Google Releases API Pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro
Pricing Details
On Friday, Google released API pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro, an AI reasoning model with industry-leading performance on several benchmarks measuring coding, reasoning, and math. For prompts up to 200,000 tokens, Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 per million input tokens (roughly 750,000 words, longer than the entire “Lord of The Rings” series) and $10 per million output tokens. For prompts greater than 200,000 tokens (which most of Google’s competitors don’t support), Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $2.50 per million input tokens, and $15 per million output tokens.
Comparison to Other AI Models
That pricing makes Gemini 2.5 Pro more expensive for developers than any other AI model currently offered by Google, including Gemini 2.0 Flash ($0.10/M input tokens, $0.40/M output tokens). It also makes Gemini 2.5 Pro more expensive than several other frontier AI models, such as OpenAI’s o3-mini ($1.10/M input tokens, $4.40/M output tokens) and DeepSeek’s R1 ($0.55/M input tokens, $2.19/M output tokens).
Affordability and Industry Reaction
To be fair, Gemini 2.5 Pro, which is available for free with strict rate limits, comes in cheaper than some other highly competitive models, including Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet ($3/M input tokens, $15/M output tokens) and OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 ($75/M input tokens, $150/M output tokens). The tech industry’s initial reaction has been largely positive, with developers praising what they perceive to be sensible rates.
Upward Pressure on Pricing
However, there seems to be some upward pressure on pricing for flagship models. The cost of recent top-of-the-line releases from labs like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic has been going up, not down. See, for example, OpenAI’s recently launched o1-pro, which is the company’s most expensive API offering yet at $150/M input tokens and $600/M output tokens.
Driving the Trend
It could be that high demand and computing costs are driving the trend. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Gemini 2.5 Pro is the company’s most in-demand AI model among developers, leading to an 80% increase in usage in Google’s AI Studio platform and the Gemini API this month alone.
Conclusion
Google’s release of API pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro marks a significant milestone in the development of AI reasoning models. While the pricing may be higher than some developers are accustomed to, it is still considered reasonable by many in the industry. With the trend of upward pressure on pricing for flagship models, it will be interesting to see how the AI landscape evolves in the coming months.
FAQs
Q: What is the pricing for Gemini 2.5 Pro?
A: For prompts up to 200,000 tokens, Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. For prompts greater than 200,000 tokens, Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $2.50 per million input tokens, and $15 per million output tokens.
Q: Is Gemini 2.5 Pro more expensive than other AI models?
A: Yes, Gemini 2.5 Pro is more expensive than other AI models currently offered by Google, including Gemini 2.0 Flash, as well as several other frontier AI models.
Q: Is there a free version of Gemini 2.5 Pro?
A: Yes, Gemini 2.5 Pro is available for free with strict rate limits.
Q: What is driving the trend of upward pressure on pricing for flagship AI models?
A: High demand and computing costs may be driving the trend.
