Gemini 4 Carbon vs OpenRouter

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.

OpenRouter 40

No machine payment protocol found in the docs index. Credits can be bought in USDC through Coinbase, but calls draw on a prepaid balance (0). Per-token prices published per model without a login (20). 25 or more free models with no card, per the listing (20). Browser sign-up for the first key (0). Management API keys and OAuth PKCE mint keys in code, but only after a person has an account.

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.

OpenRouter 55

Status page at status.openrouter.ai, which rendered only in a browser with its feed and JSON paths answering 403 on 1 and 2 October. On 1 November its robots.txt answered 403 AccessDenied, so the host is treated as blocked and the page was not read (10 of 20, per the 2 October check, and 5 for the incident line, no readable history). The limits page gives 20 requests a minute on free models, 50 a day below $10 of lifetime purchases and 1,000 a day above, no platform cap on paid models, and a key endpoint that reports what's left (15). The errors page says 429, 503 and 402 responses from the in-flight spending budget carry Retry-After, tells clients to honour it, and says the official SDKs already do (15). The pricing page lists 'Contractual SLAs' for Enterprise without publishing terms, which we count as no published SLA (0). The chat completions API is GA (10). Model fallbacks through a models list soften an upstream outage, which this checklist doesn't score.

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.

OpenRouter 67

Model reading. Bearer keys with per-key credit limits, Management API keys for creating and rotating keys in code, and OAuth PKCE for user-delegated keys. No permission scopes on keys (25 of 30). OpenRouter doesn't store or use prompts unless you opt in for a 1% discount, but the routing reference, re-read on 1 November 2026, still sets data_collection to 'allow' by default, which admits providers that may store and train on data. An account privacy setting can switch that off, and the docs don't say what a new account starts with (5 of 20). Prompts not stored by default and a per-request zdr filter (15). Request metadata kept for reporting, per-call logs not confirmed (10 of 15). security.txt, read on 1 November 2026, is valid to 12 August 2027 with security@openrouter.ai and a PGP key, and says reports confirmed as high-impact get an invitation to a private HackerOne bug bounty. The private bounty counts as a bounty, as other listings' invitation-only programmes do (activepieces, fireflies, mixpanel). No certification or public advisory was found, so 12, above blockrun-ai's 10 (valid security.txt, no bounty) and below activepieces' 13 (a private bounty and nine public advisories) (12 of 20).

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.

OpenRouter 85

Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calling documented, behaviour depends on the routed model (15 of 20). Structured outputs depend on the upstream model (10 of 15). Prompt caching documented, discount set by each provider (10 of 15). Routes to models with 1M-token context, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). Batch API, usually half price per the listing (10). Official SDKs in TypeScript, Python and Go (10). Errors and debugging page (15).

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.

OpenRouter 90

Public OpenAPI document at openrouter.ai/docs/openapi/openapi.yaml (25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). Reference not read in full (15 of 20). Structured outputs documented, enforcement depends on the upstream model (10 of 15). Errors and debugging page and examples throughout (15). An API changelog generated from OpenAPI diffs on every release, with a human-reviewed Breaking section and migration notes, dated entries to 29 October 2026, and an API versioning page (15).