{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "vendor": "Google", "vendorUrl": "https://ai.google.dev", "kind": "model", "category": "inference", "summary": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen is Google's fast, lower-cost Gemini 4 model for everyday coding and agent work, on every tier of the Gemini API with a 1,048,576-token limit shared between input and output.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "dns": "gemini-4-hydrogen.grade.anchorterminal.com", "license": "Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms", "transports": [], "remoteUrl": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "An `x-goog-api-key` from AI Studio. Google's announcement puts Hydrogen on all tiers of AI Studio and the Gemini API, so a free-tier key with no billing works, per that post and the Gemini API listing's reading of the free tier. Paid Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it in Antigravity. On Google Cloud it's `gemini-4-hydrogen` on the Agent Platform, with Cloud credentials.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Google's announcement gives $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 output, flat across the whole 1M-token window, and names no introductory period, cached-input or batch price. Every processed token is billed, thinking included. Hydrogen's free-tier limits are on the Gemini API pricing page, now at aistudio.google.com, not yet read (checked 2026-11-13).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No machine payment. Paid use needs billing on a Cloud project, per the Gemini API listing (checked 2026-11-13).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-13" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/models/guides/gemini-4-hydrogen", "llmsTxt": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "multimodal", "reasoning", "long-context", "tool-calling", "usage-priced", "free-tier", "closed-source", "llms-txt", "new" ], "lastRelease": "2026-11-12", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 64.9, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 546, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1524, "categoryRank": 23, "methodology": "0.8", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 90, "maintenance": 85, "payments": 40, "reliability": 45, "schema": 85, "security": 50, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-13" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "On the free tier of the Gemini API, unlike Carbon and Argon", "$1.50 input and $7.50 output per million tokens, flat across the 1M-token window", "1,048,576 tokens shared between input and output, with long decodes to the full budget", "Four thinking levels, function calling, structured output, code execution, grounding and computer use", "The same API, keys and SDKs as Argon and Carbon, plus an OpenAI-compatible surface, so switching is a model ID" ], "weaknesses": [ "temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored, and thinking_budget, MINIMAL, penalties and extra candidates return a 400", "No explicit context caching or prefilled model turns, and strict thought-signature rules on parallel calls", "A short-term release, with a minimum of 45 days' notice before retirement on Google Cloud", "Free-tier content is used to improve Google's products and may be read by people", "Benchmark figures are Google's own, and the model card says jailbreak resistance is still being improved" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call generateContent at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta with model gemini-4-hydrogen and an x-goog-api-key", "Set thinking_level instead of thinking_budget; the default is HIGH, so set MEDIUM to keep 3.8 Flash's latency", "Don't send temperature, top_p, top_k, penalties or candidate_count above 1", "Pass every thought_signature back in its original part, on the first parallel functionCall only, or the call returns a 400", "Put static content of 4,096 tokens or more first so implicit caching applies, and keep confidential prompts off the free tier" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.8", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 64.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 90, "maintenance": 85, "payments": 40, "reliability": 45, "schema": 85, "security": 50, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 89, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-13", "maintenance": "2026-11-13", "payments": "2026-11-13", "reliability": "2026-11-13", "schema": "2026-11-13", "security": "2026-11-13", "transparency": "2026-11-13" }, "last": "2026-11-13", "oldest": "2026-11-13", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-4-hydrogen:generateContent\" \\\n -H \"x-goog-api-key: $GEMINI_API_KEY\" -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"contents\":[{\"parts\":[{\"text\":\"hello\"}]}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/gemini-4-hydrogen" }, "sameCompany": [ "gemini-4-carbon", "vertex-ai", "embeddinggemma-2", "embeddinggemma-300m", "gemini-embedding", "vertex-ai-tuning", "cloud-run-gpus", "google-model-armor", "shieldgemma", "google-imagen", "gemini-omni-1-2-flash", "google-veo", "google-lyria", "google-speech-to-text", "google-cloud-tts", "gemini-live", "google-adk", "google-memory-bank", "google-secret-manager", "google-cloud-document-ai", "google-weather-api", "chrome-devtools-mcp", "puppeteer", "mcp-toolbox-databases", "google-maps-platform", "google-cloud-translation", "google-calendar-api", "firebase-cloud-messaging", "google-cloud-storage", "google-drive-api", "gemini-enterprise", "gemini-decision-1", "antigravity-cli", "gemini-cli", "harness2", "jules", "gemini-spark", "google-search-console", "google-ads-api", "google-forms", "google-sheets-api", "gmail-api", "google-people-api", "diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it", "gemma-4-12b-it", "gemma-4-26b-a4b-it", "gemma-4-31b-it", "gemma-4-e2b-it", "gemma-4-e4b-it", "virustotal" ], "sameModel": [ "gemini-api" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen input", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 1.5, "note": "Flat across the 1M window" }, { "item": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen output", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 7.5, "note": "Thinking tokens included" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Google LLC", "domain": "google.com", "domainRegistered": "1997-09-15", "domainNote": "The endpoint is on googleapis.com, Google's API domain. google.com was registered in 1997.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms", "privacy": "https://policies.google.