Llama Guard 4 12B is $1.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.6% lower; 6.94x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Llama Guard 4 12B
Pick Llama Guard 4 12B for lower cost; pick Gemini 2.5 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.
Page updated:
Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Llama Guard 4 12B for lower cost; pick Gemini 2.5 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower).
Cost-first pickLlama Guard 4 12B
Context-first pickGemini 2.5 Pro
Sample savings$5.9895.7%
10x traffic gap$59.8
Gemini 2.5 Pro has more context, but Llama Guard 4 12B saves $5.98 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $59.8. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Llama Guard 4 12B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Llama Guard 4 12B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $11.25 | $0.99 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $11.25 | $0.36 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $51.25 | $1.08 |
Llama Guard 4 12B is $9.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.2% lower; 55.6x difference).
Gemini 2.5 Pro has 884.74K more context (6.4x larger).
Llama Guard 4 12B is $5.98 cheaper on the standard workload (95.7% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Llama Guard 4 12B has the lower input price; Llama Guard 4 12B has the lower output price; Gemini 2.5 Pro offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $6.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro and $0.27 for Llama Guard 4 12B.
Choose Gemini 2.5 Pro when you care most about larger context window.
Choose Llama Guard 4 12B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $5.98 cheaper on the standard workload (95.7% lower).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $1.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.6% lower; 6.94x difference).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $9.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.2% lower; 55.6x difference).
- Gemini 2.5 Pro has 884.74K more context (6.4x larger).
| Feature | Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google) | Llama Guard 4 12B (Meta) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.25 | $0.18 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $10 | $0.18 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $6.25 | $0.27 |
| Context Window | 1.05M | 163.84K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #49 | #146 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Llama Guard 4 12B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Llama Guard 4 12B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Llama Guard 4 12B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Gemini 2.5 Pro | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemini 2.5 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemini 2.5 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemini 2.5 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemini 2.5 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #1
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #2
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #3
- Owl Alpha · OpenRouter · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsGoogle catalog
Review all tracked Google models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Google modelsMeta catalog
Check other Meta models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open Meta modelsGemini 2.5 Pro is Google’s state-of-the-art AI model designed for advanced reasoning, coding, mathematics, and scientific tasks. It employs “thinking” capabilities, enabling it to reason through responses with enhanced accuracy...
Llama Guard 4 is a Llama 4 Scout-derived multimodal pretrained model, fine-tuned for content safety classification. Similar to previous versions, it can be used to classify content in both LLM...