Google narrows Gemini model access for free and AI Plus accounts
Free personal accounts are set to use Flash-Lite only from October 9; AI Plus will lose Pro access on a date Google will send by email.
Model choice changes by plan
Google says it will change which Gemini app models are available to personal accounts in October. Its updated help page says people without a Google AI subscription will have access to Flash-Lite, but not Flash or Pro, once the change reaches them starting October 9. AI Plus subscribers will retain Flash-Lite and Flash while losing Pro. Google says Plus customers will receive an email explaining when the change takes effect for their accounts. The published table continues to list all three models for AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. These are announced future access rules, not evidence that every affected account has already changed.
The help page also says users can choose low, medium or high effort for each model available to their plan, with higher effort consuming more of their usage limit. Google lists Deep Think for AI Pro and AI Ultra. The document separately describes compute-based usage limits that refresh every five hours until a weekly limit is reached. Model availability and usage allowance are different restrictions: paying for AI Plus will still provide more usage than the free tier, but it will no longer include Pro model selection once the new access rules apply. Google has not given one universal effective date for AI Plus.