Anthropic's most powerful model costs several times more per token than Google's newest flagship. The gap is largest this month, while Argon's introductory price lasts, and halves once Argon's list price takes effect on December 1.
Gemini 4 Argon is 5× cheaper than Claude Fable 5.1 on input and output until November 30, and 2.5× cheaper after Argon's list price doubles on December 1. Cache hits are the closest line ($0.25 vs $0.10 today, nearly level after December 1), but output still dominates most bills, so even cache-heavy agent work costs several times more on Fable 5.1.
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Gemini 4 Argon | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | |
| Tier | Flagship | Flagship |
| Input / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $2.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $50.00 | $10.00 |
| Cache hit / 1M | $0.25 | $0.10 |
| Cache write / 1M | $12.50 | — |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Notes | Most powerful; released Sep 1, 2026, replacing Fable 5 at same per-token price (cache reads cut 75% to $0.25) | New top frontier model, generally available Oct 13, 2026 for AI Pro/Ultra subscribers and via the API (model id gemini-4-argon); long-decode generation up to 1M tokens; intro price thru Nov 30, 2026, then $4/$20 (cache read $0.20); not available on the free tier |
Gemini 4 Argon is 5.0× cheaper on input tokens ($2.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). Gemini 4 Argon is 5.0× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $50.00 per 1M).
| Workload | Claude Fable 5.1 | Gemini 4 Argon | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot 10,000 conversations × (2,000 input + 400 output tokens) | $400 | $80.00 | Gemini 4 Argon saves $320 |
| Document Q&A 1,000 questions × (30,000 input + 800 output tokens) | $340 | $68.00 | Gemini 4 Argon saves $272 |
| Coding agent session 4M input tokens (90% cache hits) + 150,000 output tokens | $12.40 | $2.66 | Gemini 4 Argon saves $9.74 |
Standard rates per 1M tokens from data on this site. The coding-agent row assumes 90% of input is read from the prompt cache (full input price where a model has no cache rate). Cache-write fees, batch discounts and long-context surcharges listed in the notes are not included. Updated November 2, 2026.
you need Anthropic's top model specifically, your agent re-reads a large cached context where Fable's $0.25 cache-hit rate keeps costs contained, or you want explicit control of cache lifetimes.
per-token cost matters most, your workload is output-heavy, or you are on Google Cloud already — and you want a much cheaper frontier-tier option, especially while the intro rate lasts.
Fable 5.1's cache hit is 2.5% of its input price. Argon's cache hit is $0.10 now and doubles on December 1, at which point cached reads cost almost the same on both. On a coding-agent run that is 90% cache hits, uncached input and output tokens dominate the bill — and Fable's $50.00 output is what keeps it the more expensive choice.
Output-heavy work — long reports, code generation, translations — scales with the output rate, where Fable 5.1 is 5× Argon today. Neither model has a long-context surcharge, so the ratio holds from a 10K-token to a 900K-token prompt. Both providers halve rates for Batch jobs.
Fable 5.1 caches explicitly: you choose what to cache and pay $12.50 per 1M tokens to write it for 5 minutes (a 1-hour write costs 2× input). Argon applies caching implicitly with no listed write fee. Argon is not on the Gemini API free tier.
About 5× on input and output at Argon's intro rate (through November 30, 2026), and about 2.5× once Argon's price doubles on December 1.
Argon at today's rate ($0.10 vs $0.25), but after December 1 the cache-hit prices are close. Fable 5.1 also charges a cache-write fee.
No. Anthropic bills Fable 5.1's full 1M window at standard rates, and Google lists no long-context tier for Argon.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.