Overview
Gemini is Google’s family of advanced multimodal generative AI models and associated services, accessible via Google AI developer APIs, Google AI Studio, and Google Cloud Vertex AI. Gemini variants (e.g., 2.5 Pro, 2.5 Flash, Flash‑Lite, embeddings, robotics models) support text, image, video, audio, and code, with features like long context windows, grounding (Search/Maps), and specialized TTS/Live audio. Distribution includes free tiers for experimentation plus usage-based paid tiers and enterprise offerings integrated into Vertex AI and Google Workspace. The publicly-facing gemini.google.com domain currently shows a sign-in gateway; technical docs and pricing live on Google’s developer and cloud sites.
Key Features
Multimodal generation
Support for text, images, audio, video, and code inputs and outputs across model families.
Model family variety
Gemini 2.5 Pro, 2.5 Flash, Flash‑Lite, embeddings, robotics models to balance capability and cost.
Long-context & context caching
Large context windows (up to 1M tokens for some variants) and options for context cache/storage billing.
Grounding tools
Built-in grounding with Google Search and Google Maps to provide real-time factual context (metered RPD allotments).
Integration & deployment
First-party integration with Vertex AI, Vertex AI Studio, Model Garden, and Google AI Studio for prototyping and production.
Generative media
Native image generation (Imagen), video (Veo), and TTS / live audio support with separate pricing models.
Who Can Use This Tool?
- Developers:Build, prototype, and ship multimodal AI features using Gemini APIs and Vertex AI.
- Enterprises:Integrate Gemini into products with enterprise security, compliance, and dedicated Vertex AI support.
- Content Creators:Generate images, audio, video, and text with Imagen and Veo models for creative workflows.
- Researchers:Experiment with large-context models and specialized variants for multimodal research.
Pricing Plans
Free tier for developers and small projects with limited model access.
- ✓Limited access to certain models
- ✓Free input and output tokens (subject to model limits)
- ✓Access via Google AI Studio
- ✓Usage data may be used to improve products
Usage-based paid tier for production apps with relaxed rate limits.
- ✓Higher rate limits for production
- ✓Access to context caching and batch API
- ✓Use of Google’s advanced AI models
- ✓Content is not used to improve Google products
Custom enterprise offering with dedicated support, compliance, and throughput.
- ✓All paid-tier features plus enterprise support
- ✓Dedicated support channels and provisioning
- ✓Advanced security and compliance features
- ✓Usage-based discounts and MLOps/Model Garden integration
Free access level for Gemini 2.5 Pro with limited access.
- ✓Free input and output tokens for supported use
- ✓May have limited model access
- ✓Usage data may be used to improve products
Usage pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro (input/output/context caching/storage billed).
- ✓Input: $1.25 per 1M tokens (prompt ≤200k) or $2.50 (>200k)
- ✓Output (incl. thinking tokens): $10.00 per 1M (prompt ≤200k) or $15.00 (>200k)
- ✓Context cache: $0.125 or $0.25 per 1M tokens (by prompt size)
- ✓Context storage: $4.50 per hour per 1M tokens
- ✓Search grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k grounded prompts
- ✓Maps grounding: 10,000 RPD free then $25 per 1k grounded prompts
Free tier for Gemini 2.5 Flash with limited RPD and tokens.
- ✓Free inputs and outputs up to free-tier limits
- ✓Free Google Search grounding up to 500 RPD (shared)
- ✓Free Maps grounding 500 RPD
Usage pricing for Gemini 2.5 Flash (text/image/video/audio rates).
- ✓Input: $0.30 per 1M tokens (text/image/video); $1.00 (audio)
- ✓Output (incl. thinking tokens): $2.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Context cache: $0.03 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.10 (audio)
- ✓Context storage: $1.00 per hour per 1M tokens
- ✓Search grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k grounded prompts
- ✓Maps grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $25 per 1k grounded prompts
- ✓Paid tier content not used to improve products
Free preview tier for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview with shared RPD limits.
- ✓Free inputs and outputs under preview limits
- ✓Search grounding free up to 500 RPD (shared with Flash-Lite)
- ✓Model is preview; rate limits stricter
Usage pricing for the 2.5 Flash preview model, same rates as Flash.
- ✓Input: $0.30 per 1M (text/image/video); $1.00 (audio)
- ✓Output: $2.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Context cache: $0.03 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.10 (audio)
- ✓Context storage: $1.00 per hour per 1M tokens
- ✓Search grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k
- ✓Paid tier content not used to improve products
Free tier for Flash‑Lite optimized for cost-efficiency and scale.
