# Google AI Studio — AI Compare Ninja

> Free developer entry point to the Gemini API with a prompt console; the underlying Gemini Developer API is billed usage-based per token.

## Overview
- **Category:** Development & Code (Agent & RAG frameworks)
- **Status:** Active · checked - Active.
- **Paid from:** $0.75 / $3.75 / per 1M input/output tokens (Gemini API (3.8 Flash Standard))
- **Free access:** Free plan
- **Website:** https://ai.google.dev/aistudio
- **Canonical URL:** https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/google-ai-studio

## What it does
- Free prompt console with API-key management for the Gemini Developer API
- Build mode to generate simple apps directly from the console
- Gemini 3.8 Flash: intro $0.75/$3.75 per 1M input/output tokens through 2026-12-31
- Free-tier content may be used to improve Google products; paid use explicitly is not
- Context caching billed on paid tiers; batch processing cuts costs by 50%
- Gemini 3.8 Live / Live Extended Thinking: Paid Standard text $0.75/$4.50 per 1M tokens, plus audio and image/video rates
- Gemini 4 Argon (gemini-4-argon): paid Standard $2.00/$10.00 per 1M tokens through 2026-11-30, then $4.00/$20.00 from 2026-12-01. Not on the free tier

## In brief
Google AI Studio is the free developer entry point to the Gemini Developer API with a prompt console; the underlying API is billed usage-based per token.

Key difference: content on the free tier may be used to improve Google products, while paid-tier content is explicitly excluded. Batch processing cuts costs by 50%.

Gemini 4 Argon (gemini-4-argon) has been on the paid Gemini Developer API tier since 2026-10-13, including AI Studio and Android Studio. Free and the Google AI Pro plan do not include it. Google AI Ultra subscribers can try it in AI Studio. The shared window is 1,048,576 tokens. The Vertex AI price is not published.


## Limits
3.8 Flash intro $0.75/$3.75 through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50. 3.8 Live Paid Standard: input $0.75 text / $3.00 or $0.005/min audio / $1.00 or $0.002/min image/video; output $4.50 text / $12.00 or $0.018/min audio. Full table on ai.google.dev. Nano Banana 2.1 (gemini-nano-banana-2.1, GA 2026-10-06): Standard per 1M tokens is input $1.50, text and thinking output $7.50, image output $30.00, equal to $0.0336 / $0.0504 / $0.113 per 1K / 2K / 4K image (4K is 3780 tokens). Batch is $0.75 / $3.75 / $15.00, equal to $0.0168 / $0.0252 / $0.0567 per image. No free API tier. Gemini 4 Argon (gemini-4-argon), generally available since 2026-10-13, paid tier only. Not on the free tier and not on the Google AI Pro plan. Google AI Ultra subscribers can try it in AI Studio. Standard per 1M tokens, output including thinking: through 2026-11-30, input $2.00 and output $10.00, cached input $0.10 (implicit caching only). From 2026-12-01, input $4.00 and output $20.00, cached input $0.20. Batch and Flex through 2026-11-30: $1.00/$5.00, cache $0.05; from 2026-12-01: $2.00/$10.00, cache $0.10. Priority through 2026-11-30: $3.60/$18.00, cache $0.18; from 2026-12-01: $7.20/$36.00, cache $0.36. Shared window of 1,048,576 tokens across input, thinking, and output. Synchronous output defaults to 65,536 tokens, with long decode continuing in 64K steps beyond that. Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform prices: not published.

## Pricing tiers
| Tier | Price | Period | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Google AI Studio | free | ongoing | Free prompt console with API key management; "Build" mode for generating simple apps directly from the console |
| Gemini API (3.8 Flash Standard) | $0.75 / $3.75 | per 1M input/output tokens | AI Studio is the free developer UI; billing runs through the Gemini Developer API. Gemini 3.8 Flash intro pricing is $0.75/$3.75 per 1M input/output tokens through 2026-12-31; from 2027-01-01 it is $1.50/$7.50. Full table on ai.google.dev. |
| Gemini API (3.8 Live / Live Extended Thinking) | $0.75 / $4.50 | per 1M tokens | Paid Standard per 1M tokens: input $0.75 text, $3.00 or $0.005/min audio, $1.00 or $0.002/min image/video; output $4.50 text, $12.00 or $0.018/min audio (including thinking tokens). Free tier free of charge. Models gemini-3.8-live (interleaved reasoning) and gemini-3.8-live-extended-thinking (background reasoning); audio-to-audio Live API, 97 languages, SynthID on generated audio. |
| Gemini API (Nano Banana 2.1) | $1.50 / $7.50 / $30.00 | per 1M tokens | gemini-nano-banana-2.1, GA 2026-10-06, an update to Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image). Standard per 1M tokens: input $1.50 (text, image, video), output $7.50 (text and thinking), images $30.00. That is $0.0336 per 1K image (1120 tokens), $0.0504 per 2K image (1680 tokens), and $0.113 per 4K image (3780 tokens). No free API tier.; Batch per 1M tokens: input $0.75, text $3.75, images $15.00. Per image $0.0168 / $0.0252 / $0.0567 for 1K / 2K / 4K. Grounding with Google Web and Image Search: 5,000 free requests a month, shared across Gemini 3.x, then $14 per 1,000 requests. |
| Gemini API (4 Argon) | $2.00 / $10.00 | per 1M input/output tokens | gemini-4-argon, generally available since 2026-10-13. Paid Gemini Developer API tier only, including AI Studio and Android Studio. Not on the free tier and not on the Google AI Pro plan. Google AI Ultra subscribers can try it in AI Studio. Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform prices are not published.; Standard per 1M tokens, output including thinking: through 2026-11-30, input $2.00 and output $10.00, cached input $0.10 (implicit caching only; explicit caching is not supported). From 2026-12-01, input $4.00 and output $20.00, cached input $0.20. Batch and Flex: through 2026-11-30, input $1.00 and output $5.00, cache $0.05; from 2026-12-01, input $2.00 and output $10.00, cache $0.10. Priority: through 2026-11-30, input $3.60 and output $18.00, cache $0.18; from 2026-12-01, input $7.20 and output $36.00, cache $0.36.; Shared window of 1,048,576 tokens across input, thinking, and output. Synchronous output defaults to at most 65,536 tokens. Long decode continues the reply in 64K steps until the window is used. Inputs: text, image, video, audio, and PDF. Output: text. Grounding with Google Search and Maps: 5,000 free requests a month, shared across Gemini 3 and newer models, then $14 per 1,000 requests. |

## Sources
All details regarding plans, limits, and features are based on official vendor documentation and the primary sources verified below.

- https://ai.google.dev/aistudio
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-3.8-live
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-3.8-live-extended-thinking
- https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-8-live-gemini-3-8-live-extended-thinking/
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-nano-banana-2.1
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models/gemini-4-argon
- https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/long-decode
- https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/build-with-gemini-4-argon/
- https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-argon/

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*Source: AI Compare Ninja (2026) - https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/google-ai-studio*