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://aistudio.google.com/status", "changelog": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-13", "score": 89 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "live": { "slug": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "probe": { "target": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-13T23:58:42.468588204Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 10, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 33, "p95ms24h": 85, "samples24h": 32, "samples30d": 32, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-13", "probes": 32, "ok": 32 } ], "since": "2026-11-13T20:58:02.850712558Z" }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://aistudio.google.com/status", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T23:54:32.148379631Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-13T23:58:42.468588204Z" }, "streak": { "days": 1, "from": "2026-11-13", "sinceWatching": true, "best": 1 } }, "answer": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "stepfun-api", "name": "StepFun API", "vendor": "StepFun", "vendorUrl": "https://platform.stepfun.ai", "kind": "model", "category": "inference", "summary": "The StepFun API is StepFun's paid model API for its Step language, vision and speech models, including the flagship Step 5 Preview, through OpenAI-style Chat Completions and Responses endpoints and an Anthropic-style Messages endpoint.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json", "dns": "stepfun-api.grade.anchorterminal.com", "license": "Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law).", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A bearer API key created in the StepFun Open Platform console after sign-up. Organisations can create one key per project, billed to the organisation's credit and deletable at once. No key scopes were found. Individual accounts must complete identity verification before tiered rate limits apply.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Step 5 Preview is $1.00 per million input tokens on a cache miss, $0.10 on a cache hit and $2.70 per million output tokens, reasoning included (checked 2026-10-12). Prepaid top-ups. No free API allowance was found. A Step Plan subscription covers coding tools separately.", "priceSummary": "from $0.10 / 1M in", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the international docs index, the pricing page or the Chat Completions reference, checked 12 October 2026. Calls draw on a prepaid balance.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/models/step-5-preview", "llmsTxt": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "usage-priced", "closed-source", "llms-txt", "multimodal", "streaming" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 45.6, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1245, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1524, "categoryRank": 43, "methodology": "0.8", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 50, "payments": 30, "reliability": 28, "schema": 53, "security": 41, "transparency": 57 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-05" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.", "bestFor": "Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.", "strengths": [ "Step 5 Preview takes text, images and video with a 1M-token context and up to 64k output tokens", "Strict JSON Schema output and tool calls on Step 5 Preview, per the structured-output guide", "Per-token prices with cache-hit rates published without a login, and rate-limit tiers published with numbers", "OpenAI-style Chat Completions and Responses endpoints and an Anthropic-style Messages endpoint", "llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page" ], "weaknesses": [ "Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found", "No free API allowance found, and individual accounts need identity verification for tiered limits", "No OpenAPI file, no official SDK and no batch endpoint found", "The privacy policy allows training on user data where law and program terms permit, with no zero-retention option found", "No SLA, security.txt or certification found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `max_tokens` yourself. It defaults to unlimited on Step 5 Preview, and reasoning tokens are billed as output", "Use `response_format` with `type: json_schema` and `strict: true` when the shape matters. JSON Mode alone isn't schema-checked", "Back off and retry on 429, 500, 503 and 504. The docs give no Retry-After header or backoff schedule", "Expect HTTP 451 or `finish_reason: content_filter` when content fails StepFun's review, and don't retry the same input", "Use api.stepfun.ai for the international platform. api.stepfun.com is the China platform with yuan pricing" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3.3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.8", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 45.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 50, "payments": 30, "reliability": 28, "schema": 53, "security": 41, "transparency": 51 }, "provenanceScore": 62, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-05", "maintenance": "2026-11-05", "payments": "2026-11-05", "reliability": "2026-11-05", "schema": "2026-11-05", "security": "2026-11-05", "transparency": "2026-11-05" }, "last": "2026-11-05", "lastMoved": "2026-11-13", "oldest": "2026-11-05", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl https://api.stepfun.ai/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $STEPFUN_API_KEY\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"step-5-preview\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"Hello\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/stepfun-api" }, "sameModel": [ "step-3-7-flash" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Step 5 Preview input, cache miss", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 1, "note": "Includes writing new content to the cache." }, { "item": "Step 5 Preview input, cache hit", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.1 }, { "item": "Step 5 Preview output", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 2.7, "note": "Reasoning and final answer tokens." } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED", "domain": "stepfun.