Simon Willison 实测 Gemini 4 Hydrogen 并对比三档定价

Google 今天发布了 Gemini 4 Hydrogen——这是 Gemini 4 系列中成本最低的成员。

它的价格实际上与体积大得多的兄弟型号 Carbon 和 Argon 相差不远。我发现 Gemini 4 的定价真的很令人困惑。以下是定价方案：

模型	日期	输入（$/M）	缓存输入	输出
Gemini 4 Carbon	截至 2026 年 11 月 30 日	$2.00	$0.10	$10.00
Gemini 4 Carbon	自 2026 年 12 月 1 日起	$4.00	$0.20	$20.00
Gemini 4 Argon	截至 2026 年 11 月 30 日	$2.00	$0.10	$10.00
Gemini 4 Argon	自 2026 年 12 月 1 日起	$4.00	$0.20	$20.00
Gemini 4 Hydrogen		$1.50	$0.075	$7.50

Carbon 和 Argon 是同样的价格，而且两者都计划在 12 月 1 日价格翻倍。如果价格相同，为什么要有两个不同的模型？Google 表示，Argon“相比 Gemini 4 Carbon，能以更快的响应和更低的每轮 token 消耗提供 Gemini 4 的智能”——所以它的定价可能相同，但每个任务会使用更少的 token。

Hydrogen 据称是廉价型号，目前相比能力更强的同系列产品仅便宜 25%。Hydrogen 的价格在 12 月 1 日之后会更合理，届时它将代表 75% 的折扣。它仍然比 Claude Haiku 5.5 和 GPT-6 Luna 贵得多——两者的价格都是 $0.10/$0.50，因此 Hydrogen 是它们的 15 倍。

我让 Hydrogen 生成了一些鹈鹕。这里有一张完整对比网格，展示了 Gemini 4 系列全部三个成员在各自支持的三个 effort 级别下生成的鹈鹕：

$Comparison grid of nine SVG-style illustrations of a pelican riding a bicycle, three models across by three thinking levels down. Column headers: Thinking, gemini-4-carbon, gemini-4-argon, gemini-4-hydrogen. Row HIGH: gemini-4-carbon draws a detailed pelican in a sailor cap riding a red cruiser bicycle with fenders and a wicker basket holding a fish, along a beach road with sea, sun, clouds and birds, captioned 40 input tokens, 20,305 output = 20.31 cents · 4m 11s; gemini-4-argon draws a pelican in a red cap and a streaming teal striped scarf on a red bicycle with a blue fish peeking out of the basket, on a seaside promenade with a pale sun, captioned 40 input tokens, 17,158 output = 17.17 cents · 2m 29s; gemini-4-hydrogen draws a much simpler plain white pelican on a basic red bicycle against a pale blue sky with two clouds, speed lines and flat green ground, captioned 40 input tokens, 5,311 output = 3.99 cents · 19s. Row MEDIUM: gemini-4-carbon draws a pelican in a sailor cap and red striped scarf on a red bicycle with cream fenders and a basket, on a sandy beach with a rope fence and sea, captioned 40 input tokens, 11,020 output = 11.03 cents · 1m 53s; gemini-4-argon draws a pelican with an enormous orange beak, sailor cap and flowing red scarf on a teal bicycle with a basket, on a boardwalk under a purple and pink sunset sky with a large pink sun, captioned 40 input tokens, 11,090 output = 11.10 cents · 1m 32s; gemini-4-hydrogen draws a simple cream pelican on a plain red bicycle with sparse spokes, two clouds and flat green ground, captioned 40 input tokens, 3,964 output = 2.98 cents · 17s. Row LOW: gemini-4-carbon draws a pelican in a sailor cap and red and white striped scarf on a red bicycle with fenders and a basket, passing a white seaside railing on a grey road, captioned 40 input tokens, 9,153 output = 9.16 cents · 1m 34s; gemini-4-argon draws a large, chubby pelican with a sailor cap and huge orange beak on a red bicycle with a basket, gripping the handlebars with a dark blue wing, in front of an orange setting sun and a grey road, captioned 40 input tokens, 10,177 output = 10.18 cents · 1m 21s; gemini-4-hydrogen draws the simplest image, a plain white pelican on a thin red bicycle over a single green line with no scenery, captioned 40 input tokens, 2,996 output = 2.25 cents · 10s. Overall, carbon and argon produce rich, accessorised seaside scenes at every thinking level, while hydrogen produces far plainer pelicans at a fraction of the cost and time, and detail decreases for all three models as thinking drops from high to low.$

考虑到它们价格如此接近，Hydrogen 在鹈鹕质量上的差距相当明显。

以下是 Google 如何描述 Hydrogen 在其模型组合中的预期定位：

在实际软件开发中，团队在设计系统或排查细微 bug 时会依赖 Carbon 和 Argon 这类前沿模型进行深度架构判断，但他们仍然需要一个快速、有纪律的执行模型来编写代码、运行测试和验证变更。Hydrogen 被打造为可独立承担日常工作的模型——或者与 Carbon 和 Argon 搭配，作为多模型工作流中的高效执行引擎。

最值得注意的是，Hydrogen 是新的免费层级模型，也是将为 Google 搜索中的 AI 功能提供支持的模型。