text.** Watch: Gemini 3.5 Live Translate (70+ languages) and Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS remain the translation and TTS models; no 3.8 TTS yet.Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-8-live-gemini-3-8-live-extended-thinking/, root-RSS pubDate 'Tue, 15 Sep 2026', on-page 'Sep 15, 2026', body stamped 'Updated September 17, 2026', by Tom Ouyang and Malini Jaganathan); Google developers post (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/build-real-time-voice-applications-gemini-audio/, 'Sep 15, 2026', by Alisa Fortin and Thor Schaeff); ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing rendered via Firecrawl -- all fetched 2026-09-17 · 2026-09-15
  • GEMINI 3.5 TRANSCRIBE NOW HAS A PUBLISHED RATE CARD -- CLOSING THE 'NO PRICING' CAVEAT FROM THE 8/26 ENTRY (verified 2026-09-17 on the live pricing page): the Gemini API pricing page now lists both transcription models. **`gemini-3.5-transcribe` (Interactions API, pre-recorded): $2.00 per 1M audio tokens in (Google's estimate: $0.003/min) and $12.00 per 1M text tokens out ($0.002/min), for a blended 'about $0.005 per minute'.** **`gemini-3.5-transcribe-live` (Live API, streaming): $3.50 per 1M audio in ($0.005/min) and $21.00 per 1M text out ($0.004/min), blended about $0.009/min.** Google's per-minute estimates assume 25 audio tokens per second in and 175 text tokens per minute out. Neither supports Google Search grounding; both have a free tier. The 9/15 developer post also adds detail the launch post lacked: **custom vocabulary biasing takes a list of up to 1,000 terms**, code-switching is handled within and across sentences automatically, and the Interactions API accepts audio files **up to 1 hour** with timestamps and speaker labels. The 8/26 figure of 4.0% WER is restated. The tagline's earlier 'no public rate card' claim for Transcribe is therefore retired; **Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash still has no per-second video rate on the page we could find.**Source: Google (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, sections 'Gemini 3.5 Transcribe Live' and 'Gemini 3.5 Transcribe', rendered via Firecrawl 2026-09-17); Google developers post 'Build real-time voice applications with Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.5 Transcribe' (2026-09-15) -- fetched 2026-09-17 · 2026-09-17
  • GOOGLE LABS' CC BECOMES A FAMILY AGENT -- NOT A GEMINI FEATURE, BUT IT IS THE PROJECT THAT BECAME THE GEMINI APP'S DAILY BRIEF (2026-09-17, vendor-primary): Google Labs relaunched **CC**, its personal agent, as 'an agent for families and households'. Google's own framing of the lineage: 'When we launched CC, our goal was to build a personal agent that helps you get ahead of your day... in May we brought it to the Gemini App as Daily Brief.' The new CC **has its own verified Google Account** with a distinct identity and permissions model, supports **up to six members**, sees only what each member chooses to share (school emails, the vet, the swim centre), and produces a shared 'Your Day Ahead' brief plus Calendar and Tasks entries; it can fill permission slips and registration PDFs, build shopping lists and meal plans, and accepts forwarded emails, texts, photos of invites, Drive folders and Calendar shares. **Availability: US only, by upgrade email or waitlist.** Recorded here because it is the upstream of Daily Brief and the clearest signal of where the Gemini app's 'manage your day' voice features (which 3.8 Live Extended Thinking now powers) are heading; it is a Labs experiment, not a roster product.Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/cc-expanding-to-groups/, root-RSS pubDate 'Thu, 17 Sep 2026', on-page 'Sep 17, 2026', by Tom Shane) -- fetched 2026-09-17 · 2026-09-17
  • THE GEMINI APP COMES TO WINDOWS -- ALT+SPACE OVERLAY, GOOGLE-APP CONNECTORS AND GEMINI SPARK ON THE DESKTOP (2026-09-10, vendor-primary): Google shipped **the Gemini app for Windows**, downloadable from gemini.google/desktop, ten weeks after the macOS app got Gemini Spark (6/30). **What it is:** a native desktop app summoned with **Alt + Space** over whatever you are working in, for drafting, Q&A, image and video creation, and file organisation, designed (per Google) to 'run smoothly in the background so it won't slow down your computer.' The desktop landing page confirms the Windows build has the same three pillars as Mac: the shortcut overlay, **Gemini Spark** ('your 24/7 personal AI agent' for multi-step research, planning and synthesis), and **connectors to Gmail, Drive, Docs and Calendar** to pull information into the desktop workflow. **WHY IT MATTERS:** this closes the platform gap with ChatGPT's unified desktop app (Windows + Mac since 7/09) and with Microsoft Copilot's native Windows position -- Gemini is now resident on the OS Microsoft controls, with an overlay shortcut that competes directly with the Copilot key. Spark's tier gating (AI Ultra, 18+, US on Mac at its June launch) is not restated in the Windows post; assume the same until Google says otherwise. No pricing change.Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/gemini-app-now-on-windows/, root-RSS pubDate 'Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000', on-page 'Sep 10, 2026', by Erin Pettigrew); gemini.google/desktop (download page listing Alt+Space / Option+Space, Spark and Google-app connectors) -- both fetched 2026-09-14 · 2026-09-10
  • FALL AI-PLAN REFRESH -- GOOGLE PICS AND SHEETS CANVAS GATED TO AI PRO/ULTRA, GEMINI SPARK NOW REACHES INTO CHROME AND GOOGLE PHOTOS, VOICE IN GMAIL/DOCS/KEEP (2026-09-09, vendor-primary): Google's AI-subscriptions post lists what the tiers now include, and the tier lines are the useful part: **Voice** in Gmail, Docs and Keep to draft, search the inbox and capture notes -- **AI Plus, Pro and Ultra in Gmail and Keep; Pro and Ultra only in Docs**. **Google Pics in Google Workspace** (poster design, social posts, illustration editing) -- **AI Pro and Ultra**. **Sheets canvas** -- turn a spreadsheet into an interactive 'mini-app' from a prompt -- **AI Pro and Ultra**. **Gemini Spark 'now connected with Google Chrome and Google Photos'** to run web errands, edit photos and curate albums -- **AI Pro and Ultra, US only**, which is a broadening from Spark's Ultra-only macOS launch in June if it holds across surfaces. **Eligible college students worldwide get one year of a Google AI plan free.** **READ:** the pattern is consistent -- AI Plus gets voice and the basics, the agentic and creative features land at Pro ($19.99) and up, and Spark keeps expanding its reach (Chrome, Photos, now Windows) faster than its documented tier rules, so check the in-product gate before promising a feature to a Plus subscriber.Source: Google (blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/google-one/fall-2026-ai-plan-updates/, root-RSS pubDate 'Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000', on-page 'Sep 09, 2026', by Vikas Kansal) -- fetched 2026-09-14 · 2026-09-09