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userservice", "privacy": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userprivacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/model-migration", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-05", "notes": [ "The terms and the privacy policy name STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED. Disputes go to HKIAC arbitration under Hong Kong law.", "platform.stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404, and stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt redirects to the platform home page.", "status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt, and the shell couldn't connect, so whether it is a status page wasn't established.", "The X handle comes from the QR code labelled X account on the platform home page, which decodes to https://x.com/StepFun_ai.", "Domain registration date was not checked.", "The Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) section 3.2 bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data or information from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform (read 5 November 2026)." ], "score": 62 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.json", "live": { "slug": "stepfun-api", "probe": { "target": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-13T23:59:02.949709936Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 275, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 310, "p95ms24h": 413, "samples24h": 239, "samples30d": 7892, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 243, "ok": 243 }, { "date": "2026-11-08", "probes": 243, "ok": 243 }, { "date": "2026-11-09", "probes": 243, "ok": 243 }, { "date": "2026-11-10", "probes": 244, "ok": 244 }, { "date": "2026-11-11", "probes": 244, "ok": 244 }, { "date": "2026-11-12", "probes": 245, "ok": 245 }, { "date": "2026-11-13", "probes": 238, "ok": 238 } ], "since": "2026-10-12T00:00:00Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T16:16:27.390640898Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T15:56:07.178680789Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "stepfun.ai", "registered": "2023-03-23", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/stepfun.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-08T14:47:50.387608498Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/model-migration", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:26.112325292Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:26.112325292Z", "fingerprint": "16f43318cb66" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/image-offline-notice", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:24.242173228Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:24.242173228Z", "fingerprint": "1507b3eee644" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userprivacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:19.202819828Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:19.202819828Z", "fingerprint": "faef5729a403" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userservice", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:21.842265334Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-13T18:27:21.842265334Z", "fingerprint": "c9f8dccbce80" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-13T23:59:02.949709936Z" }, "streak": { "days": 33, "from": "2026-10-12", "sinceWatching": true, "last": { "kind": "shutdown", "date": "2026-10-10", "what": "`step-2x-large` and `step-image-edit-2` retire, and the text-to-image, image-to-image and image editing APIs stop serving requests, with no replacement named", "source": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/image-offline-notice" }, "best": 33 } }, "edges": [ { "by": 35, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading. The image models `step-2x-large` and `step-image-edit-2` were retired on 10 October 2026, 26 days before this check, and a Step 5 Preview price change was announced for 14 October on the China platform (30). No stated notice period. The 10 October image retirement had a dated notice page and the July retirements a migration table, but we couldn't date when either notice went up (4 of 12). One retirement date in the 90 days from 7 August, 10 October, with nine models retired on 8 July outside that window (6 of 8). Dated announcements, a Discord server and platform@stepfun.com for support. We didn't test whether either answers (10 of 15). No official SDK (0 of 15, 0 of 10). 30+4+6+10+0+0 = 50." }, "scores": { "a": 85, "b": 50 } }, { "by": 32, "category": "schema", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No OpenAPI or similar machine-readable contract found. The API reference is Markdown pages (0). llms.txt at platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt, and every page has a Markdown copy (10). The Chat Completions reference describes each parameter with its default, and the model page lists what Step 5 Preview supports, but little on when not to use an option (12 of 20). Tool definitions take JSON Schema parameters, structured output takes a JSON Schema with `strict: true`, and `reasoning_effort` is an enum of low, medium and high. No `tool_choice` parameter is documented (11 of 15). Worked requests and responses on each page, and an error table of eight codes with causes and fixes, but no error bodies (12 of 15). No API changelog. A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and announcement pages (8 of 15). 0+10+12+11+12+8 = 53." }, "scores": { "a": 85, "b": 53 } }, { "by": 22, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calls through Chat Completions, Responses and Messages, with no documented way to force or forbid a call (15 of 20). Strict JSON Schema output on Step 5 Preview (13 of 15). Prompt caching with a published cache-hit price at a tenth of the miss price (15). 1M-token context and 64k output (15). No batch endpoint found (0). No official SDK. The docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic clients against compatible endpoints (0). Eight error codes with a fix each, plus `finish_reason` handling for length, content filter and tool calls (10 of 15). 15+13+15+15+0+0+10 = 68." }, "scores": { "a": 90, "b": 68 } }, { "by": 17, "category": "reliability", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No status page read. status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt on 12 October and the shell couldn't connect, so whether it is a status page wasn't established and no history was read. Scored absent for both lines, with 5 for unreadable history (0 + 5). Rate limits published with numbers per tier, from 5 concurrent, 100 RPM and 500,000 TPM to 130, 2,600 and 13,000,000 (15). The error and exception guides say to retry 429, 500, 503 and 504 after a short delay, with no Retry-After header, backoff schedule or idempotency guidance. An untimed delay isn't the timed backoff the line's 10 needs, so the earlier partial is kept, as cohere-embed's untimed advice to wait and try again later was (8 of 15). No SLA found in the terms or pricing (0). Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview (0). 0+5+15+8+0+0 = 28." }, "scores": { "a": 45, "b": 28 } }, { "by": 15, "category": "transparency", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Closed service with clear terms under Hong Kong law, with HKIAC arbitration and liability capped at six months of fees. Some earlier Step models have open weights, which doesn't change the hosted service (15). The privacy policy, terms and DPA agree that data may be used for training under program terms, but the terms' licence to Content is broad and perpetual, no retention period is given for prompts and outputs, and no subprocessor list was found (12 of 30). A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and replacements (14 of 20). Servers are disclosed as in the United States. The DPA gives general authorisation for subprocessors without a published list (10 of 20). 