What Google released on October 13
Since October 13, 2026, Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use Gemini 4 Argon in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search. Google pitches Argon for deep work on complex tasks such as coding, finance, legal and science tasks.
For a small business, that is two separate pieces of news. The first is for you at the keyboard: if you already pay for a Google AI plan, you may have a new option in the app today. The second is for the tools you pay someone else to run. If a chatbot on your website or an automation that drafts replies calls Argon through Google's API, the price behind it doubles on December 1, 2026.
The rest of this post takes those one at a time.
Who can use it today, and what it costs to try
In the Gemini app, Argon is for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Google lists Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month with access to Gemini 4 Argon, and Ultra starts at $99.99 a month on the same page.
Google says Argon in the Gemini app answers more directly, with less hedging and less repetition. If that holds, it is the change you would notice first. More direct answers with less repetition mean less to cut before you paste a reply into an email.
The fair test is a job you already do by hand. Rewrite the cancellation policy on your booking page, or turn a long supplier email into a few lines you can act on. Then compare the result with what you would have written yourself, not with a demo.
If you sign in to Gemini with a Google Workspace work account rather than a personal one, open the model picker in your own account and look for Argon by name before you assume it is there.
If your business uses Gemini Enterprise
This part is only for businesses on Gemini Enterprise. If you are on a regular Workspace plan, skip to the next section.
In the Gemini Enterprise web and mobile apps, Argon is turned off by default, and Google says the toggle defaults to on beginning October 27, 2026. If nobody changes the setting before then, it will be on from that date.
That leaves an admin about two weeks to choose. Letting it turn on is a fine answer. The reason to look first is any instruction your team saved and tested on the model it uses now, such as a template for quotes or a standard reply to complaints. Have one person run those on Argon before October 27, so nobody finds out on a busy morning.
If a chatbot or automation you pay for runs on Google's API
This is the part with the price change. Google prices Argon on its API by the token, per million. A token is roughly a piece of a word. Input tokens are what the tool sends in, like the customer's question plus the instructions behind it. Output tokens are what comes back.
On Google's API, Argon costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens through November 30, 2026. Starting December 1, 2026, Google says the price doubles to $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens.
Argon is not the only choice on the same price list. Google's API price list shows no free tier for Argon, while Gemini 3.8 Flash input costs $0.75 per million tokens through December 31, 2026, and $1.50 from January 1, 2027. So the cheaper model has a price change of its own, one month later.
How do you tell which one your tool uses? A tool built on Google's API asks for Argon by the model ID gemini-4-argon. Ask whoever runs the tool to tell you the exact ID it calls. If the answer is gemini-4-argon, the rate they pay Google for each request doubles on December 1. Whether that reaches your invoice depends on how they bill you, so ask that too.
For simple jobs, like answering questions about hours, parking or prices, it is worth testing the cheaper model first. Argon's pitch is deep work on complex tasks, and a question about your Saturday hours is not that.
What to do
- If you already pay for Google AI Pro, pick Argon in the Gemini app and give it one real task this week, like the cancellation policy rewrite.
- If you do not pay for it, there is no need to sign up just to try Argon. Google lists Pro at $19.99 a month.
- On a Workspace work account, check the model picker in your own account instead of assuming Argon is there.
- If your business uses Gemini Enterprise, have your admin decide on the Argon toggle before October 27, 2026, when Google says it defaults to on.
- Email whoever runs your chatbot or automations and ask which model ID each tool calls. If the answer is gemini-4-argon, ask what your bill looks like after the price doubles on December 1, 2026.
- For simple question-and-answer jobs, ask them to test Gemini 3.8 Flash, and to plan for its input price rising on January 1, 2027.
When we build an automation, you own the code and the accounts from the first day, and the automations page says what that covers.