  • GEMINI 3.8 FLASH AND 3.8 FLASH CYBER -- THE THIRD FLASH RELEASE IN SIX WEEKS, AND THE INTRO PRICE DID NOT RESET (2026-09-02, vendor-primary): Google shipped **Gemini 3.8 Flash** and **Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber**, describing 3.8 as 'our best reasoning and coding model yet, at the same speed and low cost of 3.7' and noting this is its **third Flash release in only six weeks**, three weeks after 3.7 Flash. **PRICING -- AND THE TRAP IS THE SAME ONE 3.7 FLASH CARRIED, ON THE SAME DEADLINE:** 3.8 Flash is '**available at the same introductory price as 3.7 Flash at $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens**'. The footnote is explicit: '**Introductory price expires on December 31, 2026. Starting January 1, 2027, $1.50/1M input tokens and $7.50/1M output tokens will apply.**' **So the new model inherits the old model's expiry date rather than getting a fresh twelve months -- the discount window is now four months shorter than it was for anyone who adopted 3.7 Flash in August.** Budget on the January 1 doubling, not on today's rate. **BENCHMARKS, VENDOR-PUBLISHED:** **54.9% on HLE-Verified**; Google says 3.8 Flash 'outperforms most larger frontier models' on **DeepSWE v1.1** long-horizon software engineering 'at a fraction of the cost', and beats 3.7 Flash and other frontier models on **Vals Finance Agent V2** and **Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark**. **AN HONEST COST CAVEAT GOOGLE PUBLISHES AND AGGREGATORS WILL DROP:** the gains come from the model '**working harder**' -- 'executing extra reasoning steps, and calling tools iteratively', and 'at times, the model might use more tokens to maximize performance, especially at higher effort levels'. **Same per-token price, potentially more tokens per task -- so the effective cost per task can rise even though the rate card did not move.** Google explicitly tells efficiency-first users to lower the effort level or **stay on 3.7 Flash, which 'remains fully supported'** -- so this is not a forced migration. **GEMINI 3.8 FLASH CYBER IS NOT PURCHASABLE:** it is available 'to a select set of trusted defenders' via the new **Fairwind Program**, aimed at trusted government authorities, critical-infrastructure operators and software maintainers, with prioritized access by application. Google reports frontier CyberGym performance at **2.3-5.2x lower cost than other leading frontier models**, and says its Cloud Vulnerability Research team used it to find a critical foundational vulnerability **in under two hours** where discovery normally takes months. **AVAILABILITY OF 3.8 FLASH (the one you can actually use):** developers via Google Antigravity, the Gemini API through Google AI Studio, Android Studio and Stitch; enterprises via Gemini Enterprise; consumers on **Google AI Pro and Ultra** across the Gemini app, AI Mode in Google Search, and Gemini in Google Sheets. **It reached GitHub Copilot the next day, 2026-09-03**, for Pro, Pro+, Max, Business and Enterprise.Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/3-8-flash-and-3-8-flash-cyber/, root-RSS pubDate 'Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:00:00 +0000', on-page 'Sep 02, 2026') -- fetched 2026-09-05 via curl with browser UA · 2026-09-02
  • GEMINI 3.5 TRANSCRIBE -- NEW SPEECH-TO-TEXT MODEL, AND IT RETIRES CHIRP 3 AS THE REFERENCE POINT (2026-08-26, vendor-primary): Google launched Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, its '**most precise speech-to-text model yet**', in the Gemini API via Google AI Studio and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. **Two separate APIs, two model IDs:** real-time streaming with sub-second latency via the Live API using `gemini-3.5-transcribe-live`, and pre-recorded processing with speaker attribution and word-level timestamps via the Interactions API using `gemini-3.5-transcribe`. **Vendor-cited accuracy, attributed to Artificial Analysis (third party, not Google's own harness): average WER 4.0% streaming / 2.6% non-streaming**, and on the multilingual FLEURS benchmark **5.50% streaming / 5.04% non-streaming**. Time-to-final-transcription improves **70% versus Chirp 3**. **85+ languages** auto-detected; **multi-speaker attribution is capped at three speakers, with 3+ explicitly experimental** -- that ceiling is the practical limit for meeting transcription and no aggregator will mention it. Also does disfluency cleanup (self-corrections, filler removal, auto-formatting), custom vocabulary, and **function calling to delegate to other Gemini models -- currently only in the Gemini macOS app**. **NO PUBLISHED RATE CARD in the launch post.**Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-5-transcribe/, on-page 'Aug 26, 2026', RSS pubDate 'Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0000') -- fetched 2026-08-28 via curl · 2026-08-26
  • GEMINI OMNI 1.1 FLASH -- GENERATIVE VIDEO GETS PRODUCTION CONTROLS (2026-08-27, vendor-primary): Google shipped Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, framed explicitly as making Omni 1.1 '**production-ready for professional use**' via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. **Four changes, all about control rather than raw quality:** (1) **Scene extension** -- continue generating from where an existing clip left off; the model now analyses **up to 10 seconds of prior context, versus previous models that referenced only the final second**, and you can extend in 10-second increments to a **cumulative 40 seconds**. (2) **First and last frame interpolation** -- set start and end frames to control camera moves and transitions. (3) **360p preview renders** at lower credit cost to iterate before committing to a full render. (4) **4K upscaling** for final output. **READ THE 40-SECOND CEILING AS THE REAL LIMIT:** this is a cumulative cap, not a per-call cap, so Omni 1.1 is still a shot-generator, not a long-form video tool. **NO PRICING WAS PUBLISHED for the 1.1 tier in the announcement** -- do not carry Omni Flash's $0.10/sec across without confirming it on a rate card.Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/build-with-gemini-omni-1-1-flash/, RSS pubDate 'Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000') -- fetched 2026-08-28 via curl · 2026-08-27
