Google Vertex AI Agent Builder
Where Google Vertex AI Agent Builder sits in the cluster
Cheapest published monthly entry rate across the 9 agentic AI platforms that publish a rate.
Direct answer
What does Vertex AI Agent Builder charge per token and per grounded query?
Per-token Gemini pricing plus per-query grounding meters. No flat platform fee, but every grounded answer adds a search line on top of the token line.
Best for
Teams building grounded agents on Google Cloud who want Gemini, Vertex Search, and Google grounding in one platform.
Tier table
Each row is a published plan. Quote-only tiers are flagged; we do not infer the price.
| Plan | Monthly | Unit | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | Quote only | per 1M input tokens | $1.50 input, $9.00 output per 1M tokens. Cached input $0.15. |
| Grounding with Google Search | Quote only | per 1,000 queries | 5,000 queries per month free, then $14 per 1,000 queries from January 2026. |
| Grounding with your data | Quote only | per 1,000 prompts | $2.50 per 1,000 prompts via Vertex Search. |
| Verified 2026-06-19. Source: cloud.google.com | |||
Hidden costs
Grounding with Google Search bills $14 per 1,000 queries above the first 5,000 free per month from January 2026.
Grounding with your own data via Vertex Search bills $2.50 per 1,000 prompts on top of model and storage cost.
Production Gemini 3.5 Flash output at $9 per million tokens dominates cost for agents that emit long-form responses.
Closest alternatives
OpenAI Agents SDK + Operator
→Salesforce Agentforce
→Related vertical context
Same vendor-neutral discipline applied to adjacent buyer questions in this category.
Verification
Source URL: https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/pricing