Google API Alternatives
Google is fine on its own — but here is every other provider we route to, compared on price, wire compatibility, and what a migration would actually cost in engineering time. We route to all 11, so this table has no reason to steer you anywhere in particular.
Provider comparison
| Provider | Median price/M | Median tok/s | Effort | Operational trade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $0.11 | 108 | rewrite | Loses: no free tier |
| Groq | $0.26 | 780 | config | Loses: no prompt caching, no published SLA |
| DeepSeek | $0.36 | 100 | config | Loses: no batch discount, no free tier, no documented data residency, no published SLA |
| Mistral | $0.45 | 118 | config | Loses: no prompt caching |
| Cerebras | $1.41 | 2215 | config | Loses: no prompt caching, no batch discount, no published SLA |
| Z.ai | $2.15 | — | config | Loses: no prompt caching, no batch discount, no documented data residency, no published SLA |
| Qwen | $2.80 | 49 | code-change | Loses: no prompt caching, no batch discount, no published SLA |
| xAI | $3.00 | 98 | config | Loses: no prompt caching, no batch discount, no documented data residency, no published SLA |
| OpenAI | $4.50 | 78 | config | Loses: no free tier |
| Anthropic | $8.00 | 67 | code-change | Loses: no free tier, no documented data residency |
What your Google stack becomes
The closest cross-provider alternative for each of Google's top current models by price.
| Google model | Closest alternative | Effort | Price Δ | Biggest gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | GPT-5.6 Luna (OpenAI) | config | -90% | Context drops from 2,000,000 to 400,000 tokens |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | GPT-5.6 Luna (OpenAI) | config | -86.7% | Context drops from 1,000,000 to 400,000 tokens |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Mistral Small 3.1 (Mistral) | config | -53.3% | Context drops from 1,000,000 to 131,072 tokens |
FAQ
What's the easiest provider to switch to from Google?
Groq — a config change, since it's fully OpenAI-compatible like Google.
Is switching away from Google worth it?
Depends on the model. Check the model-mapping table below: each of Google's current models is matched against its closest cross-provider alternative, with the price delta and what you'd give up.
Do I have to pick one provider?
No — All AI Ask routes to Google and every provider in the table below through one API key, so you can compare live instead of committing upfront.