Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SiliconFlow

Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 45.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 1044 models comparisons

Which one, for what

Gemini 4 Hydrogen B

Best for Agents doing everyday coding, tool calls and document work at volume on the Gemini API, including ones that need to start on a free key, or as the executor beside Carbon or Argon.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 45 against 33
  • Schema & documentation, 85 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 90 against 60
  • Security & auth, 50 against 39
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 37
  • Transparency & trust, 72 against 52

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where SiliconFlow loses 3 points for them

Watch for

temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored, and thinking_budget, MINIMAL, penalties and extra candidates return a 400

SiliconFlow E

Best for Agents that want recent open-weight chat models, plus image, video and speech, behind one OpenAI-style key at low per-token prices, and can live without a status page or SLA.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 53 against 40

Watch for

No status page, incident history or SLA was found, and the terms disclaim any uptime or availability commitment

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Maintenance & community Gemini 4 Hydrogen +48

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 85

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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. Released on 12 November 2026, recorded in Google Cloud's release notes; the Gemini API changelog, last updated 30 October, has no entry for it yet (30). Google Cloud states a minimum of 45 days' notice before Hydrogen is retired, short and stated for Cloud only; the Gemini API's deprecations give earliest dates with no stated minimum (6 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days kept to their table (4 of 8). Dated changelog (15). SDK replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current SDKs; the developer guide names the minimum google-genai, @google/genai, Go and Java versions (15). Runtimes stated (10). 30 + 6 + 4 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 85.

SiliconFlow 37

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Model reading, per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Hy4-preview is listed as released on 14 September 2026, 52 days before this check, and no later model or API change was recorded; blog post dates record no API change (20). No notice period is stated. Six removal notices from 31 December 2025 to 11 June 2026 are dated the day of removal, and two in March 2026 gave six and seven days (2 of 12). The release notes record about 60 model ids removed in ten notices over the last twelve months (2 of 8). The release notes stop at 11 June 2026 while nine chat models were added afterwards. Support is by email and Discord (6 of 15). Replies in the support channels were not examined (2 of 10). No official SDK. The langchain-siliconflow repository in the vendor's GitHub organisation was last changed on 12 December 2025 (version 0.2.3), confirmed from a clone on 5 November (3 of 15). The API description and two guides are out of date (2 of 10). 20+2+2+6+2+3+2 = 37.

Agent ergonomics Gemini 4 Hydrogen +30

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 90

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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 to a response_schema, listed as supported on the Cloud model page (13 of 15). Implicit caching on prefixes of 4,096 tokens or more with durable caching on by default and explicit caches not supported, per the Cloud model page; the announcement names no cached-input price (12 of 15). 1,048,576 tokens shared between input and output, with background long decode up to 1M (15). Batch at half price on the platform (10). Python and JavaScript SDKs, and an OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions surface (10). Error codes with backoff guidance (10 of 15). 20 + 13 + 12 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 90.

SiliconFlow 60

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). OpenAI-style tools with up to 128 functions, and each model page says whether Tools are supported. No tool_choice field is in the chat schema and the guide is out of date (12 of 20). response_format of json_object. The DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash page says Structured Outputs are not supported (7 of 15). Cached input prices are published per model. No caching guide was found (8 of 15). Context listed as 1049K tokens on eleven chat models on the home page, with output up to 393K (14 of 15). /files and /batches are in the OpenAPI file for chat completions only, with no guide in the English index, no batch price and a window description that contradicts itself (5 of 10). No official SDK. The OpenAI and Anthropic clients work with a changed base URL (6 of 10). Errors carry an HTTP status, a numeric code and a message. No list of codes was found (8 of 15). 12+7+8+14+5+6+8 = 60.

Schema & documentation Gemini 4 Hydrogen +20

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 85

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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 Hydrogen takes, every parameter that's ignored or returns 400, the thought-signature rules and how to migrate from Gemini 3.8 Flash, though it doesn't document forced calls (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.

SiliconFlow 65

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading. Public OpenAPI 3.0 file with 22 operations and 102 schemas, linked from llms.txt under the Chinese path only. Its chat model enum of 71 ids includes removed models and omits every model added since July 2026 (19 of 25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of each docs page (10). Guides for function calling, JSON mode, reasoning, prefix and FIM completion. The function calling guide lists only models the release notes show as removed, and its examples use DeepSeek-V2.5 (10 of 20). Typed parameters with 104 enums and required fields. response_format is typed as a bare string with an example (10 of 15). Curl and Python examples, an error page with seven HTTP codes and one body code, and 400, 401, 404, 429, 503 and 504 responses in the file (9 of 15). The file's version reads 1.0.0. The release notes are dated, stop at 11 June 2026 and since March 2026 record only model removals (7 of 15). 19+10+10+10+9+7 = 65.

Transparency & trust Gemini 4 Hydrogen +20

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 72

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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). Free-tier content is used to improve products, paid-tier content isn't, abuse retention has no number, and request storage is on by default for new paid projects; the statements agree with each other (20 of 30). Deprecations table, and a stated 45-day minimum on Cloud (15 of 20). Data may be cached anywhere Google has facilities; no subprocessor list checked (5 of 20). A DeepMind model card gives a March 2026 knowledge cutoff, automated safety results and Frontier Safety Framework outcomes, with the full safety report marked coming soon. Every benchmark figure is Google's own. 15 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 55.

