Gemini 4 Carbon vs GroqCloud

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.

GroqCloud 90

Status page at groqstatus.com on incident.io, with components for the API, each production and preview model and the website (20). The page's RSS feed and the incident pages it links, read on 1 November, list three incidents in the 90-day window, all in October, and nothing since 12 October apart from a console maintenance on 18 October. On 10 October the enterprise-only preview MiniMax M2.7 had failed requests from data centre hardware issues from 10:09 to 16:14 UTC. The incident's header and impact record say degraded performance, while its Identified update set the model to partial outage and warned of failed requests. On 12 October console.groq.com returned 500 errors on metrics, /models and key creation from 03:17 to 03:38, and the vendor said inference requests were not affected. On 12 October MiniMax M2.7 had a partial outage from 18:17 to 18:36. None took down a core API for an hour, since the six-hour incident hit one enterprise preview model that the status page describes as for evaluation only, so minor incidents only (20). A stricter reading would count it as a major and give 10. Limits published per model, 30 requests a minute, 1,000 a day and 8,000 tokens a minute on gpt-oss for the free plan, re-read on 1 November (15). 429 carries retry-after, x-ratelimit-* headers come on every response, and the errors page says to wait before retrying a 503 and that a 502 may clear on retry (15). The Performance Tier, enterprise only, lists a 99.9% availability SLA with details in the offline agreement, per the 6 October check, not re-read on 1 November (10). gpt-oss and Whisper models are production, Qwen 3.8 27B, MiniMax M2.7 and Muse Spark Open are previews (10). 20+20+15+15+10+10 = 90.

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.

GroqCloud 82

Model reading. Bearer keys scoped to a project, with custom request limits per project and model permissions at organisation and project level. The security onboarding page advises rotating keys periodically and revoking them at once if compromise is suspected (30). The services agreement, read first-hand on 6 October and not re-read on 17 October, says Groq is not permitted to use inputs or outputs for training unless the customer grants permission (20). No retention by default, up to 30 days for reliability and abuse monitoring, and zero retention as a setting any customer can turn on in Data Controls, per the data page (15). Request logs, usage per project and a read-only Reader role (12 of 15). groq.com's security.txt holds a Contact line and nothing else, and the trust centre at trust.groq.com is a Vanta page that renders only with JavaScript, so certifications and any bug bounty are unchecked (5 of 20).

Gemini 4 Carbon 85

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. Discovery document for GenerateContent (20 of 25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). The Cloud developer guide says what Carbon takes and refuses, the parameters that return 400 or are ignored, and how to migrate (15 of 20). Structured output to a JSON Schema with some keywords not enforced (10 of 15). Examples and an errors page (15). Dated changelog and model versions (15). 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 15 = 85.

GroqCloud 64

No OpenAPI document in the docs, and the SDK's .stats.yml carries only an endpoint count of 17, no spec URL (0). llms.txt at console.groq.com/llms.txt (10). Reference not read in full this run (15 of 20). Structured outputs have a Strict mode as well as Best-effort (15). The errors page lists 15 status codes with recovery advice, including 498 for Flex capacity and 424 for remote MCP auth, and the error object with message and type (14 of 15). The changelog at console.groq.com/docs/changelog, read on 1 November, is dated, but its newest entry is 18 April 2026 and it doesn't record the four shutdowns since July, which only the deprecations page carries (10 of 15).

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.

GroqCloud 40

No machine payment protocol (0). Per-token prices on the models page, read without a login, such as gpt-oss-120b at $0.15 in and $0.60 out per million (20). Free plan with no card (20). Console sign-up in a browser (0).

Gemini 4 Carbon 93

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. Function calling, with forced calls by FunctionCallingConfig on the API (20). Structured output (13 of 15). Implicit caching with durable caching on by default, cached input 95% off, explicit caches not supported, per the Cloud guide read on 10 November (15). 1,048,576 tokens shared between input and output (15). Batch at half price on the platform (10). Python and JavaScript SDKs (10). Error codes with backoff guidance (10 of 15). 20 + 13 + 15 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 93.

GroqCloud 80

Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool use documented, parallel calls and forced choice not checked (15 of 20). Strict structured outputs (15). Automatic prompt caching at 50% off cached input, with a 2-hour cache life, on gpt-oss-20b, gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-safeguard-20b only (10 of 15). 131,072-token context on every self-serve model; only MiniMax M2.7, a preview on enterprise pricing, reaches 196,608 (5 of 15). Batch at half price (10). Official SDKs for Python and JavaScript (10). Errors page with codes, recovery advice and a typed error object (15).

Gemini 4 Carbon 72

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. Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). Paid-tier data isn't used, abuse retention has no number, and request storage is on by default for new paid projects (20 of 30). Deprecations table (15 of 20). Data may be cached anywhere Google has facilities; no subprocessor list checked (5 of 20). Every benchmark figure is Google's own. 15 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 55.

GroqCloud 85

Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). The data page agrees with the listing on retention and adds detail, batch files kept 30 days unless deleted, fine-tuning data kept until the customer deletes it, and SCCs for transfers. The services agreement bars training on inputs and outputs, and the DPA gives 15 days' notice of sub-processor changes to subscribers, both read on 6 October. The agreement extends zero retention to 'Eligible Customers' where the data page says all customers may enable it (26 of 30). Deprecations page with announcement and shutdown dates (20). All customer data in Google Cloud buckets in the US, per the data page. The DPA points to a sub-processor list at trust.groq.com/subprocessors, which needs JavaScript and wasn't read (10 of 20).