Gemini: Free and AI Plus lose models, AI Pro gets Deep Think

What's new

Google is tightening which AI models you can use in the Gemini app. The change takes effect on October 9, 2026. Free users lose access to both Flash and Pro and are left with the lightest model, Flash-Lite. AI Plus subscribers keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro, which is Google's more powerful model. Subscribers to AI Pro (19.99 dollars a month) and AI Ultra keep all models.

AI Pro also gets a new option: Deep Think. Until now, it has only been included in the expensive Ultra subscriptions at 99.99 and 199.99 dollars a month. Google describes it as "maximum parallel reasoning." That means the model thinks through several solution paths at the same time before it answers.

What's clever

Deep Think is made for hard tasks, such as complicated logic and programming, where a quick answer often falls short. Bringing it to the Pro level makes one of Google's strongest features available to far more people than the Ultra customers.

The Gemini app is also getting effort settings: low, medium and high for each model. If you choose high, the model can solve more demanding tasks, but it eats more of your daily usage limit. Google has not said how the new Gemini 4 Argon, announced for Ultra subscribers, will be placed in the new tiers.

Cheaper or better?

For free users and AI Plus users, it is a clear downgrade. They get access to fewer and weaker models than before. Prices are unchanged: AI Plus costs 4.99 dollars a month (after a price cut from 7.99 dollars earlier this year), while AI Pro costs 19.99 dollars. Danish prices are not stated in what I have been able to find. It has also not been disclosed whether the change will hit Denmark and the EU at the same time as the US.

For Pro users, it is a pure gain: same price, but an extra feature. Google's line is clear. Light users get a cheap or free solution, while those who want the strongest models have to pay more. By comparison, Android Headlines mentions that ChatGPT has an entry plan at around 8 dollars and Claude at 20 dollars a month. Google has previously changed its limits several times. Since May 2026, Gemini has used usage limits that reset every five hours and have a weekly cap.

What it's good for

Flash-Lite and Flash are well suited to everyday tasks: short answers, emails, translations, simple summaries and ordinary questions. If you are a free user or on AI Plus and have used Pro for hard analyses, long documents or code, you will notice the difference and should consider upgrading to AI Pro.

Deep Think on AI Pro is for those who work with hard problem solving, programming, math or complicated planning. Google is sending emails to affected users about the exact timing. So check your inbox if you use Gemini for work.