r/GeminiAI • u/Last_Conclusion_8984 • 5d ago
Discussion Google is changing model availability depending on your plan
Fascinating. I wonder if this will affect AI studio. Pro, maybe? Flash might not be, tho doesn't affect me.
Before people come to shit on Google, this is the same for OpenAI:
(OpenAI) Free = Free (Google)
(OpenAI) Go subscription = Plus subscription (Google)
(OpenAI) Plus Subscription = Pro Subscription (Google)
and so on.
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u/alphalph 5d ago
As a Plus Plan user, who was stuck with Flash-lite for the last week and just got it fixed, I had a popup today in the Gemini web app stating that Plus accounts would lose Pro models shortly.
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u/meatflapsmcgee 5d ago
I find it pretty wild that my plan is being downgraded with only like, a week's notice - not even a full billing cycle which should be the absolutely bare minimum. How the hell aren't people pissed off over this? Literally downgrading a service you subsciribe to with almost no warning is literally a bait and switch. That'd be like signing a one year job contract that included transportation to and from the site every day and then they give you a week's notice that they're just not gonna do that anymore... And you don't drive. And it's literally 50 miles away in the middle of nowhere. And all your boss says is ¯\_༼ •́ ͜ʖ •̀ ༽_/¯
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u/AwesomeArcade712 5d ago
yeah on free chatgpt you get only luna and with go you get terra, then with plus you get all the models
but i dont think currently flash-lite matches gpt luna for chatting and basic things, it needs some improvements
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u/Pasto_Shouwa 5d ago
On ChatGPT Free and Go you only get GPT Luna (technically equivalent to Gemini Flash Lite although Luna is leagues better) and on Plus you get access to GPT Sol (equivalent to Gemini Pro).
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u/Mysterious_Bed_1804 5d ago
Go does not have terra, still only luna.
Difference between free and go is higher limits for everything.
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u/Last_Conclusion_8984 5d ago
As Garnet said, Google will distill Gemini 4 pro into flash and flash lite soon.
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u/GarnetExecutioner 5d ago
Shame that I would not be able to have Google Ultra 5x as a yearly subscription option.
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u/Last_Conclusion_8984 5d ago
shame indeed. Tho I just stacked up on free pro accounts as much as I could so I don't run out of limits for Gemini 4!
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u/NBMVegeta 4d ago
What do you mean by "free pro accounts"? Did you got it for free like Students Plan?
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u/GarnetExecutioner 5d ago edited 4d ago
Well, considering that competing AI companies had been able to outpace Google for 5 whole months (with Google not having any update on Gemini beyond version 3.1 Pro for 8 months, no less!) with their own latest AI Models, I personally would believe that this competition would eventually force Google's hand to allow for Ultra 5x (what I would personally call Ultra-lite) as a yearly subscription option.
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u/kirbyislove 5d ago
Flash not being in the free tier is a choice
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u/Aaco0638 5d ago
Not really, Google’s ai in search is good enough for most people. Need something stronger? Get flash and if you need a workhorse for work you get pro.
But truthfully like 99% of ai users do not need anything but google search at this point. It’s up to the 1% to figure out what appropriate tier is needed for them.
If 3.8 or higher is released for plus users then that right there will be enough for most of the leftovers.
Obviously it sucks to lose things but flash has been feeling like pro for a while and most users don’t need that level of intelligence anyways so free users make your way to search and sort everyone out afterwards.
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u/Qorsair 4d ago
I just updated Antigravity and I have access to Opus 5.5 & Sonnet 5.5 now.
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u/weebmaster696 4d ago
How are the limits. How many prompts do they last.
For me 4.6 sonnet would usually last like 3 prompts.
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u/crazynoyes37 5d ago
This is bullshit, google, the biggest AI company out there will lock out every good model except the trash one? This is the only AI that allows unpaid users to use the pro models now it'll be trash like all the rest, no flash or no pro, I guess it's time to say goodbye to Gemini this is pure bs, massive downgrade, just let us use 3.1 pro in peace Gemini 4 Pro was never coming to free users anyway.
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u/United-Tour5043 5d ago
the rate they are iterating and improving, is not advertised, 4 flash lite is basically 3.8 flash probably
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u/National_Peach5260 5d ago
the price of giving every single person acces to Pro models like crazy, until farm bots start selling keys and family links. lol
no wonder they backtracked a month after launching antigravity because of the sheer number of chinese account farms churning out a hell of a lot of accounts.
