I've been diving into the world of Google's AI offerings, and I'm a bit puzzled about the pricing differences between Vertex AI and Google AI Studio, particularly when it comes to deployment costs. I need to fine-tune Gemini 2.0 Flash for text processing on a very small scale (about 300 requests per day). Here's what I've gathered so far:

1. Google AI Studio seems cheaper for usage:

   • Input: $0.075 per million tokens

   • Output: $0.30 per million tokens

2. Vertex AI is more expensive for usage:

   • Input: $0.15 per million tokens

   • Output: $0.60 per million tokens

But here's where I'm confused:

• Vertex AI has additional deployment costs, starting at $0.75 per node hour for endpoints.

• Google AI Studio doesn't seem to have these deployment costs.

Questions:

1. Am I missing something about Google AI Studio's deployment process?

2. For those who've used both, how do the total costs compare in real-world usage, especially for low-volume processing?

3. Are there hidden benefits to Vertex AI that might justify the higher costs for my small-scale use case?

4. Any tips for minimizing deployment costs on Vertex AI given my low request volume?

5. Can I fine-tune Gemini 2.0 Flash in Google AI Studio, or is Vertex AI my only option?