  • A FREE YEAR OF GOOGLE AI FOR STUDENTS -- AND THE AUTO-RENEW TERM IS THE PART THAT WILL CATCH PEOPLE (2026-08-19, vendor-primary): Google opened a back-to-school offer that is materially the largest giveaway on this page. **US college students get 12 months of Google AI Pro free**, which Google itself values at **$19.99/mo** -- unlocking **4x higher usage limits in Gemini**, access to **Gemini Spark**, Gemini in Gmail and Docs, **5 TB of storage** and Google Health Premium. **Outside the US, eligible students get 12 months of Google AI Plus free** instead: **Gemini Omni**, 2x higher usage limits, 400 GB storage. There is also a **Google AI Pro + YouTube Premium student bundle at up to 70% off**. **THE TERMS, READ OFF GOOGLE'S OWN PLANS PAGE RATHER THAN THE BLOG POST:** eligibility requires **verification via SheerID at sign-up**; student offers are '**valid for up to 4 years and may automatically renew at the standard monthly price once student status concludes**'; they are '**not available on school-issued accounts**' and are individual-use only. **That auto-renew-to-full-price clause is the single most important sentence for a reader** and it does not appear in the announcement blog post -- it is in the plans-page footnotes. Anyone claiming this should set a calendar reminder for month 12. **SHIPPED ALONGSIDE:** a dedicated **student hub at gemini.google.com/students** collecting study notebooks, flashcards and practice quizzes; study notebooks (launched June) gain **graphs and images 'in the coming weeks'** and can write exam and assignment dates from a syllabus into Google Calendar with permission; interactive 3D visualizations; and Gemini Live for talking through Drive materials. **COMPETITIVE READ:** this lands the day after OpenAI shipped ChatGPT for Teens and its CodeAI education partnership. Both labs moved on the education market in the same 48 hours, but the shapes differ -- **OpenAI restricted a tier (automatic placement, safety-first), Google discounted one (free access, feature-first)**Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/student-offer-google-ai/, RSS pubDate 'Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:00:00 +0000'); SheerID / 4-year / auto-renew terms verified on one.google.com/about/google-ai-plans/ -- both fetched 2026-08-20 via curl · 2026-08-19
  • GEMINI IN CHROME REACHES ALL US ANDROID USERS, AND AUTO BROWSE ARRIVES ON MOBILE FOR PAID TIERS (2026-08-18, vendor-primary): Google made **Gemini in Chrome available to all Android users in the U.S.** -- summarising long articles, answering questions about a page, and connecting to Google apps including Calendar and Keep without tab-switching, plus **Nano Banana image generation and customisation in-browser**. Reached via the Gemini icon or the three-dot menu on the top bar. **THE TIER SPLIT IS THE FACT THAT MATTERS:** the assistant is free to all US Android users, but '**AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers on Android in the U.S.**' additionally get **auto browse**, Chrome's agentic mode -- booking parking, updating a recurring order, organising travel. So the browsing assistant is free; **the agent is paywalled**, and only in the US, and only on Android. **SECURITY POSTURE, VENDOR-STATED:** models are 'trained to detect known threats, such as **prompt injection**', and auto browse '**is designed to ask for confirmation before completing some sensitive tasks**' -- note the hedge in 'some', which Google does not enumerate. **HOW THIS RELATES TO THE 7/30 SPARK ENTRY BELOW:** that update brought Chrome auto-browse to the AI Pro tier and expanded Spark to 160 countries on desktop; this is the Android leg of the same push, and it is **US-only at launch** rather than inheriting that 160-country footprint -- do not assume the desktop geography applies hereSource: Google (blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/gemini-in-chrome-android-auto-browse/, RSS pubDate 'Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:00:00 +0000', fetched 2026-08-20 via curl) · 2026-08-18
  • NEW FLAGSHIP WORKHORSE -- GEMINI 3.7 FLASH (2026-08-13, vendor post): Google shipped **Gemini 3.7 Flash**, billed as 'our most intelligent workhorse model yet for coding and agents' -- and it **supersedes Gemini 3.6 Flash after only three weeks** (3.6 Flash was 7/21). **Vendor-published benchmarks, all versus 3.6 Flash:** FrontierCode 1.1 Main **43.6% (from 34.4%)**, DeepSWE v1.1 **65.3% (from 49.0%)**, WebDev Arena Elo **1588 (from 1538)**, GDP.pdf **34.0% (from 22.0%)**, AutomationBench **30.4% (from 17.0%)**. These are first-party figures; third-party verification pending. **PRICING IS INTRODUCTORY AND IT DOUBLES -- read this before you build on it:** **$0.75/M input and $3.75/M output through 2026-12-31**, then **$1.50/M input and $7.50/M output from 2027-01-01** (confirmed on both the launch post and ai.google.dev's pricing table). Note what that means in context: the post-promo price is **exactly Gemini 3.6 Flash's price**, so the intro rate is a 50% launch discount rather than a durable price cut -- budget on $1.50/$7.50 for anything running past New Year. **Availability day one:** Google AI Studio and Android Studio, the Gemini API, Google Antigravity, the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, and **Gemini Spark in the Gemini app for Pro and Ultra subscribers** -- plus, confirmed since, **GitHub Copilot on the same day (2026-08-13)**, across Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business and Enterprise, though Business/Enterprise admins 'must enable the Gemini 3.7 Flash Preview policy in Copilot settings' first (note GitHub carries it under a **Preview** policy label, so do not assume Copilot's 8/26 default-enablement flip switches it on automatically). **The strategic read:** Google has now shipped three Flash generations (3.5 Flash-Lite, 3.6, 3.7) in roughly seven weeks while **Gemini 3.5 Pro remains unshipped and partner-only** -- the Flash line is where Google's coding-model progress is actually landing, and buyers waiting on a Pro-tier answer should plan around Flash insteadSource: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-3-7-flash/, fetched 2026-08-13); pricing independently confirmed at ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (fetched 2026-08-13) · 2026-08-13
