Google's free Gemini now gets one basic model; Pro costs $20 a month

Google has cut back the free version of its Gemini AI assistant. Since October 9, free accounts get just one model, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. The stronger models now sit behind the $20 a month Pro plan. Android Police tested what that means, and the answer is less than many people fear, unless you rely on Gemini inside Google Docs and Sheets.

What changed

Before October 9, free users could switch between models. A model is the AI engine behind the chat. Google removed the Flash and Pro models from the free tier. Android Police notes that rivals do something similar. Claude gives free users only its mid-tier Sonnet model, and ChatGPT offers GPT-6 Luna. Pro users can still pick Flash, Pro, or Argon, Gemini's newest model, built for complex coding, long reasoning and research.

What free still does well

The reviewer gave free Gemini a 62,000-word apartment handbook, about 124 pages, with fees, rules and dates hidden in different sections. Flash-Lite answered every question correctly. It also got every question right on a spreadsheet of months of purchases. Free accounts also keep these features:

• Deep Research, image generation, Gemini Live and Canvas
• Scheduled actions
• Skills, which are replacing Gems
• Low, medium and high thinking levels, though higher levels use your allowance faster

Where free falls short

Pasting text into the free chat box cut off after about 32,000 characters, roughly 5,000 words or 10 pages. Uploading the text as a file gets around that. Pro took about 1 million characters, roughly 158,000 words. The bigger gap is Google's own apps. Free Gemini does not work inside Gmail, Docs or Sheets. Free accounts also cannot make videos, and the error message does not say a subscription is needed.

Google does not publish exact usage limits. Each plan gets a compute allowance that refills every five hours, up to a weekly cap. Pro gets four times the free limits.

Is Pro worth $20

Pro adds 5TB of cloud storage, up from 15GB free, plus YouTube Premium Lite, Google Home Premium Standard, video creation in chat and 1,000 monthly credits in Flow, Google's AI video tool. If you already pay for those extras, Pro costs you less than $20 in practice. A cheaper step exists. The $5 AI Plus plan adds Gemini in Gmail and a better model than Flash-Lite. Docs and Sheets still need Pro.

What to do

Look at how you use Gemini before paying. Answers, file analysis and images work on the free plan. Pay for Pro if you want Gemini in Docs and Sheets, need video, hit limits often, or already buy the extras.