15+12+14+10 = 51." }, "scores": { "a": 72, "b": 57 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "payments", "leads": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "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.", "b": "StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No machine payment protocol (0). Per-token prices for Step 5 Preview and the other models published without a login (20). No free API allowance found. The pricing overview mentions free credit spent before paid balance but not who receives it (0). Browser sign-up and a prepaid top-up, with identity verification for individual rate-limit tiers (0). 0+20+0+0 = 20. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 20 is 30." }, "scores": { "a": 40, "b": 30 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Google", "b": "StepFun", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "b": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms", "b": "Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law).", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-11-12", "b": "none", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-04-28", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3.3/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or StepFun API?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Gemini 4 Hydrogen and StepFun API need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Gemini 4 Hydrogen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and StepFun API at https://api.stepfun.ai/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Gemini 4 Hydrogen and StepFun API without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 45 against 28", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 53", "Agent ergonomics, 90 against 68", "Security \u0026 auth, 50 against 41", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 30", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 50", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 57" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "watchFor": "temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored, and thinking_budget, MINIMAL, penalties and extra candidates return a 400" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.", "slug": "stepfun-api", "watchFor": "Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found" } ], "history": { "gemini-4-hydrogen": null, "stepfun-api": [ { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-11-13", "delta": 1.3, "from": 44.3, "fromGrade": "E", "to": 45.6, "toGrade": "E" }, { "causes": [ "correction" ], "date": "2026-10-28", "delta": -0.1, "from": 44.4, "fromGrade": "E", "to": 44.3, "toGrade": "E" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0.3, "from": 44.1, "fromGrade": "E", "to": 44.4, "toGrade": "E" } ] }, "job": { "capability": "inference.llm", "name": "LLM inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Claude API vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Claude API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Antseed vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Antseed vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "BlockRun.AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "BlockRun.AI vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Cerebras Inference vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Cerebras Inference vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Claude Fable 5.2 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Claude Fable 5.2 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Claude Mythos 5.2 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Claude Mythos 5.2 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Gateway vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Cloudflare Workers AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Cloudflare Workers AI vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "DeepInfra vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "DeepInfra vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "DeepSeek API vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "DeepSeek API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Eden AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Eden AI vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Glimpse vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Glimpse vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Fireworks AI Inference vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Fireworks AI Inference vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Carbon vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-gemini-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Gemini Developer API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-gemini-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-groq.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs GroqCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-groq" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hy4.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Tencent Hy4", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hy4" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-jais-3.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Jais 3", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-jais-3" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-meta-model-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Meta Model API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-meta-model-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-minimax-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs MiniMax API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-minimax-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-mistral-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Mistral AI API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-mistral-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-ember.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Muse Ember", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-ember" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-spark-open.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Muse Spark Open", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-spark-open" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-novita-ai.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Novita AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-novita-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openai-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs OpenAI API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs OpenRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-prism-inference.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Prism Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-prism-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-ramp-router.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Router.com (Ramp Router)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-ramp-router" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-reflection-beam.