Changes to Gemini model access and limits

Important:

 

Starting in October 2026, there will be changes to model availability for Gemini Apps when you use a personal account.

These changes will start to take effect for users without an AI subscription on October 9th. For users with an AI Plus subscription, you should receive an email that explains when these changes will take effect for you.

Model availability after these changes take effect:

  Gemini Model
Google AI Plan Flash-Lite Flash Pro
Without a plan Auto
AI Plus Checkmark Checkmark
AI Pro Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
AI Ultra Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark


Auto will be the default setting for users without a Google AI plan. Gemini will use auto model selection to send ieach prompt to the Gemini model that suits it best. Most prompts will go to Flash-Lite, our fastest model. Prompts that need deeper reasoning may go to Flash or Pro.

If smart model selection is turned off, chats for users without an AI plan will use Flash-Lite for all responses.

Tips: 

  • For each available model, you can also select the model’s effort level from low, medium, and high.  This will increase the model’s ability to complete tasks and provide more thorough answers to queries, but will also use more of your limit. 

Manage your Google AI plan

You can subscribe to a Google AI plan, upgrade your current plan, change your plan, or cancel your plan at any time. Learn how to manage your Google AI plan from Gemini Apps.

Previous changes

Starting on May 17, 2026 there were changes to usage limits and model availability for Gemini Apps for users over 18. These changes took effect for users under 18 on July 24, 2026.

Usage limits for Gemini Apps

Gemini will move to compute-based usage limits that will refresh every 5 hours until you reach your weekly limit. Calculation of your usage will factor in the complexity of your prompt, the features you use, and the length of your chat. Paid users have higher limits than users without a Google AI subscription. 

Premium models and features require more usage and may cause you to reach your limit faster. This would include things like:

  • Media generation
    • Images, videos and music
  • Deep Research
  • Pro Model
  • Extended thinking and Deep Think

Usage limits

Plan Limit
Without a plan Standard limits
AI Plus 2x higher than standard limits
AI Pro 4x higher than standard limits
AI Ultra  5x or 20x higher than AI Pro depending on your subscription
false
Search
Clear search
Close search
Google apps
Main menu
1222990126766970154
true
Search Help Center
false
true
true
true
true
true
5295044
false
false
false
false
false