Google updates Gemini tiers and restricts free access

Google announced that it will introduce new access restrictions for its Gemini artificial intelligence models starting October 9. Under the revised structure, users on the free tier will be limited exclusively to the Gemini Flash-Lite 3.5 model and will lose access to Gemini Flash and Pro versions.

Subscribers to the Google AI Plus plan, priced in Argentina at 7,406 Argentine pesos per month, will be able to use both Flash-Lite 3.5 and Gemini Flash 3.6, but will not have access to Pro models. Meanwhile, subscribers to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra, priced at 29,885 and 149,485 Argentine pesos per month respectively, will have access to all models, including Gemini Pro 3.1. These higher tiers will also receive the Deep Think parallel reasoning feature, which was previously exclusive to the Ultra plan.

The changes build on a system introduced in May that measures usage by processing capacity and actual computing consumption rather than fixed message counts. Users across tiers will also be able to select low, medium, or high effort levels for tasks. Google noted that high effort delivers more comprehensive responses but consumes more computing limits.

Google did not specify how it plans to roll out its Gemini 4 Argon frontier model, which was unveiled on October 1 and will initially be deployed to cyber defenders through the Fairwind program.