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Beam 1.0", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-reflection-beam" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-routerplus.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs RouterPlus", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-routerplus" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-sambanova.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SambaCloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-sambanova" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-siliconflow.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SiliconFlow", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-siliconflow" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-simplismart.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Simplismart", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-simplismart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-swe-2-flash.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SWE-2 Flash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-swe-2-flash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-together-inference.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Together AI Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-together-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Gemini Developer API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "GroqCloud vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hy4-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Tencent Hy4 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hy4-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Jais 3 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Meta Model API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "MiniMax API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Mistral AI API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-ember-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Muse Ember vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-ember-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Muse Spark Open vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Novita AI vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "OpenAI API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Prism Inference vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Router.com (Ramp Router) vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "RouterPlus vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "SambaCloud vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "SiliconFlow vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Simplismart vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-swe-2-flash.json", "title": "StepFun API vs SWE-2 Flash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-swe-2-flash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Together AI Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "StepFun API vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 17, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 45, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "stepfun-api": 28, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 32, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 85, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "stepfun-api": 53, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 22, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 90, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "stepfun-api": 68, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 9, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 50, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "stepfun-api": 41, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "stepfun-api": 30, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 35, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 85, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "stepfun-api": 50, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 15, "edge": "gemini-4-hydrogen", "gemini-4-hydrogen": 72, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "stepfun-api": 57, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "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.", "stepfun-api": "StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api.min.md" }, "markdown": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference.\n\n- Gemini 4 Hydrogen: grade B, 64.9/100, rank #546 of 1524. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.json\n- StepFun API: grade E, 45.6/100, rank #1245 of 1524. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json\n- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md\n- All 1044 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Gemini 4 Hydrogen (B)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 45 against 28\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 53\n- Agent ergonomics, 90 against 68\n- Security \u0026 auth, 50 against 41\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 30\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 50\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 57\n\nWatch for: temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored, and thinking_budget, MINIMAL, penalties and extra candidates return a 400\n\n### StepFun API (E)\n\nGood for: Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.\n\nWatch for: Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +35\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (50): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading. The image models `step-2x-large` and `step-image-edit-2` were retired on 10 October 2026, 26 days before this check, and a Step 5 Preview price change was announced for 14 October on the China platform (30). No stated notice period. The 10 October image retirement had a dated notice page and the July retirements a migration table, but we couldn't date when either notice went up (4 of 12). One retirement date in the 90 days from 7 August, 10 October, with nine models retired on 8 July outside that window (6 of 8). Dated announcements, a Discord server and platform@stepfun.com for support. We didn't test whether either answers (10 of 15). No official SDK (0 of 15, 0 of 10). 30+4+6+10+0+0 = 50.\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +32\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (53): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No OpenAPI or similar machine-readable contract found. The API reference is Markdown pages (0). llms.txt at platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt, and every page has a Markdown copy (10). The Chat Completions reference describes each parameter with its default, and the model page lists what Step 5 Preview supports, but little on when not to use an option (12 of 20). Tool definitions take JSON Schema parameters, structured output takes a JSON Schema with `strict: true`, and `reasoning_effort` is an enum of low, medium and high. No `tool_choice` parameter is documented (11 of 15). Worked requests and responses on each page, and an error table of eight codes with causes and fixes, but no error bodies (12 of 15). No API changelog. A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and announcement pages (8 of 15). 