  • GEMINI 3.5 PRO STATUS CHECK (2026-08-03): still unshipped, and there is **no new information since July 21**. The Gemini API changelog runs through 7/30 (latest entries are the Robotics-ER 2 previews) with **no `gemini-3.5-pro` release at any point**, and there has been no GA post on blog.google. Google's last public word remains the 7/21 model post: 'Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently testing with partners and we plan to make it broadly available as soon as it's ready.' That is three missed windows -- June, the aggregator-only 'July 17', and the 7/21 drop that shipped Flash variants instead. **No vendor date exists; any '3.5 Pro is coming on X' claim is speculation.** Practical read for buyers: Google AI Pro's in-tier flagship is still Gemini 3.1 Ultra, and **Gemini 3.6 Flash (7/21) is the model to actually plan around**. Separately, Google has confirmed pre-training has begun on Gemini 4 -- no specs, no dateSource: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog (checked 2026-08-03, no 3.5 Pro entry through 7/30); blog.google Gemini 3.6 Flash post (2026-07-21) · 2026-08-03
  • NEW MODELS -- GEMINI 3.6 FLASH + 3.5 FLASH-LITE + 3.5 FLASH CYBER GA (2026-07-21, vendor post): Google shipped the 'upgraded Flash stopgap' it had flagged while Gemini 3.5 Pro stayed delayed. **Gemini 3.6 Flash** -- improved workhorse for coding/knowledge/multimodal at **$1.50/M input, $7.50/M output** (a ~17% output price cut vs 3.5 Flash's $9), uses **17% fewer output tokens** than 3.5 Flash, up to +65% on DeepSWE and 49% vs 37% on certain code tasks; live day-one across the Gemini API (AI Studio, Android Studio), Google Antigravity, the Gemini app, and GitHub Copilot. **Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite** -- fastest 3.5-class model at **$0.30/M input, $2.50/M output**, **350 output tokens/sec**, 54% on Terminal-Bench 2.1 (vs 31% prior); on Gemini API + Enterprise + rolling out in Google Search. **Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber** -- a security-tuned model for finding/fixing vulnerabilities paired with the CodeMender agent, gov/trusted-partner-only via a limited-access pilot (no public pricing). CRUCIAL: Gemini 3.5 **Pro did NOT ship** here -- Google says it is 'currently testing 3.5 Pro with partners' and will release it 'as soon as it's ready' (still no date). Google also disclosed it has 'started our most ambitious pre-training run yet, for **Gemini 4**' (pre-training only, no specs, no date)Source: Google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-6-flash-3-5-flash-lite-3-5-flash-cyber/), TechCrunch (2026-07-21), 9to5Google, GitHub Copilot changelog (2026-07-21) · 2026-07-21
  • GEMINI 3.5 PRO DELAY NOW VENDOR-SIDE CONFIRMED (2026-07-16, Bloomberg): Google is reportedly **months behind schedule** on Gemini 3.5 Pro -- Bloomberg's sourcing says the model's capabilities, 'particularly in coding,' fell short of internal goals, and a late-June remediation attempt (updated training data) produced 'disappointing' results. This is the third missed window (June -> the aggregator-only 'July 17' -> TBD), and press reports the delay news knocked ~$200B off Alphabet's market value on 7/16. Google's own statement: it is 'currently testing 3.5 Pro, an upgraded Flash model, and other models with partners' -- so an upgraded Flash stopgap may ship first. The 'July 17' date circulating on aggregators was never Google-confirmed. Treat all 3.5 Pro capability claims as unshipped. SEPARATE COMMUNITY WATCH (unconfirmed, do not treat as vendor fact): devs on Google's official AI forum report `gemini-2.5-flash` returning 'no longer available' 404s starting ~7/9, three months ahead of its published Oct 16, 2026 shutdown date -- no Google response in-thread yet; could be a bug or partial rollout. If you depend on 2.5 Flash, verify availability directlySource: Bloomberg (2026-07-16), 9to5Google (9to5google.com/2026/07/16/gemini-3-5-pro-delays/), LA Times (2026-07-17), discuss.ai.google.dev thread 174217 (community, unconfirmed) · 2026-07-16
  • GEMINI SPARK: CHROME AUTO-BROWSE + 160-COUNTRY EXPANSION, AND IT DROPS TO THE AI PRO TIER (2026-07-30, vendor post): the biggest Spark update since launch, and it changes who can get it. **(1) Chrome integration.** Spark now drives Chrome directly -- Google's wording: Spark can 'use your logged-in accounts and saved passwords to handle tedious web errands, like scheduling viewings for apartments you've saved or researching flight options.' Safety posture: Google says it architected defenses against prompt injection and keeps humans in the loop on sensitive actions, 'such as payments, by handing the task back to you.' **Chrome auto-browse is rolling out in the U.S. first**, with other regions later. **(2) Availability widens sharply, and the tier drops.** Access opened to **over 160 additional countries** -- and critically for **Google AI Pro ($19.99/mo) subscribers**, not just the AI Ultra tier Spark launched on. **(3) The exclusions matter and Google does not list them in the blog post:** per Google's own support documentation, 'Spark is currently unavailable in the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.' So EU and UK readers are still locked out even after the expansion -- an unusually large carve-out that reads as regulatory caution rather than capacity. (Exclusion list quoted from Google support docs as reported by PPC Land; the blog post itself is silent on it -- flagging the sourcing because it is the detail most likely to affect a reader's decision.)Source: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/gemini-spark-updates-july-2026/, fetched 2026-08-03); exclusion list via PPC Land quoting Google support documentation · 2026-07-30
  • LYRIA 3.5 MUSIC MODEL (2026-07-29, vendor post): Google shipped **Lyria 3.5**, described as 'our newest music generation model', delivering 'significant advancements across musicality, lyrics, and vocal quality.' Specifics Google cites: richer and more complex melodic structures, better lyric prompt-adherence and structural awareness, more realistic and emotionally nuanced vocals with improved pronunciation, and more creative control over tempo and duration. **Availability is narrow: it is rolling out in Google Flow Music.** The announcement does NOT mention the Gemini app, the API, or MusicFX, and says nothing about SynthID watermarking -- so do not assume API access. See the lyria page for detailSource: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/lyria-3-5/, fetched 2026-08-03) · 2026-07-29
