Gemini Limitations: How Much Will You Have to Pay for Smarter AI?

Google is changing the rules of the game for its AI users again. After changing the computing power consumption system in the spring, Google is now significantly reducing the list of models that can be accessed by those who do not pay for the service or use the cheapest subscription.

Starting October 9th, free users of the app will be limited to the Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite model. This means that the more powerful Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro models will be completely unavailable to them. The changes don't stop there, however, as they will also affect those who pay for the AI Plus package for around €4.43 per month. These subscribers will only have access to the Flash-Lite and Flash models, while they will lose access to the more powerful Pro model. They will be notified by email of the exact date the changes will take effect.

On the other hand, those with more expensive subscriptions can expect some new features. Users of the AI Pro package for about 17.73 euros per month and subscribers of the AI Ultra package, which costs about 88.69 euros or 177.39 euros per month, will not lose any features. Pro subscribers will even gain the option of advanced parallel thinking "Deep Think", which was previously reserved only for the most expensive packages.

Google Gemini is also introducing three new levels of thinking effort in October: low, medium, and high. These settings will allow the model to solve more complex tasks more accurately, but will also consume the user's task limit more quickly.

With all these changes, it's still an open question where the new Gemini 4 Argon model, which was announced recently and is initially aimed at the most expensive users, will fit in. Google has not yet clarified whether Argon will count as a Pro model or create an entirely new subscription tier.