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What is the difference between Vertex AI and Google AI Studio?
How much does it cost to use Vertex AI LLM?
Can I fine-tune Gemini models for my specific use case?
What types of input does Vertex AI LLM support?
Vertex AI LLM gives you access to Google's Gemini models on a single machine learning platform. Learn to use its features for developing, deploying, and managing enterprise-level generative AI applications, from prototyping to full-scale production.
Struggling to deploy large language model applications at an enterprise scale? You're not alone. Many developers struggle with complex infrastructure, model selection confusion, and deployment challenges when building AI-powered solutions. Vertex AI LLM offers Google's unified platform for machine learning and AI, providing access to the latest Gemini models that can understand virtually any input and generate almost any output.
This guide walks you through everything from foundation models to deployment strategies, helping you harness the full potential of Vertex AI for your next generative AI project.
What makes Vertex AI LLM stand out in today's crowded AI landscape? Gemini 2.5 models are thinking models that can reason through their thoughts before responding, resulting in enhanced performance and improved accuracy. Think of it as having a research assistant who not only processes information but also thinks through problems step by step.
The platform offers something rare in the AI world: true multimodality. You can input data in various formats, including text, images, video, and audio, and receive comprehensive responses that demonstrate mathematical reasoning and complex information processing. With a 1-million token context window, developers can explore vast datasets and handle complex coding tasks by comprehending entire codebases.
Have you ever wondered why some AI model deployments fail in production? The answer often lies in inadequate infrastructure and model management. Vertex AI addresses these pain points through its comprehensive Vertex AI model registry and enterprise-grade controls that handle everything from deployment to monitoring.
Model Garden is an AI/ML model library that helps you discover, test, customize, and deploy models and assets from Google and its partners, featuring over 200 best-in-class models for their respective categories. Picture walking into a massive library where every book represents a distinct AI capability, each optimized for a specific task.
The available models span an impressive range:
Generative AI models like Gemini 2.5 Pro for highly complex tasks
Open models, including Llama 3.2 and Gemma, for flexible development
Task-specific models for coding tasks, video generation, and extracting text operations
Foundation models from Google DeepMind and third-party providers
1# Example: Deploying a Gemini model via Vertex AI 2from google.cloud import aiplatform 3from google.cloud.aiplatform.gapic.schema import predict 4 5# Initialize the client 6aiplatform.init(project='your-project-id', location='us-central1') 7 8# Create endpoint for model deployment 9endpoint = aiplatform.Endpoint.create( 10 display_name='gemini-endpoint', 11 description='Vertex AI endpoint for Gemini model' 12) 13 14# Deploy model to endpoint 15model = aiplatform.Model.upload( 16 display_name='gemini-2-5-flash', 17 artifact_uri='gs://your-bucket/model-artifacts', 18 serving_container_image_uri='gcr.io/vertex-ai/prediction/tf2-cpu.2-8:latest' 19) 20 21deployed_model = model.deploy( 22 endpoint=endpoint, 23 machine_type='n1-standard-4', 24 min_replica_count=1, 25 max_replica_count=10 26)
This code sample demonstrates the straightforward approach to deploying Gemini models through Vertex AI. The platform handles the underlying infrastructure complexity, allowing developers to focus on their application logic rather than deployment mechanics.
Foundation models available in Model Garden are models trained on huge, diverse datasets that can be adapted to various downstream tasks through further training. When you fine-tune these models with your organization's data, you create specialized AI agents that understand your business context and requirements.
Many developers ask: Should I start with Google AI Studio or jump directly into Vertex AI? The answer depends on your development stage and requirements. Google AI Studio serves as your rapid prototyping environment, while Vertex AI provides enterprise-grade deployment capabilities.
Vertex AI Studio offers a Google Cloud console tool for rapidly prototyping and testing generative AI models. Here's how they complement each other:
Google AI Studio excels at:
Rapid prompt testing and iteration
Model evaluation without infrastructure setup
Free experimentation with the Gemini API
Quick proof-of-concept development
Vertex AI shines for:
Enterprise customers requiring compliance and security
Production deployments with low latency requirements
Complex model management and monitoring
Integration with existing Google Cloud services
This flow diagram illustrates the natural progression from experimentation in AI Studio to production deployment in Vertex AI. Most successful projects begin with rapid prototyping before scaling to full production environments.
Gemini 2.5 Pro is our state-of-the-art thinking model, capable of reasoning over complex problems in code, math, and STEM, as well as analyzing large datasets, codebases, and documents using long context. What sets these models apart from traditional language model approaches?
The Gemini era introduces several breakthrough capabilities:
| Model | Best Use Cases | Context Window | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Pro | Complex reasoning, coding | 1M tokens | Thinking capabilities, multimodal |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash | High-volume tasks | 1M tokens | Cost-efficient, low latency |
| Gemini 2.0 Flash | General purpose | 1M tokens | Next-gen features, tool use |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Scalable operations | Standard | Optimized for throughput |
Gemini 2.5 Flash features dynamic and controllable reasoning, automatically adjusting processing time based on query complexity, enabling faster answers for simple requests while providing granular control over the speed, accuracy, and cost balance.
Consider this scenario: you're processing customer support queries. Simple questions receive prompt responses, while complex technical issues are given thorough reasoning treatment. This intelligent resource allocation dramatically improves both user experience and operational efficiency.
The models demonstrate impressive performance across benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Pro leads common benchmarks by meaningful margins and showcases strong reasoning and code capabilities, scoring state-of-the-art results on math and science benchmarks like GPQA and AIME 2025.
