Vertex AI
Google Cloud's unified AI platform for building, deploying, and scaling generative AI applications with Gemini models and third-party LLMs
200+
Models Available
2M
Token Context
$0.075
Lowest $/1M tokens
Overview
Vertex AI is Google Cloud's comprehensive AI platform that provides access to Gemini models alongside 200+ foundation models through Model Garden. It combines generative AI capabilities with full MLOps tooling including training, tuning, deployment, and monitoring. The platform offers enterprise-grade security with VPC-SC support, data residency controls, and compliance certifications. Key differentiators include native Google Search grounding, multimodal capabilities (text, image, video, audio), and seamless integration with BigQuery and other Google Cloud services.
The Verdict
Who Should Use Vertex AI?
Best For
- Teams already on Google Cloud
- Enterprises needing data residency
- Multimodal AI applications
- BigQuery-heavy data workflows
- Organizations wanting model choice
Not Ideal For
- Simple chatbot use cases (overkill)
- Teams without GCP experience
- Startups wanting simplicity
- Projects needing latest OpenAI models
What's Great
- Massive model selection (Gemini, Claude, Llama, Mistral)
- Native Google Search grounding for factual responses
- 2M token context window on Gemini models
- Deep BigQuery and GCP integration
- Competitive pricing with batch discounts (50% off)
- Enterprise security (VPC-SC, CMEK, audit logs)
Watch Out For
- Complex pricing with many tiers
- Steep learning curve for non-GCP users
- Grounding costs add up ($2.50-$45/1K prompts)
- Long-context pricing jumps significantly (>200K)
- Third-party models may lag behind native releases
Pricing
Gemini 2.0 Flash Lite
$0.075/1M input
Budget-friendly, fast responses
Gemini 2.5 Flash
$0.30/1M input
Best balance of speed and quality
Gemini 2.5 Pro
$1.25/1M input
Complex reasoning, 2M context
Gemini 3.1 Pro
$2.00/1M input
Latest frontier model capabilities
View all features & details
Gemini Models
- Gemini 3.1 Pro - Frontier reasoning
- Gemini 3.5 Flash - Fast multimodal
- Gemini 2.5 Pro/Flash - Production stable
- Gemini 2.0 Flash/Lite - Cost-optimized
- Deep Research Agent - Autonomous research
- Image generation models
Third-Party Models
- Anthropic Claude (3.5, 3 Opus)
- Meta Llama 3.x series
- Mistral AI models
- Cohere Command
- AI21 Jamba
- 200+ open models via Model Garden
Key Capabilities
- 2M token context window
- Google Search grounding
- Google Maps grounding
- Custom data grounding
- Supervised fine-tuning
- Batch API (50% discount)
- Context caching (90% discount)
Enterprise Features
- VPC Service Controls
- Customer-managed encryption (CMEK)
- Data residency controls
- IAM & audit logging
- SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA
- Private endpoints
MLOps Tools
- Vertex AI Pipelines
- Feature Store
- Model Registry
- Experiments & Metadata
- Workbench notebooks
- Monitoring & logging
Pricing Tiers
- Standard - Default pricing
- Priority - 80% markup, guaranteed capacity
- Flex/Batch - 50% discount, async
- Cached - 90% discount on repeated context
- Long-context - Higher rates >200K tokens
Detailed Pricing
Output Token Pricing
- Gemini 2.0 Flash Lite: $0.30/1M
- Gemini 2.5 Flash: $2.50/1M
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: $10/1M (under 200K)
- Gemini 3.1 Pro: $12/1M (under 200K)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: $9/1M
Grounding Costs
- Google Search: $35/1K prompts
- Custom data grounding: $2.50/1K
- Web grounding enterprise: $45/1K
- Google Maps: $14/1K queries
- Free tier: 5K searches/month
How It Compares
| Feature | Vertex AI | AWS Bedrock | Azure OpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native Models | Gemini (2M ctx) | Titan, Nova | GPT-4o, o1 |
| Third-Party | Claude, Llama, Mistral | Claude, Llama, Mistral | Limited |
| Context Window | 2M tokens | 200K max | 128K max |
| Search Grounding | Native Google Search | Via RAG | Bing (preview) |
| Batch Discount | 50% off | None | None |
| MLOps Built-in | Full platform | SageMaker separate | Azure ML separate |
| Best For | GCP users, multimodal | AWS users, Claude | Azure users, GPT-4 |
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