Gemini 4 Argon builds an Eiffel Tower for $0.23 while Opus 5.5 spends $33.45

Two of the most expensive brains in tech were given the same job: build the Eiffel Tower. Claude Opus 5.5 took 2 hours and ran up a $33.45 bill. Gemini 4 Argon got it done in one shot for $0.23. That works out to approximately 145 times cheaper for Google’s model. The Eiffel Tower showdown, by the numbers What makes the gap interesting is that it can’t be explained by sticker prices alone. Gemini 4 Argon launched with introductory pricing of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens. That rate runs until November 30, 2026. Claude Opus 5.5 lists at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens. Anthropic’s pricing represents a 20% decrease from its previous rates. So on a per-token basis, Argon is half the price of Opus 5.5. Half price does not get you to 145x. The rest of the gap comes from how much work each model did to reach the finish line. A model that nails a task on the first pass burns far fewer tokens than one that iterates for two hours, and tokens are what you pay for. Beyond the tower: benchmarks and specs Google DeepMind unveiled Gemini 4 Argon on September 30, 2026. The model became generally available on October 13, 2026. Anthropic...