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Google vs Telnyx: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of Google and Telnyx — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.

Google

Gemini 3.8 Flash — plus Veo 3.1 video, Lyria 3.5 music, and Gemini Omni

Google DeepMind's Gemini 3.x family spans Gemini 3.8 Flash (latest, promotional pricing until Dec 31 2026), Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview. The platform has expanded far beyond text: Veo 3.1 for video generation, Lyria 3.5 for music generation, Gemini Omni for video generation, and Gemini Embedding 2 for multimodal embeddings. Gemma 4 open-weight models are free via the API. Check the live table for current per-token rates.

VisionLong-contextCodingMultimodalVideo generationMusic generationCost-efficiency
Proprietary modelsHosts open weights

Telnyx

OpenAI-compatible inference API — GLM-5.3, Kimi, DeepSeek, MiniMax

Telnyx Inference API provides OpenAI-compatible access to a curated set of open-weight and frontier models including GLM-5.3 Flash, Kimi K2.6, DeepSeek V4 Flash, and MiniMax-M3. PAYG pricing with no minimum spend. Telnyx is primarily known as a communications platform; the inference API is a newer addition to their product suite.

ChatCodingCost-sensitive workloads
Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metric comparison

Cheapest input ($/1M)

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Cheapest output ($/1M)

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Peak throughput

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Best latency (TTFT)

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Intelligence score

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Context window

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Live token pricing

Strengths and weaknesses

Google

Gemini 3.8 Flash: promotional pricing until Dec 31 2026 — check live table for current rates
Wide multimodal API: text, image, audio, video generation, music, speech, transcription
Veo 3.1 video generation (720p/1080p/4K)
Gemma 4 open-weight models free via API
Free tier via Google AI Studio for prototyping
Google Search grounding: 5,000 free requests/month on Gemini 3.x
Promotional pricing expires Jan 1 2027 — prices double
Complex tiered pricing based on context length (≤200K vs >200K)
API reliability has historically lagged OpenAI

Telnyx

OpenAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for existing integrations
Competitive pricing on GLM-5.3 Flash and DeepSeek V4 Flash
PAYG with no minimum spend
Prompt caching on GLM-5.3 Flash (cached input at $0.027/1M)
Smaller model catalog vs major inference hubs
Inference is a secondary product — communications is the core business
Limited benchmark transparency vs dedicated inference providers

Key differentiators

Google

A wide multimodal AI API — text, image, video (Veo 3.1), music (Lyria 3.5), speech, transcription, and robotics under one key, with Gemini 3.8 Flash at promotional pricing until end of 2026.

Telnyx

OpenAI-compatible inference API from a communications platform, with competitive rates on GLM-5.3 Flash and DeepSeek V4 Flash.

Frequently asked questions

Google FAQs

What are the latest Google Gemini models?

As of September 2026, the Gemini 3.x family includes Gemini 3.8 Flash (newest, promotional pricing until December 31, 2026), Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview. Check ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing for current rates.

What is Gemini 3.8 Flash pricing?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is on promotional pricing until December 31, 2026, with standard rates applying from January 1, 2027. Batch pricing is 50% off. Check ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing for current rates.

Does Google offer video generation via API?

Yes. Veo 3.1 generates video at 720p, 1080p, and 4K resolutions. Gemini Omni Flash is also available for video generation. Check ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing for current rates.

Telnyx FAQs

What models does Telnyx Inference API offer?

As of October 2026: GLM-5.3 Flash ($0.135/$0.45 per 1M tokens, cached $0.027), Kimi K2.6 ($0.665/$4.00), DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.130/$0.260), and MiniMax-M3 ($0.270/$1.100). All are OpenAI-compatible. See telnyx.com/pricing/inference-api for current rates.

Is Telnyx Inference API OpenAI-compatible?

Yes. Telnyx provides an OpenAI-compatible REST API, so you can use it as a drop-in replacement in any application that supports custom base URLs.

Does Telnyx offer prompt caching?

Yes, on GLM-5.3 Flash. Cached input tokens are billed at $0.027/1M vs $0.135/1M standard.

Provider resources

Google — Gemini 3.8 Flash — plus Veo 3.1 video, Lyria 3.5 music, and Gemini Omni

Google DeepMind's Gemini 3.x family spans Gemini 3.8 Flash (latest, promotional pricing until Dec 31 2026), Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview. The platform has expanded far beyond text: Veo 3.1 for video generation, Lyria 3.5 for music generation, Gemini Omni for video generation, and Gemini Embedding 2 for multimodal embeddings. Gemma 4 open-weight models are free via the API. Check the live table for current per-token rates.

A wide multimodal AI API — text, image, video (Veo 3.1), music (Lyria 3.5), speech, transcription, and robotics under one key, with Gemini 3.8 Flash at promotional pricing until end of 2026.

Telnyx — OpenAI-compatible inference API — GLM-5.3, Kimi, DeepSeek, MiniMax

Telnyx Inference API provides OpenAI-compatible access to a curated set of open-weight and frontier models including GLM-5.3 Flash, Kimi K2.6, DeepSeek V4 Flash, and MiniMax-M3. PAYG pricing with no minimum spend. Telnyx is primarily known as a communications platform; the inference API is a newer addition to their product suite.

OpenAI-compatible inference API from a communications platform, with competitive rates on GLM-5.3 Flash and DeepSeek V4 Flash.

Key strengths compared

Google

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash: promotional pricing until Dec 31 2026 — check live table for current rates
  • Wide multimodal API: text, image, audio, video generation, music, speech, transcription
  • Veo 3.1 video generation (720p/1080p/4K)
  • Promotional pricing expires Jan 1 2027 — prices double
  • Complex tiered pricing based on context length (≤200K vs >200K)

Telnyx

  • OpenAI-compatible API — drop-in replacement for existing integrations
  • Competitive pricing on GLM-5.3 Flash and DeepSeek V4 Flash
  • PAYG with no minimum spend
  • Smaller model catalog vs major inference hubs
  • Inference is a secondary product — communications is the core business

Key weaknesses compared

Google

  • Promotional pricing expires Jan 1 2027 — prices double
  • Complex tiered pricing based on context length (≤200K vs >200K)
  • API reliability has historically lagged OpenAI

Telnyx

  • Smaller model catalog vs major inference hubs
  • Inference is a secondary product — communications is the core business
  • Limited benchmark transparency vs dedicated inference providers

Provider category context

Google is a frontier lab, founded in 1998. Telnyx is a inference api, founded in 2009. Google as a frontier lab trains and serves its own proprietary models. Telnyx as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers but without access to proprietary frontier models.

How to choose between them

Choose Google if you need gemini 3.8 flash: promotional pricing until dec 31 2026 — check live table for current rates. Choose Telnyx if you need Chat. For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.