  • GEMINI ROBOTICS ER 2 (2026-07-30, vendor): Google released **two new embodied-reasoning model endpoints for robotics in public preview**, per the Gemini API changelog: 'Gemini Robotics ER 2 in public preview: Released two new embodied reasoning model endpoints for robotics.' Google's blog frames the capability as real-time spatial reasoning, multi-step task planning, and collaboration between different robots. Noted here for completeness -- it is a developer/robotics API, not a consumer Gemini feature, and does not change anything in the Gemini appSource: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog (2026-07-30), blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-deepmind/gemini-robotics-er-2/) · 2026-07-30
  • GEMINI SPARK ON MACOS (2026-06-30/07-01): Google's agentic assistant Gemini Spark launched on the Mac Gemini app in beta -- Google AI Ultra subscribers, 18+, US only (gemini.google/mac). Local file automation, MCP support, and new connected apps: Canva, Dropbox, Instacart, OpenTable, Zillow Rentals, plus Google Tasks/Keep. Google's answer to Claude desktop agents and OpenAI's Codex/Operator surface war on the desktopSource: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/gemini-spark-updates-june-2026/), TechCrunch 2026-07-01 · 2026-07-01
  • NEW MEDIA MODELS (2026-06-30, vendor post): Google shipped **Nano Banana 2 Lite** (`gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image`) and **Gemini Omni Flash** (`gemini-omni-flash-preview`) to AI Studio, the Gemini API, and the Enterprise Agent Platform. Nano Banana 2 Lite is Google's 'fastest, most cost-efficient Gemini Image model' -- text-to-image in ~4 seconds at **$0.034 per 1K-resolution image** (coming to AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app, NotebookLM, and Google Photos). Gemini Omni Flash does video generation + conversational (natural-language) video editing and multimodal referencing at **$0.10 per second of video output** (10-second clips at launch, longer coming); SynthID watermarked. Both target high-volume, low-latency workflows. See the nano-banana and veo pages for detail.Source: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-omni-flash-nano-banana-2-lite/) · 2026-06-30
  • API SHUTDOWNS NOW IN EFFECT (dates passed as of this review): the older media model IDs announced 6/15 have retired on schedule -- **Veo 2.0 + Veo 3.0 shut down 2026-06-30** (migrate to Veo 3.1) and the **Nano Banana preview image IDs `gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview` + `gemini-3-pro-image-preview` shut down 2026-06-25** (use the GA `gemini-3.1-flash-image` / `gemini-3-pro-image`). Pinned calls to any of these legacy IDs are now failing. **Imagen 4.0 models (`imagen-4.0-generate-001`, `-ultra-`, `-fast-`) still shut down 2026-08-17** (→ `gemini-3.1-flash-image`).Source: Gemini API changelog + deprecations (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/deprecations) · 2026-06-30
  • AGENT CAPABILITY (2026-06-24): Google added **native computer use to Gemini 3.5 Flash** -- the model can see, reason, and act across desktop, mobile, and browser environments, aimed at building long-horizon enterprise automation agents. Puts Gemini 3.5 Flash into direct competition with Anthropic computer use and OpenAI's Operator/Codex computer-use tooling.Source: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-computer-use-gemini-3-5-flash/) · 2026-06-24
  • PRICE CUT (2026-06-09): **Google AI Plus dropped from $7.99 to $4.99/mo** and doubled storage 200GB → 400GB (US; tier includes Gemini Omni Flash video gen, Flow, and NotebookLM). TechCrunch framed it as 'a warning shot in the AI subscription price wars' -- it undercuts ChatGPT Go ($8/mo) by nearly half. Current Google AI plan ladder: Plus $4.99 / Pro $19.99 / Ultra 5x from $99.99 / Ultra 20x $199.99Source: blog.google (Google One subscriptions post), TechCrunch (2026-06-09), Engadget · 2026-06-09
  • PARTNERSHIP WIN (2026-06-08, WWDC): Apple's rebuilt **Siri AI** runs on next-generation Apple Foundation Models that Apple says were 'custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models' -- press reports the deal at ~$1B/year for a ~1.2T-parameter custom Gemini variant. This puts Gemini-derived models behind the default assistant on qualifying iPhones, iPads, and Macs when iOS 27 / macOS 27 ship this fall. Separately, iOS 27's Extensions framework lets users select Gemini itself as the system assistant behind Siri, Writing Tools, and Image Playground -- distribution ChatGPT used to hold exclusively. Arguably Google's biggest AI distribution win to date; see the siri-ai page for the Apple-side detailSource: Apple newsroom (apple.com/newsroom/2026/06/apple-unveils-next-generation-of-apple-intelligence-siri-ai-and-more/), TechCrunch, CNBC, SiliconANGLE · 2026-06-08
  • SHUTDOWN NOW IN EFFECT (2026-06-18, TODAY): As of today, **Gemini CLI and the Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions have stopped serving requests** for Google AI Pro & Ultra subscribers and free-tier Gemini Code Assist for individuals (per Google's vendor post: 'On June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI and Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions will stop serving requests for Google AI Pro and Ultra, as well as those using it free of charge'). 'Login with Google' auth for these consumer surfaces also stopped working, and there is no grace period -- any CI/CD or script calling `gemini` on a consumer plan breaks now. **Enterprise customers** (Gemini Code Assist Standard/Enterprise licenses, or Code Assist for GitHub via Google Cloud) are UNAFFECTED and keep access with ongoing model updates. Replacement: **Antigravity CLI** (available to everyone now) -- Google says 'there won't be 1:1 feature parity out of the gate' but it keeps the critical Gemini CLI features (Agent Skills, Hooks, Subagents, Extensions, now as Antigravity plugins). If you were scripting against Gemini CLI on a consumer plan, migrate immediately.Source: Google Developers Blog (developers.googleblog.com/en/an-important-update-transitioning-gemini-cli-to-antigravity-cli/), 9to5Google · 2026-06-18
  • GEMINI API MODEL SHUTDOWNS (announced 2026-06-15, via the Gemini API changelog): a cluster of older media-generation model IDs are being retired. **Veo 2.0 + Veo 3.0 video models shut down 2026-06-30** (migrate to `veo-3.1-generate-preview` / `veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview` or the 3.1 GA models). **Nano Banana preview image IDs `gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview` + `gemini-3-pro-image-preview` shut down 2026-06-25** (migrate to the GA `gemini-3.1-flash-image` / `gemini-3-pro-image`, released 5/28). **Imagen 4.0 models (`imagen-4.0-generate-001`, `-ultra-`, `-fast-`) shut down 2026-08-17.** Only the model IDs change -- update integrations before each date to avoid service interruption. (Separately, the consumer Gemini CLI shutdown above is the 6/18 event.)Source: Gemini API changelog (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog, 2026-06-15 entries) · 2026-06-15
