Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-4.1: price, context and capabilities

Choose Gemini 4 Argon for reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents), reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose GPT-4.1 for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation.

In short

  • GPT-4.1 is 13% cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon at the headline price ($3.50 / 1M tokens vs $4.00 / 1M tokens).
  • Gemini 4 Argon reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.
  • Gemini 4 Argon is the newer model (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025).
  • Only Gemini 4 Argon offers reasoning.

Open in the full comparison table

What a month costsAt 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month.
  1. Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$90.00
  2. GPT-4.1OpenAI$80.00

Try your own volumes in the calculator

Which should you choose?

Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.

High-volume, cost-sensitive work

Choose GPT-4.1

GPT-4.1 costs 13% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($3.50 against $4.00 per million tokens).

Writing and code generation

Choose GPT-4.1

GPT-4.1 charges $8.00 per million output tokens, against $10.00 for Gemini 4 Argon. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.

Reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents)

Choose Gemini 4 Argon

Gemini 4 Argon charges $0.10 per million cached input tokens, against $0.50 for GPT-4.1.

Reasoning over long documents

Choose Gemini 4 Argon

Gemini 4 Argon scores 79.7% on Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR), against 68.3% for GPT-4.1.

Latest release

Choose Gemini 4 Argon

Gemini 4 Argon is the newer release (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025 for GPT-4.1).

Monthly cost at three volumes

VolumeGemini 4 ArgonGPT-4.1Difference
Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens $4.50 $4.00 GPT-4.1, $0.50 less
Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens $90.00 $80.00 GPT-4.1, $10.00 less
Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens $2,000 $1,800 GPT-4.1, $200.00 less

Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.

Specifications side by side

Gemini 4 ArgonGPT-4.1
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
CategoryLanguage modelsLanguage models
StatusGenerally availableDeprecated
Headline price$4.00 / 1M tokens$3.50 / 1M tokens
Input$2.00 / 1M tokens$2.00 / 1M tokens
Output$10.00 / 1M tokens$8.00 / 1M tokens
Cached input$0.10 / 1M tokens$0.50 / 1M tokens
Context window1.05M1.05M
Max output66k33k
ReleasedOctober 2026Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoffNo dataJune 2024
LicenceProprietaryProprietary
CapabilitiesVision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch APIVision, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API
API model idgemini-4-argongpt-4.1

Benchmarks side by side

Leader in bold.

BenchmarkGemini 4 ArgonGPT-4.1
Humanity's Last Exam 57.1% 4.2%
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) 79.7% 68.3%
Intelligence Index 52.6 No data
SciCode 61.8% No data
Terminal-Bench Hard No data 13.6%
GPQA Diamond No data 66.6%
IFBench (instruction following) No data 43%
τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) No data 47.1%
MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) No data 61.2%

Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-4.1?

Choose Gemini 4 Argon for reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents), reasoning over long documents and the latest release. Choose GPT-4.1 for high-volume, cost-sensitive work and writing and code generation.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-4.1?

GPT-4.1 is 13% cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon at the headline price ($3.50 / 1M tokens vs $4.00 / 1M tokens).

Which has the larger context window, Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-4.1?

Gemini 4 Argon reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.

What is the difference between Gemini 4 Argon and GPT-4.1?

Gemini 4 Argon is made by Google and GPT-4.1 by OpenAI. GPT-4.1 is 13% cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon at the headline price ($3.50 / 1M tokens vs $4.00 / 1M tokens). Gemini 4 Argon reads more per request: 1.05M tokens against 1.05M. Gemini 4 Argon is the newer model (October 2026, against Apr 14, 2025). Only Gemini 4 Argon offers reasoning.

How much do Gemini 4 Argon and GPT-4.1 cost per month?

At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, Gemini 4 Argon costs $90.00 and GPT-4.1 costs $80.00, at standard rates.

Which is newer, Gemini 4 Argon or GPT-4.1?

Gemini 4 Argon was released on October 2026 and GPT-4.1 on Apr 14, 2025.