Google is taking its two best Gemini models away from anyone who isn't paying full price.
Starting October 9, the free Gemini tier is cut down to Flash-Lite 3.5, Google's fastest but least capable model. Flash 3.6 and Pro 3.1 disappear from free accounts entirely. Subscribers on the $4.99 AI Plus plan keep Flash 3.6 but lose Pro 3.1's advanced reasoning. The pricier AI Pro and AI Ultra tiers are untouched, and AI Pro picks up a new Deep Think mode built for heavier parallel reasoning.
Until now, Gemini's tiers were split by usage limits, not model access: everyone could reach the same models, just with different query caps that reset every five hours. Splitting access by both model and usage tightens the squeeze on free and low-paying users at once, and it brings Gemini in line with how OpenAI already gates ChatGPT's stronger models behind payment.
Free AI tiers are expensive to run, and this looks like the math finally catching up: fewer people on costly models, more nudges toward a paid plan.