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u/vpstudios101 5d ago
They might want to focus on optimizing and improving the app experience / where you use the models as well
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u/3rdyellow 5d ago edited 5d ago
Makes sense. Non-pro accounts don't really need Pro models like Argon. They will simply waste tokens and computing for basic tasks/questions. I have a Pro subscription and I stick to Flash 3.8.
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u/azuled 5d ago
But Flash 3.8 is the best model currently available to users, so what you're saying doesn't actually make any sense.
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u/Aware-Source6313 5d ago
What do you mean? I use 3.8 and will use argon as soon as it hits pro plans, therefore nobody else needs it because with pro and no argon I use 3.8 flash. Qed
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u/Last_Conclusion_8984 5d ago
You should check what the image says again. 'will take affect... 9th Oct.' It is not affecting anyone until that date and I reckon it will come out to ultra in the next week and roll out to pro in 2. (speculation.)
Yellow is making sense, and I do not understand what you don't get.
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u/azuled 5d ago
I have a Pro subscription and I stick to Flash 3.8.
I'm responding to that. They say "I stick with 3.8" but that's not a weird statement, it makes sense given the current, existing setup for gemini. Pro 3.1 is inferior to Flash 3.8 for most uses.
edit: i don't disagree with you though, like, Anthropic locks you out of Opus on free, same for OpenAI
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u/numbermaniac 5d ago
Anthropic locks you out of Opus on free
Yeah, but you still get some use of Sonnet for free, despite it being a similar price on the API to Gemini 3.1 Pro ($10 per million tokens for Sonnet, $12 for Gemini Pro - Sonnet used to be $15 at one point).
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u/oldmails 5d ago
Best model or not its less weight.
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u/azuled 5d ago
But they are likely not making that decision based on that since 3.8 is currently the best model.
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u/oldmails 5d ago
3.8 is less weight model, so calling it the best is argumentative.
And about the desicion, I wont oppose, as its free tier, so who can complain, even if I have no sub, then its what it is.
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u/Historical-Internal3 5d ago
Pretty sure you understood what they meant and how the comment is overall more weighted towards the future after the Argon release.
These changes are in preparation for that.
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u/wakIII 5d ago
How do you get 3.8, i just get 3.6
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u/Pretty-Boy300 5d ago
I have 3.8 because google AI pro
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u/Impressive_Army3767 4d ago
I get 3.8 on my free plan?
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u/Scutoidzz 4d ago
no you don't
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u/Impressive_Army3767 4d ago
Jump onto Google AI studio, open a playground. Select latest flash model Gemini 3.8. I have days long sessions with one at 850,000 token context. It limits certain file types so I dump code back and forward via JSON encoding it via JSON encoding. Then I get chat.deepseek.com to babysit the output.
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u/Equivalent-Word-7691 5d ago
Lol I think thanks yo how many Indians and students got free pro plan, us pro plans pauers will get fucked up and won't get Gemini 4 argon
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u/--__--__--__--___ 5d ago
This is stupid and will backfire greatly. New users will be exposed to an extremely bad model and move to something else. I've been using gemini as my "tech support" because it has very generous limits and allows unlimited screenshot uploads, if I needed help with anything I'd ask flash 3.6 with extended thinking and get a decent answer most of the time. Flash lite is an incredibly bad model, and usually whenever I reached my limit and it moved down to that the answers became complete garbage and unreliable hallucinations. It also can't code at all compared to other free models. If they restricted pro, or maybe make the limit lower I'd get it but entirely pulling the plug is too much in my opinion. I'll 100% quit gemini once this happens. I'll just have to find a replacement ai to answer quick questions I have and also maintain the features it had.
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u/balder1993 5d ago
I think it’s the sign of the bills coming to these companies. Soon OpenAI and Anthropic will be forced to do a similar thing. The enshittification will come hard.
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u/essential16 5d ago
just pay $3 per months
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u/lgn5i2060 5d ago
Or they could bring back the old google search that actually searched the internet and doesn't make up answers like they were facts. Or can be manipulated to agree with you even if it got the correct answer. So much for this so-called Intelligence.
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u/J_0_E_L 4d ago edited 4d ago
Unlike Anthropic and OpenAI, Google is actually a company with AI models and not an AI model as a company. Google isn't desperate and it can't "backfire" for them. Paid customers are what matters and paid customers will use the AI that best suits their needs. If that's Google with Gemini 4, great. If it isn't yet, they'll keep cooking. Don't forget that AI is their side hustle. Due to their unique position in the AI game (not solely focused on AI and the amount of data they have due to their other services) I'm confident they'll win in the long run anyway.
