News
Gemini 4 Carbon opens to paid developers and AI Ultra
Google opens Gemini 4 Carbon to paid API users and AI Ultra, with intro pricing through Nov. 30 and an Antigravity /swarm preview.
Google opened Gemini 4 Carbon on November 10, 2026 to paying developers and enterprises, two weeks after a limited release to cybersecurity defenders in the Fairwind program. The public model is the general-use build, not that cyber version. It arrives with a short introductory API price and a preview for splitting one prompt across a coordinated agent team.
Who can use the public model
Google’s November 10 post says Carbon is available to all paying developers and enterprises in the Gemini API via Google AI Studio and Gemini for business. It is rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers in Antigravity, the Gemini app, and AI Mode in Search. On the paid tier, developers can also use it in Android Studio. Enterprises can reach it in Gemini for business, Antigravity, or CodeMender.
VentureBeat confirmed that same-day split between Ultra surfaces and the paid API. It reported U.S. Ultra prices of $99.99 a month for Ultra 5x and $199.99 a month for Ultra 20x, which offers higher usage limits. It also said Google has not published a country-by-country rollout schedule, that no downloadable weights or self-hosting license were announced, and that the rollout materials leave Vertex AI availability unspecified.
Scientists have another lane. Google said it is expanding a program that opened applications for 10,000 scientists to use Argon in Antigravity free for six months. Current and future participants can now get Carbon as well, with weekly onboarding subject to eligibility, capacity, and selection.
Introductory price through November 30
The introductory API price matches Gemini 4 Argon: $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. Google’s footnote says that rate is for the Carbon model intended for public access. After the introductory period expires on November 30, 2026, the price becomes $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens.
Argon remains the ideal choice for most software engineering and knowledge work. Carbon is for harder, longer tasks — complex, multi-step coding and debugging, and open-ended scientific research — and it uses more tokens than Argon to explore thoroughly, reason deeply, and run extended verification loops.
Google says Carbon ranks first on CursorBench 4.0, Perplexity’s WANDR, and Zapier’s AutomationBench, at more than 2X lower cost per task than the next-best external model. Those rankings are Google’s claims.
/swarm, and a separate cyber path
Google is previewing /swarm in Antigravity. One prompt becomes a coordinated team of agents you can track in real time. Developers can assign Carbon to deeper reasoning roles — architectural design, coordination, and auditing — and pair it with faster, lighter models across parallel isolated workspaces and adversarial verifiers that test every change.
Carbon for cyber stays separate. Google says that version, accessed through Fairwind, is its strongest cybersecurity offering. It is not the public model. Defenders apply to Fairwind on a rolling basis.
If you are piloting a long-horizon agent model, mark November 30, when the public API price doubles. Read Google’s post for the access list and pricing footnote, then try the paid API in AI Studio — or the /swarm preview in Antigravity if you already have Ultra.