Google is preparing to restrict Gemini for free users and for subscribers of the AI Plus tier. According to Google's support page, people without a paid Google AI subscription will only have access to the Gemini Flash-Lite model starting October 9, 2026, and will lose access to Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro. The upcoming change was reported by digitaltrends.com, businesstoday.in, and news.sbs.co.kr.
Gemini restrictions for free users: what is changing
Android Authority reports that Google's support page mentions the Gemini 3.5-Flash-Lite model, while digitaltrends.com, businesstoday.in, and news.sbs.co.kr write about the Flash-Lite model. However, the tier-based access breakdown is the same across all sources:
- free users: they will only keep Flash-Lite, losing access to Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro,
- AI Plus subscribers: they will keep Flash-Lite and Flash, but lose access to the Pro model,
- AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers: access to Flash-Lite, Flash, and Pro remains, plus they have Deep Think.
AI Plus subscribers will receive an email notifying them when the change takes effect for their account. This is reported by digitaltrends.com, businesstoday.in, and news.sbs.co.kr.
Limits, prices, and new models
Google is also introducing low, medium, and high effort settings for models. The higher the effort a user selects, the faster their limit will be exhausted. According to news.sbs.co.kr, limits reset every five hours.
The AI Plus tier costs $4.99 per month, but news.sbs.co.kr lists $9.99, and in South Korea it is 7,500 won. AI Pro costs $19.99 per month, or 29,000 won in South Korea, and AI Ultra starts at $99.99. According to digitaltrends.com, AI Plus offers double the limits, 400 GB of storage, video generation, and the Daily Brief feature. The same source notes that Google recently made the Skills feature available even to free users.
Google's most powerful model, Gemini 4 Argon, was unveiled on September 30, 2026, and is still being tested with U.S. government agencies and a small group of partner companies. This is reported by digitaltrends.com and news.sbs.co.kr.