Use Gemini for free? You’ll soon be limited to its weakest AI model

Google is restricting which AI models free users can access through the Gemini app and website, according to a new support document. Starting Friday, Oct. 9, free users will lose access to the Flash and Pro models and be limited to Flash-Lite, described as the lowest-tier and least robust of the three.

Subscribers to Google's cheapest paid plan, AI Plus at $5 per month, will also lose access to the Pro model on the same date, leaving them with the Flash and Flash-Lite variants. Free users who need Flash would have to pay for an AI Plus subscription, and AI Plus users who need Pro would have to move to a Pro plan.

One change benefits the $20-per-month AI Pro plan: subscribers will gain access to the Deep Think reasoning mode, which is currently reserved for AI Ultra users paying $100 or $200 per month.

Each plan currently offers three models: 3.8 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.1 Pro. Flash is positioned as a generalist for tasks such as providing information, summarizing files, generating and analyzing images, and chatting. Flash-Lite is faster but slightly less capable. Pro is the most analytical of the three, aimed at areas including math, logic, and coding.

Google also said each model will allow users to choose an error level among low, medium, and high, with higher levels consuming more of a user's limits. Access is governed by a compute-based limit that will refresh every five hours until a weekly quota is reached, based on factors including prompt complexity, features used, and chat length. Paid users have higher limits. Google AI subscriptions are billed monthly.