  • I/O 2026 SHIP (2026-05-19): **GEMINI OMNI** announced -- Google's natively multimodal video-generation model, first variant **Gemini Omni Flash**. Generates video from image / audio / video / text input, supports conversational editing inside the Gemini app, physics-grounded outputs, SynthID watermarking. Availability: Gemini app for AI Plus / Pro / Ultra subscribers globally; YouTube Shorts + YouTube Create app at no extra cost; Developer API 'in the coming weeks'. Direct competitive shot at OpenAI's Sora-2 (Sora 1 retired 2026-04-26) + Runway Gen-4.5 + Pika + Luma. The differentiator is in-conversation editing inside Gemini rather than a separate video-gen app. **Aggregator-circulated 'Veo 4' name is NOT this product** -- DeepMind models page still lists Veo 3.1 as current; no Veo 4 exists. Omni is the video-gen ship that Veo's lineup didn't get at I/O 2026.Source: blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-omni/) · 2026-05-19
  • I/O 2026 SHIP (2026-05-19): GEMINI 3.5 FLASH GA. Available immediately in Gemini app (global), AI Mode in Google Search, Google Antigravity platform, Gemini API via Google AI Studio + Android Studio, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, and Gemini Enterprise. Vendor-published benchmarks: Terminal-Bench 2.1 = 76.2%, GDPval-AA = 1656 Elo, MCP Atlas = 83.6%, CharXiv Reasoning (multimodal) = 84.2%, claimed 4x faster than other frontier models. Vendor framing: 'outperforming Gemini 3.1 Pro on challenging coding and agentic benchmarks' with richer interactive web UIs and graphics vs. Gemini 3. Pricing not disclosed in launch post -- check ai.google.dev/pricing for canonical.Source: blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-5/, ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog (2026-05-19 entry releases gemini-3.5-flash GA) · 2026-05-19
  • GEMINI 3.5 PRO -- STILL NOT SHIPPED as of 2026-07-04 (SLIPPED past its June window). At I/O (5/19) Google said 3.5 Pro was in internal testing with rollout 'next month' (June), but the Gemini API changelog runs through 6/30 with no 3.5 Pro entry and there is no blog.google GA post. Only Gemini 3.5 Flash is GA. Press now points to July 2026 -- treat that as unconfirmed/aggregator speculation, not a vendor date. When it lands, AI Pro subscribers will likely get 3.5 Pro as the in-tier flagship replacing 3.1 Ultra. Watch blog.google + ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog.Source: blog.google Gemini 3.5 announcement post (2026-05-19); ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog (no 3.5 Pro entry through 2026-06-30) · 2026-05-19
  • I/O 2026 SHIP (2026-05-19): MANAGED AGENTS IN THE GEMINI API now in public preview, including the general-purpose ANTIGRAVITY AGENT (model id: antigravity-preview-05-2026). New paradigm: stateful autonomous agents executing in Google-hosted sandbox environments via the Gemini API. Differentiates the Gemini API from a stateless completion endpoint -- competes structurally with OpenAI Responses API + Anthropic Managed Agents (Dreaming/Outcomes/Multiagent Orchestration shipped 2026-05-06).Source: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog (2026-05-19 entries) · 2026-05-19
  • I/O 2026 UPCOMING (2026-05-19): GEMINI SPARK announced -- Google's 24/7 proactive agent that 'takes action on your behalf' and runs in the background 'even if your phone and laptop are turned off'. Rolling out post-I/O to Google AI Ultra subscribers (18+, US-only at launch) plus 'select business users'. Powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash + Antigravity stack. Integrates Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, YouTube, Maps. Capabilities: task tracking, scheduled automation, custom reusable skills, file/workspace org, email categorization. Operates under user direction with approval gates for sensitive actions -- not continuous monitoring by default. Direct competitor to Anthropic Orbit (Code with Claude 5/6 announcement) and Microsoft Copilot Cowork.Source: gemini.google/overview/agent/spark/ (vendor-primary), blog.google Sundar Pichai I/O 2026 keynote post · 2026-05-19
  • GEMINI 3.1 FLASH-LITE GA (2026-05-07): Generally available on the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. Fastest + most cost-efficient Gemini 3 series model. **2.5x faster Time-to-First-Answer-Token vs Gemini 2.5 Flash; +45% output speed**. Pricing per third-party reference: $0.25/M input, $1.50/M output (vendor blog itself omits direct pricing -- check ai.google.dev/pricing for canonical). Customer signals at GA: Gladly reports ~60% lower cost vs thinking-tier models; OffDeal cites sub-second p95 for classifiers.Source: Google Cloud blog (cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-is-now-generally-available), blog.google · 2026-05-07
  • Gemini 2.5 family retirement dates EXTENDED (ai.google.dev deprecations page, checked 2026-04-24): Gemini 2.5 Pro, 2.5 Flash, AND 2.5 Flash-Lite now all retire 2026-10-16 (pushed out from original 2026-06-17 / 2026-07-22 dates). Gives ~6 more months to migrate to gemini-3.1-pro + gemini-3-flash. Production code still calling 2.5 model names continues to work through Oct 16, but do not ship new code on retiring endpointsSource: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/deprecations (verified 2026-04-24) · 2026-04-24
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS launched 2026-04-15 as a preview on Gemini API, AI Studio, Vertex AI, and Google Vids. 70+ languages, audio tags for vocal style/pace/delivery embedded in the text prompt, Elo 1,211 on Artificial Analysis TTS leaderboard. Positions Google as a direct competitor to ElevenLabs v3 on the TTS stackSource: blog.google Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS, MarkTechPost · 2026-04
  • Image generation of people was temporarily disabled after generating historically inaccurate results, partially restored but still limitedSource: The Verge, Google Blog · 2026-01
  • Gemini Pro model access removed from free API tier on April 1, 2026 -- mandatory spend caps and prepaid billing now required for new accountsSource: Google AI for Developers, FindSkill.ai · 2026-04
  • Google AI Ultra at $249.99/mo is hard to justify against Claude Max ($200) and ChatGPT Pro ($200) unless you specifically need Lyria 3 ProSource: Reddit r/Bard · 2026-04

