Chat Bison
Google Vertex AI chatChat Bison is a Google Vertex AI chat model.It supports a 8,192-token context windowwith up to 4,096 output tokens.Input is priced at $0.125/M tokens and output at $0.125/M tokens. Route Chat Bison via Future AGI's Agent Command Center for unified observability, caching, and 15 routing strategies including cost-optimized fallback.
Estimate Chat Bison spend
Pick a workload, fine-tune the sliders, and see the monthly bill.
Estimate uses $0.1250/M input · $0.1250/M output. Provider pricing changes. Production costs vary with retries, streaming overhead, and tool-call rounds.
Want this for free? Cache + route via Agent Command Center — first 100K requests and 100K cache hits free every month.
Pricing
Per-token rates, expressed in USD per 1M tokens. Verified May 7, 2026.
| Input | $0.125/M | |
| Output | $0.125/M |
Limits
- Context window
- 8,192 tokens
- Max input
- 8,192 tokens
- Max output
- 4,096 tokens
- Modalities
- text
Capabilities
- Function calling — not advertised
- Parallel tool calls — not advertised
- Vision input — not advertised
- Audio input — not advertised
- Audio output — not advertised
- PDF input — not advertised
- Streaming ✓ supported
- Structured output — not advertised
- Prompt caching — not advertised
- Reasoning — not advertised
Where it's strong
Watch out for
- !high cost — input + output rates are in the top 91% of priced chat peers; consider a cheaper sibling for high-volume workloads
- !limited context — 8,192-token window is in the bottom quartile; not ideal for long documents or large RAG
- !agentic workflows — no advertised function-calling; use a tool-capable model and route via Agent Command Center for fallback
- !small context (under 16K tokens)
- !strict structured output — no JSON-schema enforcement, expect retry loops
Benchmarks pending
We haven't logged public benchmark scores for Chat Bison yet. Have one to contribute? Submit a source — citations help us prioritise.
Call Chat Bison via Agent Command Center
One OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Routing, fallback, semantic caching, guardrails, and cost tracking come along for the ride. First 100K requests + 100K cache hits free every month.
agentcc / @agentcc/client). Per-call metadata — provider, cost, latency, cache hit, request id — is returned on x-agentcc-* response headers, so any HTTP client can read it.# Chat Bison via the Agent Command Center Python SDK
# pip install agentcc
import os
from agentcc import AgentCC
client = AgentCC(
api_key=os.environ["AGENTCC_API_KEY"], # from app.futureagi.com → Settings → API Keys
base_url="https://gateway.futureagi.com/v1",
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="vertex-ai/chat-bison",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, Chat Bison!"}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)
print(f"Tokens: {resp.usage.total_tokens}")
# Per-call gateway metadata is returned on x-agentcc-* response headers.
# When you need it programmatically, use .with_raw_response to get them:
raw = client.chat.completions.with_raw_response.create(
model="vertex-ai/chat-bison",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Same call, but I want the headers."}],
)
print("Provider:", raw.headers.get("x-agentcc-provider"))
print("Latency:", raw.headers.get("x-agentcc-latency-ms"), "ms")
print("Cost: ", raw.headers.get("x-agentcc-cost"), "USD")
print("Cache: ", raw.headers.get("x-agentcc-cache"))AGENTCC_API_KEY with a key fromapp.futureagi.com.Gateway docs ↗Same model on other providers
chat-bison is also available via 1 other route. Pricing, regions, and capabilities can differ — compare before routing production traffic.
| Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI | $0.125/M | $0.125/M | May 12, 2026 |
Compare with similar models
Chat Bison doesn't have a public Arena ELO score yet, so we group by provider only — quality-tier comparisons need a benchmark.
- Claude Opus 4.7Google Vertex AI · $5.00/M in · $25.00/M out · 1,000,000 ctx
- Claude Opus 4.6Google Vertex AI · $5.00/M in · $25.00/M out · 1,000,000 ctx
- Gemini 3.1 Pro previewGoogle Vertex AI · $2.00/M in · $12.00/M out · 1,048,576 ctx
- Gemini 3 Pro PreviewGoogle Vertex AI · $2.00/M in · $12.00/M out · 1,048,576 ctx
FAQ
How much does Chat Bison cost?
Input is priced at $0.125 per 1M tokens and output at $0.125 per 1M tokens (Google Vertex AI, last verified May 7, 2026).
What is the context window of Chat Bison?
Chat Bison supports a 8,192-token context window with up to 4,096 output tokens.
Does Chat Bison support function calling?
Chat Bison does not currently advertise function-calling support. For agentic workloads, prefer a tool-calling-capable model and route via Agent Command Center for fallback.
Is Chat Bison good for production?
Chat Bison is best evaluated against your own production traces. Pipe traffic through Agent Command Center to compare it head-to-head against alternatives in shadow mode.
How can I route to Chat Bison with fallback?
Use Agent Command Center: a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint that supports cost-optimized routing, latency-aware retries, model fallback, and shadow traffic. Configure once, swap models without app changes.
Useful links for Chat Bison
Official sources, independent benchmarks, and pricing aggregators — no random search-engine guesses.
Third-party evals — verify the marketing.
Cross-check our number against the rest of the ecosystem.