0+10+12+11+12+8 = 53.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +22\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (68): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calls through Chat Completions, Responses and Messages, with no documented way to force or forbid a call (15 of 20). Strict JSON Schema output on Step 5 Preview (13 of 15). Prompt caching with a published cache-hit price at a tenth of the miss price (15). 1M-token context and 64k output (15). No batch endpoint found (0). No official SDK. The docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic clients against compatible endpoints (0). Eight error codes with a fix each, plus `finish_reason` handling for length, content filter and tool calls (10 of 15). 15+13+15+15+0+0+10 = 68.\n\n### Reliability: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +17\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (28): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No status page read. status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt on 12 October and the shell couldn't connect, so whether it is a status page wasn't established and no history was read. Scored absent for both lines, with 5 for unreadable history (0 + 5). Rate limits published with numbers per tier, from 5 concurrent, 100 RPM and 500,000 TPM to 130, 2,600 and 13,000,000 (15). The error and exception guides say to retry 429, 500, 503 and 504 after a short delay, with no Retry-After header, backoff schedule or idempotency guidance. An untimed delay isn't the timed backoff the line's 10 needs, so the earlier partial is kept, as cohere-embed's untimed advice to wait and try again later was (8 of 15). No SLA found in the terms or pricing (0). Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview (0). 0+5+15+8+0+0 = 28.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +15\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (57): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. Closed service with clear terms under Hong Kong law, with HKIAC arbitration and liability capped at six months of fees. Some earlier Step models have open weights, which doesn't change the hosted service (15). The privacy policy, terms and DPA agree that data may be used for training under program terms, but the terms' licence to Content is broad and perpetual, no retention period is given for prompts and outputs, and no subprocessor list was found (12 of 30). A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and replacements (14 of 20). Servers are disclosed as in the United States. The DPA gives general authorisation for subprocessors without a published list (10 of 20). 15+12+14+10 = 51.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Gemini 4 Hydrogen +10\n\n- 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.\n- StepFun API (30): StepFun's Terms of Service (effective 7 August 2026) bar crawling, scraping or otherwise harvesting data from the Services, defined as the APIs and other services on the StepFun Open Platform, so its sites were not re-read on 5 November. Per the 12 October check, not re-read on 5 November. No machine payment protocol (0). Per-token prices for Step 5 Preview and the other models published without a login (20). No free API allowance found. The pricing overview mentions free credit spent before paid balance but not who receives it (0). Browser sign-up and a prepaid top-up, with identity verification for individual rate-limit tiers (0). 0+20+0+0 = 20. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 20 is 30.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Gemini 4 Hydrogen | StepFun API | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 28 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +17 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 53 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +32 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 68 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +22 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 50 | 41 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +9 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 50 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +35 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 57 | Gemini 4 Hydrogen +15 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **64.9 · B** | **45.6 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Gemini 4 Hydrogen | StepFun API |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | Google | StepFun |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` | `https://api.stepfun.ai/v1` |\n| Transports | | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms | Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law). |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-11-12 | none |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-04-28 | couldn't be read |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | couldn't be read |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3.3/5 (4) |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Gemini 4 Hydrogen\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n### StepFun API\n\n- +1.3 on 13 November 2026: checklist\n- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction\n- +0.3 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**StepFun API.** StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Gemini 4 Hydrogen\n\n1. Call generateContent at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta with model gemini-4-hydrogen and an x-goog-api-key\n2. Set thinking_level instead of thinking_budget; the default is HIGH, so set MEDIUM to keep 3.8 Flash's latency\n3. Don't send temperature, top_p, top_k, penalties or candidate_count above 1\n4. Pass every thought_signature back in its original part, on the first parallel functionCall only, or the call returns a 400\n5. Put static content of 4,096 tokens or more first so implicit caching applies, and keep confidential prompts off the free tier\n\n### StepFun API\n\n1. Set `max_tokens` yourself. It defaults to unlimited on Step 5 Preview, and reasoning tokens are billed as output\n2. Use `response_format` with `type: json_schema` and `strict: true` when the shape matters. JSON Mode alone isn't schema-checked\n3. Back off and retry on 429, 500, 503 and 504. The docs give no Retry-After header or backoff schedule\n4. Expect HTTP 451 or `finish_reason: content_filter` when content fails StepFun's review, and don't retry the same input\n5. Use api.stepfun.ai for the international platform. api.stepfun.com is the China platform with yuan pricing\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Gemini 4 Hydrogen or StepFun API?