Gemini 4 Argon goes to cyber defenders first, with Ultra next and no date yet
Google announced Gemini 4 Argon on 30 September 2026. Vetted security teams have it now. Ultra subscribers and API customers come next, undated.
Google's Fairwind Program works with more than 650 partners, and only some of them can use Gemini 4 Argon today. Google announced Argon on 30 September 2026. It is going first to vetted cyber security teams. Google AI Ultra subscribers and paying API customers are next, and Google has given no date for that step.
Status, checked on 2 October 2026: Argon does not appear in the Gemini app's release notes or in Google's public list of API models, and MultiChats does not carry it.
What Google has confirmed
Everything below comes from Google's announcement and DeepMind's page for the Fairwind Program.
Google calls Argon its "new frontier model", built for long, multi-step work. Its examples run from legal and financial research to security work and spotting details in long videos.
Argon can produce up to one million tokens in a single response, up from the previous limit of 64,000. Google says the extra room lets the model "think deeply" and solve hard problems "in one go".
The first users are "trusted cyber defenders" in the Fairwind Program. Google is releasing Argon to them, and to its own teams, without cyber guardrails.
Google says it is taking part in "the U.S. government's voluntary process for pre-release model access" while it widens access.
Through the paid API, Argon will launch at an introductory $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. The price rises to $4 and $20 once the introductory period ends.
The rollout order so far
Now, as of 2 October 2026: Fairwind partners. DeepMind says the programme prioritises "governments and partners most critical to societal resilience". In practice that means national cyber authorities, operators of essential services such as healthcare, telecoms, energy and financial networks, and core technology platforms. Applicants are vetted. Only a partner's internal security teams may use Argon. Partners may not "share, redistribute, or sell access".
Next: Ultra and the paid API. Google's announcement names "paid API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers" as the first wider group. Ultra is the top of Google's three AI plans, above AI Plus and AI Pro, and it is sold in two sizes (we explained what those tiers buy in our guide to Gemini usage limits). The part of the announcement that covers this step is headed "Rolling out soon". It carries no date.
Later: everyone else. Google says it will release Argon "to developers, enterprises, and consumers" and wants to do so "as soon as possible". It has said nothing about the free Gemini app or AI Pro, in either direction.
So if an app or website offers you Argon before Google opens it up, be sceptical. The model is not in Google's public API, and Fairwind partners are barred from passing access on.
MultiChats does not carry Argon, and we are not promising that it will. The newest Google model we offer is Gemini 3.7 Flash, on paid plans. If you want a top-end model for a hard problem right now, Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6.1 Sol are both on our paid plans. GPT-6.1 Sol has no web search of its own here, so take questions about current events to a model that searches.
What we do not know yet
The date. The only timing Google has given for Ultra subscribers and API customers is "soon".
Free and Pro access. No word either way, and no date.
How long the introductory price lasts. The announcement says the higher price applies once "the introductory period expires". It gives no length.
What Ultra subscribers will actually get. Google has not said whether both Ultra sizes get Argon, or what the limits will be.
How it does in other people's hands. The scores in the announcement are the ones Google chose to publish, and only Google's early-access groups can run the model so far.
Which countries. Google has said nothing about regions for Argon.
Until Google puts a date on it, "soon" is the whole answer.