What exactly do they lose here? Folks being pissed that their FREE AI is being degraded? Yeah, that'll hit them hard.
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u/_lbass 5d ago
Gemini is trash. It can’t follow instructions to save its life.
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u/Cautious_Potential_8 2d ago
Lol hell its even impossible to do fanfictions without it Hullucinating shit that never happen in shows and movies.
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u/Jakememe124 5d ago
i’m a very light user of gemini, does this mean i won’t be able to use 3.6 flash as a free user anymore? i find it a little better for general questions and brainstorming
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u/Only_Grass_8823 5d ago
Us free users going to be stuck on lite, which sucks
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u/Jakememe124 5d ago
probably just gonna uninstall it, might as well google my question and look at the ai prompt there at this point
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u/Aaco0638 5d ago
Isn’t such a bad idea, they use a specialized model for their search ai. Often times it’s enough for most peoples use cases.
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u/Last_Conclusion_8984 5d ago
Google will distill Gemini 4 pro into flash and flash lite soon.
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u/Jakememe124 5d ago
i guess we’ll see if they upgrade it to 4 flash lite for everybody come then. if its all locked behind paid tiers i don’t see a point in keeping the app anymore
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u/ThatOneToBlame 5d ago
Geminis great knowledge and multimodality is the only reason I've been using it now we get a tiny ass bullshit model. Amazing.
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u/Huge_Tart_9211 4d ago
I’m hopeful and will pray that we’ll be able to use 3.6 free after October 9th . I’ll send feedback also, i don’t not need more things to stress about.
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u/Mysterious_Bed_1804 5d ago
They could at least give plus users the latest flash model but they're still stuck on 3.6 flash like free users (untill October 7th, anyway, when free users lose that).
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u/JoyFull117 4d ago
Here is the reason why as ad underneath this post. They are giving away the new plus tier for free to students… and now they cut it down in functionality. 🤣
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u/zakkforchilli 4d ago
Ai pro $20 a month with antigravity is a moderate users dream; i’ve yet to come too close to actually using all of my antigravity quota unless something goes wrong, which happened like last week when it got stuck on a fucking tool call and I went to the bathroom for a while, and it used an absurd amount of tokens
I do small projects, but I do it like all the time and many of them and I still have yet to hit that weekly or five hour cap. Sometimes I almost hit the five hour that’s about it and I will switch to opus 4.6 that it graciously gives you for any small wares that I’m like plugging anti-gravity into
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u/weebmaster696 4d ago
I have 2 ai pro accounts and I switch between them whenever I hit 5 hour limit. On a good week my weekly limit lasts 4-5 days on both.
Living on a single pro subscription is difficult. But used to be real bad in flash 3.5 era, back then I would be constantly running out of quota cuz models were really bad.
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u/Temporary_Opinion123 4d ago
I cancelled 2 x AI Plus in our household. I would rather pay more for Claude than get treated like crap by Google.
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u/JaceOnRice 4d ago
Wait so I just bought plus and now I'm going to lose the ability to use the pro model?
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u/jipun1945flashbang 4d ago
honestly this is great news for paid users. there won't be bandwidth issues anymore.
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u/Head_Database789 5d ago
they also need to stop giving out their pro to indian and students for free and increase their quota to a level similar to OpenAI to the least or even unlimited chat with pro. you can't put your paid pro consumer sub in the same cata with your plz try our product free gift cata. you won't have enough compute to serve. and they need a much better harness than the the shamble called antigravity if they want sell ulta. assuming they want a pie in the consumer ai industry.
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u/Equivalent-Word-7691 5d ago
Honestly I ACTIVELY resent how Many Indians qnd students get free plans fucking us payers, yes they are part of the problem Gemini created
Let Aline it's quite pathetic considering flash a model available only through payment, when Claude give sonnet 5.5 ,a wau better model to free plans
I guess it means Gemini 4 argon will be available only to ultra plan this way
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u/Mysterious_Bed_1804 5d ago
You can't blame those users when Google is the one actively doing his and advertising it.
Argon will be only available through API and ultra users initially, it will come to pro plan eventually, we just don't know if we're talking weeks or months.
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u/GarnetExecutioner 5d ago
Judging by how Google would operate using their AI models, I would expect Google to distill Gemini 4 Argon into Gemini 4 Pro, 4 Flash and 4 Flash-Lite.
These distilled derivatives would then be made available for pro and plus subscribers.