Google vs Scaledown

Google lists 58 models and Scaledown 2. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.

At a glance

GoogleScaledown
Models listed582
Models with published pricing572
Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M)$0.80$0.03
Cheapest paid modelGoogle: Gemma 2 9B ($0.04)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
Longest contextGoogle: Gemini 2.0 Flash (1.0M)ScaleDown: Extract (1M)
Free models90
Newest modelGoogle: Gemini 4 Argon (2026-10-13)ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13)
Price changes in the last 90 days210

What each costs for real workloads

For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.

Workload (per month)GoogleScaledown
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation
$4.05 with Google: Gemma 2 9B$3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages
$4.50 with Google: Gemma 2 9B$4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context
$7.80 with Google: Gemma 3 12Bno suitable model
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page
$4.60 with google/gemma-3-4b-it$3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass
$2.60 with google/gemma-3-4b-it$2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract

Cheapest model for each capability

You needGoogleScaledown
Any modelGoogle: Gemma 2 9B ($0.04)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
With tool callingGoogle: Gemma 3 12B ($0.08)none listed
With image inputgoogle/gemma-3-4b-it ($0.06)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
With reasoning modeGoogle: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite (batch) ($0.09)none listed
128K+ contextgoogle/gemma-3-4b-it ($0.06)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
1M+ contextGoogle: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite (batch) ($0.09)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)

Line-up by type and price tier

Model typeGoogleScaledown
text+image+file+audio+video->text310
text+image+file+audio->text10
text+image+file->text02
text+image+video->text50
text+image->text60
text+image->text+audio20
text+image->text+image70
text->text60
Price per 1M (3:1 blend)GoogleScaledown
Free90
Under $0.50152
$0.50 – $3220
$3 – $10110
$10 and up00

Frequently asked questions

How does Google cost compare with Scaledown cost?

Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.80 for Google. The cheapest paid models are Google: Gemma 2 9B at $0.04 and ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03.

Is Google better than Scaledown?

It depends on the job: Google offers the broader line-up (58 models vs 2), Scaledown the lower typical price, Google the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.

Which has more models, Google or Scaledown?

Google: Google lists 58 models and Scaledown lists 2.

Which provider has the longest context window?

Google: Google's longest is Google: Gemini 2.0 Flash at 1.0M tokens; Scaledown's is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M.

Do Google or Scaledown offer free models?

Google: 9 free models (e.g. Google: Gemma 3 12B (free)). Scaledown: none.

Which provider has models that can read images?

Google: 52 of 58 models accept images. Scaledown: 2 of 2.

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