The Gemini logo. Image: Google LLC / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (simple logo), cropped
Google is about to shrink what you get from Gemini without paying. From October 9, people using the Gemini app without a Google AI subscription will only be able to pick Flash-Lite, its smallest model, and subscribers on the cheapest paid plan, AI Plus, will lose the Pro model, Google says on an updated help page.
The page, titled “Changes to Gemini model access and limits”, says the changes apply to Gemini Apps on personal accounts. Work and school accounts aren’t mentioned.
Which Gemini models each plan gets after the change
Google’s table of model availability after the changes take effect:
| Plan | Flash-Lite | Flash | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Without a plan | Yes | No | No |
| AI Plus | Yes | Yes | No |
| AI Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Ultra | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Free users are first in line: “These changes will start to take effect for users without an AI subscription on October 9th,” the page says. AI Plus subscribers get no fixed date. Google says they “should receive an email that explains when these changes will take effect” for them. AI Pro and AI Ultra keep every model, and those two plans also get the Deep Think option for what Google calls “maximum parallel reasoning”.
A new effort setting, and the same limits
Alongside the cut, Google is adding an effort level to every model: low, medium or high. Higher effort should mean more thorough answers, but Google warns it “will also use more of your limit”.
Those limits were already reworked in May. Since May 17, Gemini has used compute-based limits that refresh every five hours until you hit a weekly cap, with heavier features such as Deep Research, image and video generation and the Pro model eating into them faster. AI Plus gets twice the standard limit, AI Pro four times, and AI Ultra five or 20 times the AI Pro limit, depending on the subscription.
The help page doesn’t say why Google is making the change, and Google hasn’t announced it anywhere else. It comes days after Google launched Gemini 4 Argon, which is going to cyber defenders first and then to paying customers, and a week after it said it was replacing Gems with skills.
What free and AI Plus users can do
Nothing needs to be done before October 9: the model picker will simply offer fewer choices. If you rely on Flash or Pro without paying, the only way to keep them is to move up a plan, which Google says you can do from the Gemini app at any time. AI Plus subscribers who use Pro should watch for Google’s email with their date before deciding whether AI Pro is worth the step up.
Why it matters
Gemini’s free tier will offer one model, its smallest, while AI Pro and AI Ultra keep all three. That widens the gap between free and paid Gemini sharply and puts Pro firmly behind the AI Pro subscription, at a time when Google is pouring money into newer, more expensive models.
Sources: Google Gemini Apps Help, “Changes to Gemini model access and limits”.
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