# Google (native) - gemma-4-31b grade card (reference provider)

generateContent - Google's own protocol · serves `gemma-4-31b-it` as gemma-4-31b · probed live 2026-08-25

This is Google's native API. Google's OpenAI-compat shim is graded separately as its own provider: google-openai.

HTML version: [https://inferencecanary.com/google/gemma-4-31b](https://inferencecanary.com/google/gemma-4-31b) · matrix: [https://inferencecanary.com/index.md](https://inferencecanary.com/index.md)

## Grades


| Axis | Grade | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Inference | B | A − 1 high − 0 medium severity, per the published ladder |
| Billing | OK | Reported usage consistent with bytes on the wire. |
| Caching | Fail | A repeat 20K-token submission waits out the free tier's per-minute token quota (~46s of 429 retries) before it is served - and gemma-4 has no paid tier, so there is no quota to buy. Whether context is reused is unobservable behind the wait. Speed numbers: [https://inferencecanary.com/speed.md](https://inferencecanary.com/speed.md) |


## Flags

- **[high · pricing] Google sells no paid tier for gemma-4: every request is used to improve their products, and quota gates agentic work** - Google's own price sheet lists gemma-4's paid tier as "Not available" on every line - the free tier is the only tier - and carries the row "Used to improve our products: Yes" with no paid alternative. The Gemini API terms spell out what that means: content submitted to unpaid services is used to develop Google's products and machine-learning technologies, and human reviewers may read and annotate inputs and outputs. No amount of money opts gemma-4 traffic out. The free tier's per-minute token quota also gates agentic work: a 20K-token request completes in ~2 seconds, but submitting a second one waited 46-49 seconds in 429 retries before being served (measured 2026-07-28 on both Google API dialects, 3-minute retry ceiling) - and with no paid tier, there is no way to buy that wait down. Ironic footnote: the same price sheet advertises context caching "free of charge" for gemma-4, but the quota makes any cache benefit unobservable - the retry wait dwarfs it. (details: [/findings.md](https://inferencecanary.com/findings.md#google-no-paid-tier))