AINewsTechGoogle is about to remove free access to Gemini Flash and ProUsers on Google’s $4.99 AI Plus subscription are also losing access to Gemini Pro. Users on Google’s $4.99 AI Plus subscription are also losing access to Gemini Pro. by Stevie BonifieldOct 6, 2026, 1:19 PM UTCShareGiftIllustration: The VergeStevie Bonifield is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.Starting on October 9th, anyone using Google Gemini on a free plan will be limited to the Flash Lite model. Free users can currently choose from Gemini Flash Lite, Flash, and Pro, but now you’ll need a $4.99/month Google AI Plus subscription to access the standard Flash model. However, that subscription is also getting a downgrade – it will soon no longer include Gemini Pro.
Google says AI Plus subscribers will receive an email letting them know when they’ll lose access to it.After these changes, access to the top-tier Gemini Pro model and a “Deep Think” advanced reasoning option will be restricted to users with a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription, which cost $19.99 or $99.99 per month, respectively.Google says users will still be able to choose from low, medium, and high effort levels for each model, but using higher effort levels could burn through your Gemini usage limit faster.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Stevie BonifieldAIGoogleNewsTechMost PopularOur minds aren’t equipped to handle AITCL’s paperlike OLED phone made me more excited for the iPhone DuoOpenAI is adding text watermarking in ChatGPT and CodexApple’s new M6 Mac Mini is over $100 offAn open-source tool lets you delete 12GB of Apple Intelligence data on macOSAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
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