Best for

Google Workspace power users. If you live in Gmail, Docs, and Drive, Gemini Advanced integrates directly into your workflow. Also great for developers who need the cheapest API with the longest context window.

Not for

Anyone who needs the best raw output quality. Claude and GPT-4 both write better. Also not for anyone spooked by Google's history of abandoning products.

Our Verdict

Gemini's strength is the ecosystem play. The 1M context window is genuinely useful for long documents, and the Google Workspace integration is something neither OpenAI nor Anthropic can match. But purely as an LLM, the output quality is a step behind Claude and GPT-4. Pick Gemini if you're deep in Google's ecosystem. Otherwise, the other two are better standalone.

Sources

  • Google: Googlebook is here and ready for pre-order (2026-09-21) -- $899, 12 months Google AI Pro, ships Oct 4 US (accessed 2026-09-21)
  • Google: Googlebook and on-device Gemini introduce a new way to work (2026-09-21) -- Magic Pointer, Rambler, Gemini Spark (accessed 2026-09-21)
  • Google: Introducing Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking (2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-17) (accessed 2026-09-17)
  • Google Developers: Build real-time voice applications with Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.5 Transcribe -- $0.005/min in, $0.018/min out, 1,000-term custom vocabulary (2026-09-15) (accessed 2026-09-17)
  • Google: Gemini API pricing -- Gemini 3.8 Live / Extended Thinking / 3.1 Flash Live Preview shared row; Gemini 3.5 Transcribe and Transcribe Live rows (verified 2026-09-17) (accessed 2026-09-17)
  • Google Labs: The new CC, an AI agent built for families -- lineage of the Gemini app Daily Brief (2026-09-17) (accessed 2026-09-17)
  • Google: The Gemini app is now available for Windows -- Alt+Space, Spark, Google-app connectors (2026-09-10) (accessed 2026-09-14)
  • Google: Gemini for desktop download page -- Windows + macOS, Alt/Option+Space, Gemini Spark, Gmail/Drive/Docs/Calendar connectors (accessed 2026-09-14)
  • Google: Tackle your to-do list with new features in our Google AI plans -- Voice, Google Pics, Sheets canvas, Spark + Chrome/Photos, tier gating (2026-09-09) (accessed 2026-09-14)
  • Google: Introducing Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber (2026-09-02) -- $0.75/$3.75 intro, expires 2026-12-31 then $1.50/$7.50; Fairwind Program for Cyber (accessed 2026-09-05)
  • GitHub Changelog: Gemini 3.8 Flash now available in GitHub Copilot, introductory provider pricing through 2026-12-31 (2026-09-03) (accessed 2026-09-05)
  • Google: Intelligent transcription with Gemini 3.5 Transcribe (2026-08-26) (accessed 2026-08-28)
  • Google: Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash (2026-08-27) (accessed 2026-08-28)
  • Google: Start the semester with one year of Gemini, on us -- 12 months free AI Pro (US) / AI Plus (intl) (2026-08-19) (accessed 2026-08-20)
  • Google One: AI plans -- student offer terms, SheerID verification, up to 4 years, auto-renews at standard price (accessed 2026-08-20)
  • Google: Gemini in Chrome on Android, all US users; auto browse for AI Pro/Ultra (2026-08-18) (accessed 2026-08-20)
  • Google Blog: Introducing Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13) (accessed 2026-08-13)
  • GitHub changelog: Gemini 3.7 Flash is now available in GitHub Copilot (2026-08-13) -- all paid SKUs, admins must enable the Preview policy (accessed 2026-08-17)
  • Gemini API pricing (3.7 Flash intro $0.75/$3.75 through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50) (accessed 2026-08-13)
  • Google Blog: Gemini 3.6 Flash + 3.5 Flash-Lite + 3.5 Flash Cyber (2026-07-21) (accessed 2026-07-22)
  • TechCrunch: Google releases three new Gemini models but no 3.5 Pro (2026-07-21) (accessed 2026-07-22)
  • 9to5Google: Gemini 3.5 Pro delays (Bloomberg-sourced, 2026-07-16) (accessed 2026-07-18)
  • Google Blog: Gemini Omni Flash + Nano Banana 2 Lite (2026-06-30) (accessed 2026-07-04)
  • Google Blog: Computer use in Gemini 3.5 Flash (2026-06-24) (accessed 2026-07-04)
  • Google Blog: Gemini Spark updates June 2026 (macOS beta) (accessed 2026-07-05)
  • Google Developers Blog: Transitioning Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI (shutdown took effect 2026-06-18) (accessed 2026-06-18)
  • Gemini API changelog: Veo 2.0/3.0 (6/30), Nano Banana preview (6/25), Imagen 4.0 (8/17) shutdowns (accessed 2026-06-18)
  • Google Blog: Gemini 3.5 frontier intelligence with action (2026-05-19) (accessed 2026-05-20)
  • Gemini API Changelog: 3.5 Flash GA + Managed Agents + Antigravity preview (2026-05-19) (accessed 2026-05-20)
  • Gemini Spark product page (vendor-primary) (accessed 2026-05-20)
  • Google AI for Developers: deprecations (accessed 2026-04-21)
  • Google Blog: Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS (accessed 2026-04-21)
  • LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings (accessed 2026-04-13)
  • Reddit r/Bard (accessed 2026-04-13)

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Alternatives to Gemini (Google)

Claude (Anthropic) logo

Claude (Anthropic)

**Life Sciences Verification Program opened 2026-09-17** -- verified life-science teams get Mythos 5.1, Opus 5 and Sonnet 5 with the biology safeguards relaxed (Standard Use grants renewed yearly; High-risk Use grants per project every six months, Opus 5 and Sonnet 5 today, Mythos still US-government-gated), on top of the 2026-08-27 Claude team plan for scientists (10,000 seats, standard free, premium $15/mo). Anthropic's flagship LLM family. **Claude Opus 5 launched 2026-07-24** and is now the default model on Claude Max and the strongest model on Claude Pro -- same $5/$25 per 1M as Opus 4.8, but Anthropic says it lands within 0.5% of Fable 5 on CursorBench at half the cost. **Sonnet 5's $2/$10 per 1M is now permanent** -- Anthropic cancelled the 2026-09-01 rise to $3/$15 and made the launch rate standard -- and it stays the default on Free/Pro. **Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 launched 2026-09-01** and now top the range -- same $10/$50 per 1M as Fable 5, with the saving delivered entirely through a 4x cheaper cache read ($1 -> $0.25/MTok), so it is 25-45% cheaper only if your workload reuses cached context. **From 2026-08-14 future Claude models watermark their text output globally** (SynthID-Text; no extra tokens, no price or speed change, no identifying information -- detector API not shipped yet), and the **legacy Workbench plus the experimental prompt-tools APIs retired 2026-08-17**