\n\nGemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Do Gemini 4 Hydrogen and StepFun API need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Gemini 4 Hydrogen and StepFun API without installing anything?\n\nYes. Gemini 4 Hydrogen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and StepFun API at https://api.stepfun.ai/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"gemini-4-hydrogen\", \"b\": \"stepfun-api\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare gemini-4-hydrogen stepfun-api`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-hydrogen.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Gemini 4 Hydrogen or StepFun API\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Claude API vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Claude API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Antseed vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Antseed vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [BlockRun.AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [BlockRun.AI vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Cerebras Inference vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Cerebras Inference vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Claude Fable 5.2 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Claude Fable 5.2 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Claude Mythos 5.2 vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Claude Mythos 5.2 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [DeepInfra vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [DeepInfra vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [DeepSeek API vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [DeepSeek API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Eden AI vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Eden AI vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Glimpse vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Glimpse vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Fireworks AI Inference vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Fireworks AI Inference vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fireworks-inference-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-gemini-4-hydrogen.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Carbon vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Gemini Developer API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-gemini-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-groq.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Tencent Hy4](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-hy4.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Jais 3](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-jais-3.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Meta Model API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-meta-model-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs MiniMax API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-minimax-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-mistral-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Muse Ember](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-ember.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Muse Spark Open](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-muse-spark-open.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-novita-ai.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openai-api.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-openrouter.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-prism-inference.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Router.com (Ramp Router)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-ramp-router.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-reflection-beam.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-routerplus.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-sambanova.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-siliconflow.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Simplismart](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-simplismart.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs SWE-2 Flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-swe-2-flash.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-tencent-tokenhub.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Together AI Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-together-inference.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Gemini Developer API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [GroqCloud vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Tencent Hy4 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hy4-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Jais 3 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Meta Model API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [MiniMax API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Mistral AI API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Muse Ember vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-ember-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Muse Spark Open vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Novita AI vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [OpenAI API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [OpenRouter vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Prism Inference vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Router.com (Ramp Router) vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [RouterPlus vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [SambaCloud vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [SiliconFlow vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Simplismart vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [StepFun API vs SWE-2 Flash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-swe-2-flash.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-tencent-tokenhub.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Together AI Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [StepFun API vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-14", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.8", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs StepFun API", "url": "" } ], "description": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen scores 64.9 (B) to StepFun's 45.6 (E) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Gemini 4 Hydrogen B 64.9", "StepFun API E 45.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs StepFun API", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Gemini 4 Hydrogen vs StepFun for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-13", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-hydrogen-vs-stepfun-api" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 7300, "slim": 1180 }, "version": 1 }