# llm-gemini 0.37

> Source: <https://simonwillison.net/2026/Nov/12/llm-gemini/>
> Published: 2026-11-12 22:55:19+00:00

**Release:** [llm-gemini 0.37](https://github.com/simonw/llm-gemini/releases/tag/0.37)

Google launched [Gemini 4 Hydrogen](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-hydrogen/) today - the lowest cost member of the Gemini 4 family.

It's actually not too far off the price of its much bigger siblings, Carbon and Argon. I'm finding Gemini 4's pricing *really* confusing. Here's the pricing scheme:

| Model | Dates | Input ($/M) | Cached input | Output | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Carbon | Through Nov 30, 2026 | $2.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 | 
|  | From Dec 1, 2026 | $4.00 | $0.20 | $20.00 | 
| Gemini 4 Argon | Through Nov 30, 2026 | $2.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 | 
|  | From Dec 1, 2026 | $4.00 | $0.20 | $20.00 | 
| Gemini 4 Hydrogen |  | $1.50 | $0.075 | $7.50 | 

Carbon and Argon are *the same price*, and both are scheduled to double in price on December 1st. If they're the same price, why have two different models? [Google says](https://aistudio.google.com/docs/pricing) that Argon "delivers Gemini 4 intelligence with faster responses and lower token spend per turn compared to Gemini 4 Carbon" - so it may be priced the same, but it will use less tokens per task.

Hydrogen, supposedly the cheap model, is currently only a 25% discount on its more capable peers. The Hydrogen price will make more sense after December 1st, when it will represent a 75% discount. It's still considerably more expensive than Claude Haiku 5.5 and GPT-6 Luna - they're both $0.10/$0.50, so Hydrogen is 15x that.

I had Hydrogen [generate some pelicans](https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgist.github.com%2Fsimonw%2Fce357e95149cd16f65ec7e7106ed4fed). Here's a [full comparison grid](https://static.simonwillison.net/static/2026/gemini-4-pelicans.html) showing the pelicans for all three members of the Gemini 4 family at their three supported effort levels:

Considering how close they are in price, the difference in pelican quality for Hydrogen is quite stark.

Here's [how Google describe](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-hydrogen/) Hydrogen's intended position in their mix of models:

In real-world software development, while teams rely on frontier models like Carbon and Argon for deep architectural judgment when designing systems or untangling subtle bugs, they still need a fast, disciplined execution model for writing code, running tests, and verifying changes. Hydrogen is built to stand on its own as a model for everyday work — or to pair with Carbon and Argon as the high-efficiency execution engine in multi-model workflows.

Most notably, Hydrogen is the new free tier model, and is the model that will power AI features in Google Search.

Tags: [gemini](https://simonwillison.net/tags/gemini), [llm](https://simonwillison.net/tags/llm), [google](https://simonwillison.net/tags/google), [pelican-riding-a-bicycle](https://simonwillison.net/tags/pelican-riding-a-bicycle), [llm-pricing](https://simonwillison.net/tags/llm-pricing), [ai](https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai), [llms](https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms)