Gemini Decision 1 Spotted vs Microsoft’s $0.042 Decision-1

A Google model identified as gemini-decision-1 was spotted in Google’s API model listings on 11 November, according to TestingCatalog, which posted at 17:02 UTC that “Gemini Decision 1 model has been spotted on Google APIs”. Its screenshot shows a tracker alert listing “gemini-decision-1” under new Google models. Google has not announced a model by that name.

The name matches a category Microsoft opened 33 days earlier, by our arithmetic. Microsoft-Decision-1, introduced on 9 October, is priced at $0.042 per million input tokens, with output tokens free. Gemini 4 Carbon’s $2 input price on Google’s list is about 48 times that, by our arithmetic.

Business Pill · Usage-Based Pricing

An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on usage-based pricing: paying for work, not for seats. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Gemini, Microsoft or decision models.

The key insight: A model named gemini-decision-1 was spotted in Google’s API listings on 11 November, according to TestingCatalog and two other tracker posts; Google has not announced it. Microsoft-Decision-1, introduced 33 days earlier, costs $0.042 per million input tokens; Google’s cheapest Flash-Lite input price, $0.10, is 2.4 times that, by our arithmetic.

What the Trackers Showed

Three different tracker bots appear in the screenshots shared on X. The first post we found, from @lyraxana at 16:46 UTC, reads “Gemini Decision is out” and shows a zAI tracker card listing “gemini-decision-1”.

A post from @imjustnewatai at 17:01 UTC shows a LuminaBench tracker card naming “Gemini Decision 1” with the line “Account-visible listing.” The poster added: “I Have no idea what this is”. TestingCatalog’s screenshot, from a Dev Mode tracker, came a minute later.

TestingCatalog added “No Flash, but Decision today” and asked “Is this true?” Andrew Curran wrote: “Should be Logan and Sundar posts soon if so”.

List price per million input tokens: Microsoft-Decision-1 (Microsoft's launch post; output tokens free) vs Gem
List price per million input tokens: Microsoft-Decision-1 (Microsoft’s launch post; output tokens free) vs Gemini models on Google’s Gemini API pricing page, read 11 Nov 2026. Multiples are our arithmetic. gemini-decision-1 has no published price.

What Was Posted on X

TestingCatalog’s post at 17:02 UTC says Gemini Decision 1 was spotted on Google APIs and attaches a Dev Mode tracker alert listing gemini-decision-1. The piece attributes the sighting to it.

The earliest post we found, at 16:46 UTC: a zAI tracker card listing gemini-decision-1 as a new Google model.

A third tracker, LuminaBench’s, names Gemini Decision 1 with the line ‘Account-visible listing.’ The poster says they do not know what the model is.

Andrew Curran asks whether Gemini Decision is going live today. At the time of writing Google had posted nothing about it.

What Google Has Published So Far

When we read Google’s Gemini API models page and release notes at about 17:35 UTC, neither mentioned a decision model. The latest release-notes entry was dated 10 November: “Gemini 4 Carbon (gemini-4-carbon) generally available (GA)”.

A search of X at the same time found no post about it from Google’s official AI accounts, Logan Kilpatrick or Sundar Pichai. Google’s pricing page lists no price for it.

What Microsoft Calls a Decision Model

Microsoft’s launch post says “Decision models are quickly emerging as an important new category in AI”. Unlike LLMs, it says, they are “purpose-built to deliver structured outputs that software can immediately act on”.

Microsoft says its model is “designed for routing, classification, prioritization, verification, and workflow control”. Given a fixed set of answer options, it “provides a calibrated probability score for each option”. Microsoft says it “post trained Qwen3.5-9B” to build it.

Its pricing line reads: “Input tokens cost $0.042 USD per million tokens. Output tokens are free.” Satya Nadella introduced the model on X on 9 October.

The Price Gap on Google’s Own List

Google’s pricing page lists Gemini 4 Carbon at $2.00 per million input tokens through 30 November, Gemini 3.8 Flash at $0.75 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10. By our arithmetic, those are about 48, 18 and 2.4 times Microsoft-Decision-1’s input price.

The comparison covers input only. Microsoft charges nothing for output; Google bills output tokens, including thinking tokens. Carbon’s prices double on 1 December, as we covered in our Carbon launch piece.

The sighting came on the day Business Insider reported that Google staff are testing a fast Gemini model codenamed Hydrogen, which we covered in our Hydrogen piece. Nothing on record links gemini-decision-1 to Hydrogen.

The Structural Read

As we read the posts, the only evidence is a name in three tracker feeds: no description, price or benchmark from Google appears in them.

As we read Microsoft’s post, a decision model is priced for volume: input at $0.042 per million tokens and output free, against Gemini 4 Carbon’s $2 input on Google’s list, about 48 times more by our arithmetic.

Microsoft, Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1

“Decision models are quickly emerging as an important new category in AI”

Three Implications

FOR DEVELOPERS Microsoft says its model is designed for routing, classification, prioritization, verification, and workflow control; Google has published no use cases for gemini-decision-1.

FOR PRICING Google’s page lists Gemini 3.8 Flash at $0.75 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10 per million input tokens; Microsoft lists $0.042 with output free.

FOR TIMING TestingCatalog wrote “No Flash, but Decision today”; Google’s release notes, read at about 17:35 UTC, ended at the 10 November Carbon entry.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework The State of the Inference Economy.

The framework says: “Inference is a revenue engine: continuous, distributed across millions of applications and agents, incurring marginal cost with every query.”

As we read it, a decision model prices that marginal cost for the narrowest query: Microsoft lists $0.042 per million input tokens with output free. The framework does not discuss decision models or gemini-decision-1.

What Is Not Established

Caveat: Google has not confirmed gemini-decision-1, nor said what it does, what it costs or when it becomes available. The evidence is screenshots from third-party trackers posted on X; we did not see the listing ourselves. The name alone does not show that it is a decision-scoring model like Microsoft’s. We did not contact Google for this piece.

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The Bottom Line

Third-party trackers spotted a model named gemini-decision-1 in Google’s API listings on 11 November, 33 days after Microsoft introduced Microsoft-Decision-1 at $0.042 per million input tokens. Google’s cheapest Flash-Lite input price is 2.4 times that, by our arithmetic, and Google has published nothing on the new name.

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A note on sourcing. The sighting rests on X posts by TestingCatalog and others sharing screenshots from third-party model trackers on 11 November 2026; Google has not announced gemini-decision-1. Microsoft-Decision-1 details are from Microsoft’s launch post. Prices are from Google’s Gemini API pricing page, read on 11 November. Days and multiples are our arithmetic. Google was not contacted for this piece.

Sources: TestingCatalog on X, 11 Nov 2026 · @lyraxana on X, 11 Nov 2026 · @imjustnewatai on X, 11 Nov 2026 · Microsoft, Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1 · Google Gemini API pricing page · Google Gemini API release notes

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