A
8.5/10
Free tierFrom $0
Best writing quality of any LLM -- Opus ...1M token context window for enterprise A...
Updated 2026-09-17
Claude Mythos 5.1 logo

Claude Mythos 5.1

Anthropic's trusted-access frontier model. **Mythos 5.1 launched 2026-09-01** alongside Fable 5.1, and Anthropic now states outright that they are **the same model with different safeguards** -- the 5.1-cycle gap is 60.9% vs 55.8% on Terminal-Bench 4.0, which Anthropic attributes to safeguard interventions rather than capability and expects to shrink. Originally launched June 9, 2026 alongside Claude Fable 5. Suspended June 12 by a US export-control order, then PARTIALLY RESTORED July 1, 2026 (US government lifted controls June 30): Mythos 5 is back for a set of US organizations with government approval, while Anthropic works to re-expand the broader Glasswing program. Public Fable 5 returned globally the same day. Gated to Project Glasswing orgs + select biology researchers.

C
6.5/10
From Invite only
The most capable Anthropic model availab...73% success rate on expert-level Capture...
Updated 2026-09-05
Grok logo

Grok

**Grok 4.7 launched 2026-09-21** -- SpaceXAI's new flagship for coding and knowledge work, built on a new larger base model than Grok 4.6 with a longer RL run on multi-hour tasks, served at the same $2/$6 per 1M (cached $0.50; long-context above 200k doubles to $4/$12) with a 500k window and a May 2026 cutoff. Day-one in Cursor, Grok Build, the xAI API **and GitHub Copilot (all five paid SKUs, auto-enabled unless admins opted out)**. Vendor charts put it at the price-performance frontier on CursorBench 4.0, but every score is chart-only, so no numbers here until xAI publishes a table. Also new: **memory in Grok Build (9/16)** -- background notes on conventions and decisions, read back in later sessions. **Grok 4.6 (8/12)** stays available at the same price; Grok 4.3 remains the value tier at $1.25/$2.50

B
7.5/10
Free tierFrom $0
Real-time access to X/Twitter data is ge...Grok 4.7 (2026-09-21) is a genuine front...
Updated 2026-09-21
Muse Spark (Meta) logo

Muse Spark (Meta)

Meta's frontier model line from its Superintelligence Lab -- Muse Spark 1.1 (2026-07-09) adds substantially better coding, 1M-token multi-agent orchestration, and Meta's first paid developer API (Meta Model API, public preview)

A
8.8/10
Free tierFrom $0
Completely free to use via Meta AI app a...Natively multimodal: handles text, image...
Updated 2026-07-18
GPT-Rosalind (OpenAI) logo

GPT-Rosalind (OpenAI)

OpenAI's first domain-specific model -- life sciences, drug discovery, translational medicine. Launched 2026-04-16 as a Trusted Access research preview. Launch partners: Amgen, Moderna, Allen Institute, Thermo Fisher. Paired with a Life Sciences Codex plugin (50+ scientific tool integrations)

C
6.8/10
From Invite only
OpenAI's first named vertical/domain-spe...Launch partners Amgen, Moderna, Allen In...
Updated 2026-04-17
GPT-5.6-Cyber / GPT-5.4-Cyber (OpenAI) logo

GPT-5.6-Cyber / GPT-5.4-Cyber (OpenAI)

**OpenAI is retiring GPT-5.4-Cyber (notice 2026-09-11, removed from the API 2026-10-01); its replacement is `gpt-5.6-cyber`**, an alias for OpenAI's most advanced purpose-trained cyber models, gated behind the Daybreak program and priced at $12.50/$75 per 1M (first published price for any OpenAI cyber model). Original page: OpenAI's defensive-cybersecurity variant of GPT-5.4, launched 2026-04-16. Lowered refusal boundary for security-research tasks and native binary reverse-engineering. Access gated via Trusted Access for Cyber (TAC) program -- thousands of verified defenders, hundreds of teams, no public pricing. On **2026-08-17 OpenAI published its first dedicated post on the Hugging Face incident**, conceding it 'underestimated the real-world cyber capabilities of our AI models' and confirming it now releases cyber capabilities only to trusted defenders. **On 2026-09-01 OpenAI confirmed GPT-6 Astra meets the Critical cyber threshold -- the first model it has ever designated at that level -- and on 2026-09-03 committed $1B to Daybreak for Frontline Defenders**

B
7.2/10
From $12.50 / $75
Directly competes with Claude Mythos Pre...Lowered refusal boundary on defensive-se...
Updated 2026-09-14
Microsoft MAI-Thinking-1 logo

Microsoft MAI-Thinking-1

Microsoft's first in-house reasoning model -- launched 2026-06-02 at Build as the flagship of seven new MAI models. 35B-active / ~1T-total sparse Mixture-of-Experts, 256K context. AIME 2025 97.0%, matches leading models on SWE-Bench Pro, and beat Claude Sonnet 4.6 in human-preference testing. Available on Microsoft Foundry + OpenRouter / Fireworks / Baseten

B
7.5/10
From Not disclosed
Microsoft's first in-house frontier-clas...Strong published reasoning numbers: AIME...
Updated 2026-06-02
Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3) logo

Hunyuan 3 (Tencent Hy3)

Tencent's Hy3 reached GA 2026-07-06 (upgraded from the April preview) -- 295B total / 21B active MoE, 256K context, now Apache 2.0 open weights on HuggingFace + ModelScope with the EU/UK/South Korea restriction lifted. ~90% agent-task completion on Tencent's internal apps; API via Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Integrated into Yuanbao, WeChat, QQ

A
8.1/10
Free tierFrom $0
Open weights from a top-3 Chinese tech c...Pricing is aggressive. ~1.2 RMB per mill...
Updated 2026-07-22
MiMo (Xiaomi) logo

MiMo (Xiaomi)

Xiaomi's MiMo-V2.5 family launched 2026-04-22 -- Pro (1T total / 42B active MoE, 1M context, native vision+audio reasoning), Multimodal base, TTS (3 sub-models: base, VoiceDesign, VoiceClone), and ASR (open-source, English + Chinese + major dialects). Full voice pipeline for the agent era. Extra-charge 1M-context tier removed at launch

A
8.3/10
Free tierFrom $0
Full voice pipeline shipped together: a ...Native multimodal in MiMo-V2.5-Pro is th...
Updated 2026-07-04