Free Gemini limited to Flash-Lite from October 9 as 3.6 Flash and 3.1 Pro leave the free tier

Ryan Collins @Ryancollins_AiOriginally posted 2026.10.05

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Google is making free Gemini a lot more limited. Starting October 9, free users will only have access to Flash-Lite. Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro are being removed from the free tier. And this comes right after Google introduced Gemini 4 Argon. The direction is pretty clear: The best AI models are getting better — and increasingly becoming paid products.