- ✓Free inputs/outputs within free-tier usage
- ✓Search grounding free up to 500 RPD (shared)
- ✓Maps grounding 500 RPD
Low-cost usage pricing for Flash‑Lite for high-throughput use cases.
- ✓Input: $0.10 per 1M tokens (text/image/video); $0.30 (audio)
- ✓Output: $0.40 per 1M tokens (incl. thinking)
- ✓Context cache: $0.01 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.03 (audio)
- ✓Context storage: $1.00 per hour per 1M tokens
- ✓Search grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k
- ✓Maps grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $25 per 1k
Free preview tier for Flash‑Lite preview optimized for throughput.
- ✓Free inputs/outputs within preview limits
- ✓Search grounding free up to 500 RPD (shared)
- ✓Preview model with stricter rate limits
Usage pricing for Flash‑Lite preview, same low-cost rates as Flash‑Lite.
- ✓Input: $0.10 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.30 (audio)
- ✓Output: $0.40 per 1M tokens
- ✓Context cache: $0.01 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.03 (audio)
- ✓Search grounding and Maps grounding same limits as Flash
Free-experience for Live API native audio with limited usage.
- ✓Free inputs and outputs under Live API free limits
- ✓Preview model may change and has stricter rate limits
- ✓Some models share pricing with semi-cascaded audio variants
Live API native audio usage pricing for text and audio IO.
- ✓Input: $0.50 per 1M tokens (text); $3.00 (audio/video)
- ✓Output: $2.00 per 1M tokens (text); $12.00 per 1M tokens (audio)
- ✓Model is preview and may have stricter rate limits
Pricing for semi-cascaded Live API audio models (legacy).
- ✓gemini-live-2.5-flash-preview: same rates as native audio
- ✓gemini-2.0-flash-live-001: input $0.35 (text), $2.10 (audio/image/video)
- ✓gemini-2.0-flash-live-001: output $1.50 (text), $8.50 (audio)
Native image generation pricing (text input same as Flash).
- ✓Input: $0.30 per 1M tokens (text/image)
- ✓Output: $0.039 per image (estimated; 1290 tokens ≈ $0.039)
- ✓Image output billed $30 per 1M tokens; max 1024x1024 consumes 1290 tokens
Free preview text-to-speech tier for 2.5 Flash TTS.
- ✓Free input and output under preview limits
- ✓Preview model with stricter rate limits; usage data may be used
TTS usage pricing for 2.5 Flash preview TTS (text input and audio output).
- ✓Input: $0.50 per 1M tokens (text)
- ✓Output: $10.00 per 1M tokens (audio)
Preview TTS pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro (higher-quality audio).
- ✓Input: $1.00 per 1M tokens (text)
- ✓Output: $20.00 per 1M tokens (audio)
- ✓Preview model with stricter rate limits
Free tier for Gemini 2.0 Flash with token and grounding allowances.
- ✓Free input/output tokens
- ✓Free context cache at low rate
- ✓Search grounding free up to 500 RPD
- ✓Maps grounding 500 RPD
Usage pricing for Gemini 2.0 Flash across modalities and cache storage.
- ✓Input: $0.10 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.70 (audio)
- ✓Output: $0.40 per 1M tokens
- ✓Context cache price: $0.025 per 1M (text/image/video); $0.175 (audio)
- ✓Context storage: $1.00 per hour per 1M tokens
- ✓Image generation: $0.039 per image (1290 tokens ≈ $0.039)
- ✓Grounding: search 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k; maps 1,500 RPD free then $25 per 1k
Free tier for 2.0 Flash‑Lite offering minimal-cost baseline usage.
- ✓Free input/output tokens within free limits
- ✓Model aimed at cost-efficiency and scale
Low-cost usage pricing for Gemini 2.0 Flash‑Lite.
- ✓Input: $0.075 per 1M tokens
- ✓Output: $0.30 per 1M tokens
- ✓No context cache or storage pricing available for this model
Imagen 4 Fast image pricing per generated image.
- ✓Imagen 4 Fast: $0.02 per image
- ✓Preview model; content may be used to improve products
Imagen 4 standard image pricing per generated image.
- ✓Imagen 4 Standard: $0.04 per image
Imagen 4 Ultra image pricing per generated image (highest quality).
- ✓Imagen 4 Ultra: $0.06 per image
Imagen 3 image generation pricing per image.