Ready to implement Vertex AI LLM in your organization? Start by understanding your specific use case requirements. Build agents with an open approach and deploy them with enterprise-grade controls, connecting agents across your enterprise ecosystem.
Successful implementation typically follows this pattern:
Define your use case and success metrics
Customer service automation
Content generation and summarization
Code assistance and review
Data analysis and insights
Evaluate model options through Vertex AI endpoint testing
Start with pre-trained models from the model garden
Test different types of models for your specific tasks
Measure performance against your quality benchmarks
Plan your data strategy
Identify relevant input data sources
Consider fine-tuning requirements for specialized tasks
Implement data privacy and security measures
Deploy with monitoring and feedback loops
Set up comprehensive model monitoring
Implement user feedback collection
Plan for continuous model improvement
Organizations can optimize resource usage, identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, and enhance model efficiency and accuracy by leveraging observability data that provides insights into usage, cost, and operational performance, including latency, errors, token usage, and frequency of model invocations.
What advanced features set Vertex AI apart from other platforms? The platform offers sophisticated capabilities that address real-world enterprise challenges.
Use the 2-million-token context window that Gemini supports and the built-in multimodality and thinking capabilities from Gemini 2.5 models. This massive context window enables applications that were previously impossible, such as analyzing entire codebases or processing hundreds of pages of documents in a single request.
The multimodal capabilities deserve special attention. Your applications can seamlessly process:
Text documents and prompts
Images for visual analysis and extracting text operations
Video content for comprehensive understanding
Audio input for speech processing
Red teaming and safety features ensure the responsible deployment of AI. Google has significantly enhanced protections against security threats, such as indirect prompt injections, with new security approaches that substantially increase Gemini's protection rate against attacks during tool use.
Fine-tuning capabilities allow you to create specialized models. Whether you need a model that understands your industry-specific terminology or one that adheres to specific output formats, Vertex AI provides the tools for customization without requiring deep machine-learning expertise.
How do you ensure your Vertex AI LLM deployment scales effectively? Production success requires careful attention to several critical factors.
Performance optimization begins with selecting the proper model. Choosing between powerful models like Gemini 2.5 Pro and 2.5 Flash depends on your specific needs. Vertex AI Model Optimizer automatically generates the highest-quality response for each prompt, balancing quality and cost as desired.
Resource management becomes crucial at scale:
Configure auto-scaling parameters based on traffic patterns
Monitor token usage and costs across different models
Implement caching strategies for frequently requested operations
Set up appropriate rate limiting and throttling
Security and compliance requirements often drive architecture decisions. Vertex AI offers enterprise-grade features, including VPC controls, data residency options, and access transparency, which meet stringent regulatory requirements.
Consider implementing a multi-model strategy where different models handle different types of requests. Simple queries might use cost-effective models, while complex analysis tasks utilize more sophisticated options. This approach optimizes both performance and costs.
Smart organizations approach Vertex AI with clear cost management strategies. Pricing is based on 1,000 characters of input (prompt) and 1,000 characters of output (response), with billing for Vertex AI Agent Engine commencing on March 4, 2025.
Cost optimization strategies include:
Prompt engineering to reduce token usage
Model selection based on task complexity
Caching strategies for repeated queries
Batch processing for bulk operations
Many organizations discover that the cost savings from automation and improved efficiency far exceed the direct costs of using APIs. Customer service automation, content generation, and code assistance often provide rapid ROI through reduced manual labor and improved quality.
Monitor your usage patterns carefully. The growth and demand for the Gemini 2.5 Pro continue to be the steepest of any model Google has ever seen, making it essential to plan capacity and understand usage patterns.
Just type your idea, and within minutes, you will ship the first version of your website for your business.
It supports:
Figma to code
Flutter (with state management)
React, Next.js, HTML (with TailwindCSS/HTML), and reusable components
Third-party integrations like GitHub, OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Perplexity
Email provider via Resend
Payment integration via Stripe
Database support with Supabase integration
Ship your app via Netlify for free
Visual element editing
Upload custom logos, screenshots, and mockups as design references — or swap images instantly.
Publish your mobile and web app and share a fully interactive link
The AI landscape evolves rapidly, making future-proofing strategies critical for long-term success. Google continues to invest in the developer experience, introducing thought summaries in the Gemini API and Vertex AI for increased transparency, and extending thinking budgets to 2.5 Pro for enhanced control.
Upcoming capabilities to watch include:
Enhanced reasoning models with deeper thinking capabilities
Improved multimodal understanding across video and audio
Better integration with Google Maps and enterprise services
Advanced AI agents with autonomous task completion
Design your architecture to support model upgrades and new capabilities. Utilize abstraction layers that enable you to swap models without requiring the rewriting of application logic. This approach ensures you can take advantage of improvements as they become available.
Stay informed about the model lifecycle and deprecation timelines to ensure seamless updates. Starting April 29, 2025, the Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Flash models will no longer be available in projects that have no prior usage of these models, including new projects. Plan your migrations to minimize service disruptions.
Vertex AI offers a comprehensive platform for developing enterprise AI applications. It offers access to Gemini foundation models and a wide selection in the Model Garden, supporting the development lifecycle from prototyping in AI Studio to full-scale deployment.
Effective use of the platform requires planning your model selection and architecture. Start with a clear use case, experiment in the AI Studio, and then use the production-ready infrastructure to scale your solution. Vertex AI provides the foundation necessary to develop the next generation of AI-powered systems.