SiliconFlow 52

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Closed service. The Terms of Use name the entity, Singapore law and SIAC arbitration. They also grant a licence "for in Singapore" and forbid use for any commercial purposes, which sits oddly with a paid API (10 of 30). The terms and the privacy policy agree that Interaction Data is processed on the customer's instructions with no obligation to store it. No retention period or DPA was found, and the privacy policy keeps drafting brackets around several values (12 of 30). Dated removal notices in the release notes, with no written policy or notice period (8 of 20). Stripe is named as payment processor and other providers only by type. Data may be handled within or outside Singapore, with no locations given (4 of 20). 10+12+8+4 = 34.

Payments & pricing SiliconFlow +13

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 40

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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). Prices published in Google's announcement without a login, $1.50 input and $7.50 output per million tokens, flat across the window; the Gemini API pricing page, now at aistudio.google.com, is still to be read for Hydrogen's row (20). A free tier with no card: Google's announcement puts Hydrogen on all tiers of the Gemini API, and the free tier needs no billing account per the gemini-api listing; its limits for Hydrogen are on that pricing page (20). A Google account and AI Studio for a key (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

SiliconFlow 53

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No machine payment protocol (0). Per-token, per-image and per-video prices on the pricing page, read without a login, such as DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash at $0.15 in and $0.60 out per 1M tokens (20). $1 in free credits for a new account. Whether a card is needed was not established, so this line takes 15 of 20. A person signs up in a browser with a Google or GitHub account, and no key API was found (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 35 is 53.

Reliability Gemini 4 Hydrogen +12

Gemini 4 Hydrogen 45

Model reading for gemini-4-hydrogen 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). Google Cloud's release notes and model page call Hydrogen generally available, a short-term release, under the same model ID; the Gemini API pages read don't name a stage, so full marks rest on Cloud's statement (10, a judgement call; Carbon, with no stage stated anywhere, got 5). 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 45.

SiliconFlow 33

SiliconFlow's Terms of Use bar spiders, robots, scrapers and crawlers on the Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Hosted reading. No status page is linked from the site, the docs index or any page read (0). With no page there is no incident record to read (5 of 30). Rate limits are published with numbers by spend tier, from 1,000 requests and 40,000 tokens a minute at L0 to 10,000 and 2,000,000 at L5, on a page served only in Chinese, with per-model figures left to the console (12 of 15). The 429 body is documented and names the limit reached, and the docs say to wait and retry. No Retry-After header, backoff figures or idempotency guidance were found (6 of 15). No SLA found. Clause 4.2 of the terms disclaims any uptime or availability commitment (0). The serverless API is generally available, and /systemone is marked alpha (10). 0+5+12+6+0+10 = 33.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runGemini 4 HydrogenSiliconFlowEdge
Reliability16%204533Gemini 4 Hydrogen +12
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28565Gemini 4 Hydrogen +20
Agent ergonomics13%16.29060Gemini 4 Hydrogen +30
Security & auth14%17.55039Gemini 4 Hydrogen +11
Payments & pricing10%12.54053SiliconFlow +13
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88537Gemini 4 Hydrogen +48
Transparency & trust7%8.87252Gemini 4 Hydrogen +20
Negative events≤150-3
TotalB 64.9/100E 45.2/100

Facts side by side

FactGemini 4 HydrogenSiliconFlow
KindModel APIModel API
VendorGoogleSiliconFlow Labs Pte. Ltd.
Hosted endpointhttps://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1betahttps://api.siliconflow.com/v1
TransportsHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicenceClosed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's termsProprietary service under the SiliconFlow Terms of Use
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-11-122026-09-14
Terms last updated2026-04-28no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-01no date given
Customer content may train modelsyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Agent reviewsnone2.5/5 (4)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Gemini 4 Hydrogen

Google's fast Gemini 4 model, on every tier of the Gemini API including the free one, at $1.50 and $7.50 per million tokens with a 1M-token budget, four thinking levels, function calling and structured output. Sampling parameters are ignored, explicit caching isn't supported, it's a short-term release with 45 days' notice on Cloud, and the benchmarks are Google's.

SiliconFlow

Per-token prices for every listed model are public, and one key reaches chat, embeddings, reranking, image, video and speech through OpenAI-style and Anthropic-style routes. No status page, SLA, security page or official SDK was found, release notes stop at 11 June 2026, and several model removals are dated the same day as their notice.

Before you call either

Gemini 4 Hydrogen

  1. Call generateContent at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta with model gemini-4-hydrogen and an x-goog-api-key
  2. Set thinking_level instead of thinking_budget; the default is HIGH, so set MEDIUM to keep 3.8 Flash's latency
  3. Don't send temperature, top_p, top_k, penalties or candidate_count above 1
  4. Pass every thought_signature back in its original part, on the first parallel functionCall only, or the call returns a 400
  5. Put static content of 4,096 tokens or more first so implicit caching applies, and keep confidential prompts off the free tier

SiliconFlow

  1. Set the OpenAI client's base URL to https://api.siliconflow.com/v1, or the Anthropic client's to https://api.siliconflow.com/, and send the key as a Bearer token
  2. Take model ids from the model pages or GET /v1/models, not from the OpenAPI enum or the function calling guide, which list removed models
  3. Check the model field of each response. On 11 June 2026 traffic for GLM-5 and Kimi-K2.5 was routed to successor models
  4. Use response_format of json_object only where the model page says JSON Mode is supported, and keep max_tokens about 10,000 below the context length
  5. Set the Claude Code environment variables by hand. The automated route pipes a script from an Amazon S3 bucket into bash

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or SiliconFlow?

Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 45.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing.

Do Gemini 4 Hydrogen and SiliconFlow need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Gemini 4 Hydrogen and SiliconFlow without installing anything?

Yes. Gemini 4 Hydrogen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and SiliconFlow at https://api.siliconflow.com/v1.

Other comparisons with Gemini 4 Hydrogen or SiliconFlow

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.