- ✓Imagen 3: $0.03 per image
- ✓For paid-tier developers; content may be used to improve products
Veo 3.1 video generation per-second pricing for standard mode.
- ✓Veo 3.1 Standard (with audio): $0.40 per second
- ✓Preview model; rate limits may be stricter
Veo 3.1 fast video generation per-second pricing (with audio).
- ✓Veo 3.1 Fast: $0.15 per second
- ✓Preview model; only successful renders are charged
Veo 3 stable video generation pricing per second with audio.
- ✓Veo 3 Standard (with audio): $0.40 per second
- ✓Veo 3 Fast (with audio): $0.15 per second
- ✓Only successfully generated videos are billed
Veo 2 video generation pricing per second.
- ✓Veo 2: $0.35 per second
- ✓For paid-tier developers
Free-tier access to Gemini embedding model for testing and small projects.
- ✓Free input tokens for embeddings
- ✓Available to free and paid tier developers
- ✓Used to improve products unless on paid tier
Usage pricing for Gemini embedding per million tokens.
- ✓Input: $0.15 per 1M tokens
- ✓Higher rate limits and stability for paid users
Free preview access to the robotics embodied-reasoning model.
- ✓Free inputs and outputs within preview limits
- ✓Shared search grounding free up to 500 RPD
Usage pricing for Robotics-ER 1.5 for multimodal robot reasoning.
- ✓Input: $0.30 per 1M tokens (text/image/video); $1.00 (audio)
- ✓Output (incl. thinking tokens): $2.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Search grounding: 1,500 RPD free then $35 per 1k
Specialized pricing for computer-use model optimized for browser control agents.
- ✓Input: $1.25 per 1M tokens (prompt ≤200k) or $2.50 (>200k)
- ✓Output: $10.00 per 1M (prompt ≤200k) or $15.00 (>200k)
- ✓Model is preview; content may be used to improve products for free tier
Free access to Gemma 3 open model with transparency-friendly terms.
- ✓Free input/output and context cache
- ✓No paid-tier prices listed; intended as an open model
Free access to Gemma 3n optimized for on-device efficiency.
- ✓Free input/output and context cache
- ✓No paid-tier pricing listed on this page
Free RPD allotment for Google Search tool when used with models.
- ✓500 RPD free for Flash and Flash‑Lite (shared)
- ✓Free for free-tier users as listed
Usage charge for additional Google Search grounded prompts beyond free RPD.
- ✓Paid tiers get 1,500 RPD free (Flash/Flash‑Lite shared); Pro does not get this allotment
- ✓After free RPD, $35 per 1,000 grounded prompts
Free RPD allotments for Google Maps grounding depending on tier.
- ✓Free-tier: 500 RPD
- ✓Paid-tier: 1,500 RPD free (Flash/Flash‑Lite shared)
- ✓Pro: 10,000 RPD free
Charge for additional Maps-grounded prompts beyond free RPD.
- ✓After free RPD allotment, $25 per 1,000 grounded prompts
Code execution tool currently provided free of charge.
- ✓Free to use across tiers (no additional charge listed)
URL context tool pricing ties to model input token pricing.
- ✓URL content input is charged at the model’s input token rates
File Search tool uses embeddings pricing and model token pricing for retrieval.
- ✓Embeddings charged at $0.15 per 1M tokens for embedding content
- ✓Retrieved document tokens charged at the underlying model token prices
Pros & Cons
✓ Pros
- ✓Very capable multimodal models (text, image, video, audio, code)
- ✓Wide selection of model variants (Pro, Flash, Flash-Lite) to balance capability and cost
- ✓Deep integration with Vertex AI, Google AI Studio, and Google Workspace for enterprise use
- ✓Detailed usage-based pricing with free tiers for experimentation
- ✓Grounding tools (Search, Maps) and embeddings available for retrieval-augmented use cases
✗ Cons
- ✗Public gemini.google.com landing page is a sign-in gateway; limited public marketing content there
- ✗Pricing complexity: many models/variants and token/grounding/storage charges make cost estimation non-trivial
- ✗Some advanced features (enterprise, Vertex AI) require Google Cloud sign-up and may need sales contact for custom pricing
- ✗Some preview models have stricter rate limits and may change during preview
Compare with Alternatives
| Feature | Google Gemini | Vertex AI | Stability AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Rating | 9.0/10 | 8.8/10 | 9.0/10 |
| Multimodal Scope | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Model Variety | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Context Window | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Grounding Tools | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Deployment & MLOps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fine-tuning & Control | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Media & Editing | Yes | Partial | Yes |
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