Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini Developer API

Gemini 4 Carbon 20

Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. No machine payment protocol (0). Introductory prices published in Google's 28 October announcement without a login, $2 and $10, then $4 and $20; the Gemini API pricing page as read on 10 November showed no Carbon row, so the figures rest on the announcement (20). No free tier: Google's developer post puts Carbon on the paid tier (0). A Google account and AI Studio for a key (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.

Gemini Developer API 40

No machine payment protocol (0). Per-token prices published without a login, re-read on 1 November (20). Free tier on 3.8 Flash, 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and 3.1 Flash-Lite, not on gemini-4-argon or 3.1 Pro preview, and the rate-limits page needs only an active project for the free tier and a linked billing account from Tier 1, so the free tier needs no card (20). A Google account and AI Studio are needed for a key (0).

Gemini 4 Carbon 40

Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Status page at aistudio.google.com/status with no readable components or history (10 of 20) and no readable incident record (5 of 30). Rate-limit tiers and spend limits published, per-model limits in AI Studio (5 of 15). Backoff guidance for 429 and 503 and SDK retries (15). No SLA (0). Carbon's launch stage isn't stated in Google's developer post, the Antigravity post or the Cloud developer guide read on 10 November, and the model ID carries no preview label, so half (5 of 10, a judgement call; Argon's GA earned the platform 10). 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 5 = 40.

Gemini Developer API 45

Status page at aistudio.google.com/status (robots.txt allows it), but on 1 November it still returned a script shell titled Google AI Studio with no components or history, so 10 of 20, and 5 of 30 for the incident line with no readable record, as the Gemini Live and Gemini Embedding listings read the same page. Google Cloud's status dashboard covers Vertex AI products, not this endpoint. Per-model RPM and TPM live in AI Studio. The public rate-limits page, re-read on 1 November, publishes tier rules, spend-based limits of $10, $50 and $200 per 10 minutes for Tiers 1 to 3, and batch queue limits (5 of 15). The troubleshooting page, re-read on 1 November, gives exponential backoff with jitter for 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED and 503 UNAVAILABLE, says to retry 429, 408 and 5xx and not 400, 402 or 403, and says the Python SDK retries transient errors up to four times (15). No SLA found for the Developer API (0). The flagship gemini-4-argon went GA on 13 October 2026 and the default 3.8 Flash is GA, and the Interactions API the guides lead with has been Generally Available since June 2026. The listing's example and the SDKs default to the v1beta path, which Google labels beta, but the API versions page, read on 1 November, says the stable v1 path carries the Interactions API, generateContent, function calling and structured output and supports every model, so the surface is available as GA, the reading Gemini Embedding takes on the same endpoint. Gemini Live keeps a deduction because the Live API runs on v1beta only (10). Before 13 October the only Pro model was gemini-3.1-pro-preview (5 of 10).

Gemini 4 Carbon 55

Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, with no scopes and a token accepted in the URL (15 of 30, the platform's deduction). Carbon is on the paid tier only, and Google's terms say paid-tier content isn't used to improve products; AI Studio use under a Google AI Ultra subscription falls under terms we didn't read, so 15 of 20 (a judgement call; the platform's 10 is for its free tier). Abuse retention with no number, and new paid projects store requests by default since 26 October (5 of 15). Request logs for billed projects (15). security.txt and a reward programme, no certification naming the API (5 of 20). 15 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 5 = 55.

Gemini Developer API 50

Model reading. Keys live in a Cloud project. Since 28 May 2026 new keys are authorisation keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, keys can be limited by IP or origin, unrestricted standard keys are rejected, and the docs give a leak checklist, per the API key page re-read on 1 November. No permission scopes, so 25 of 30, less 10 because the API reads a token from the URL. The Discovery document (revision 20261101) lists access_token, oauth_token and key as query parameters, and on 1 November a generateContent request with no credential answered 403 'Method doesn't allow unregistered callers' while one with a made-up ?access_token= answered 401 'Request had invalid authentication credentials' (ACCESS_TOKEN_TYPE_UNSUPPORTED), the deduction Google APIs took on 17 October and 1 November and Gemini Embedding and Gemini Live carry (15 of 30). Terms (effective 23 March 2026, re-read 1 November) say free-tier prompts and responses are used to improve Google products and human reviewers may read them, paid tier isn't used (10 of 20). Abuse monitoring on paid services is kept 'a limited period' with no number, grounding data 30 days, and since 26 October new paid projects store Generate Content requests by default unless store=false. No zero-retention route on this API was found (5 of 15). Request logs in AI Studio for billed projects (15). security.txt on google.com valid to 2030-04-01 with a vulnerability reward programme, re-read on 1 November. No certification naming the Developer API found, the reading Gemini Embedding takes (5 of 20).