TL;DR
- Google's Gemini Apps Help page says personal-account users without a Google AI plan get only Flash-Lite from 9 October 2026, losing Flash and Pro.
- AI Plus subscribers keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro; Google says each will get an email stating when the change applies to them.
- AI Pro and AI Ultra keep all three models and get Deep Think; 9to5Google reported on 3 October 2026 that Deep Think was previously Ultra-only.
- Every available model gets low, medium and high effort levels; higher effort uses more of the compute-based limit Google introduced on 17 May 2026.
- Google's notice does not mention Search, AI Overviews, AI Mode, work or school accounts, or any country-specific timing.
From 9 October 2026, people who use the Gemini app with a personal Google account and no Google AI subscription will only be able to choose the Flash-Lite model. Google set this out in a Gemini Apps Help page titled "Changes to Gemini model access and limits". The same page says AI Plus subscribers will keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro, while AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers keep all three models and get the Deep Think option. For anyone who tracks how Gemini describes a brand, the model behind a free user's answer is about to change, so a test run on a paid account may not match what most people see.
What Google's help page says
Google's Gemini Apps Help page opens with a plain notice: starting in October 2026, model availability in Gemini Apps will change for people using a personal account. According to the page, the changes start to take effect on 9 October for users without an AI subscription. Users on AI Plus "should receive an email" explaining when the changes reach them, so Google has not published one date for that group.
The page then shows a grid of plans against models. Three models are listed: Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro. No version numbers appear on Google's page. The page also lists two new controls in its tips:
- For each available model, users can pick an effort level of low, medium or high. Google says a higher level increases the model's ability to complete tasks and gives more thorough answers, but uses more of the person's limit.
- AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers get access to the Deep Think option, which Google describes as "maximum parallel reasoning".
The help page gives no reason for the change. It also does not mention work or school accounts, Google Search, AI Overviews or AI Mode. The notice is written about Gemini Apps and personal accounts only.
Model access by plan from 9 October 2026
The table below copies the model grid from Google's help page. Effective dates are those the page states.
| Google AI plan | Models available after the change | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Without a plan | Flash-Lite only | From 9 October 2026 |
| AI Plus | Flash-Lite and Flash (Pro removed) | Date sent to each subscriber by email |
| AI Pro | Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro, plus Deep Think | No loss of models |
| AI Ultra | Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro, plus Deep Think | No loss of models |
What 9to5Google added
The change was reported by 9to5Google on 3 October 2026, in an article by Abner Li that said the support document had been updated that week. The outlet added detail that is not on Google's page, and it is worth keeping the two apart.
9to5Google attached version numbers to the three models: Flash-Lite as 3.5, Flash as 3.6 and Pro as 3.1. By that reading, free users lose access to Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro. The outlet also gave US prices that Google's help page leaves out: $4.99 per month for AI Plus, $19.99 per month for AI Pro, and $99.99 or $199.99 per month for the AI Ultra plans. According to 9to5Google, Deep Think had until now been limited to those two Ultra price points, so the AI Pro tier is gaining a feature, not only keeping its models.
On effort levels, 9to5Google said the Gemini app "looks to be adding" low, medium and high settings in October, and that at present users can only switch on an "Extended thinking" option. The outlet said the three levels would match what is available in Google AI Studio and Antigravity.
9to5Google also raised a question the help page does not answer. Google had announced Gemini 4 Argon earlier that week, coming first to AI Ultra subscribers, and the outlet said it was not clear whether Argon would count as a Pro model or sit in a new tier above it. Google's help page lists only Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro.
How this connects to the May 2026 usage limits
The October change sits on top of an earlier one. The same Google help page has a "Previous changes" section saying that from 17 May 2026 there were changes to usage limits and model availability in Gemini Apps for users over 18, and that these reached users under 18 on 24 July 2026.
Under that system, Gemini uses compute-based usage limits that refresh every five hours until the user reaches a weekly limit. Google says usage is calculated from the complexity of the prompt, the features used and the length of the chat. Premium models and features use more of the allowance. Google's examples are media generation (images, videos and music), Deep Research, the Pro model, and extended thinking and Deep Think.
The page states the relative limits by plan in this way:
| Plan | Usage limit stated by Google |
|---|---|
| Without a plan | Standard limits |
| AI Plus | 2x higher than standard limits |
| AI Pro | 4x higher than standard limits |
| AI Ultra | 5x or 20x higher than AI Pro, depending on the subscription |
Our reading (analysis, not Google's wording): read together, the two sections describe a pattern. In May, Google tied limits to compute. In October, it is tying model choice to the plan. A free user will have one model, a set of effort levels, and a compute allowance that the higher effort levels draw down faster.
What Google did not say
Several details matter for marketers and none of them is on Google's page. Reporting on this story should stay inside these limits:
- No reason is given for limiting free users to Flash-Lite.
- No regional schedule is given. The page does not list countries, and it does not say whether 9 October is a global date or the start of a staged rollout. It says the changes "start to take effect" on that date.
- No statement covers work or school accounts. The notice is about personal accounts.
- Nothing is said about Google Search, AI Overviews or AI Mode. The page concerns Gemini Apps.
- No comparison of answer quality between Flash-Lite, Flash and Pro is published on the page, and nothing is said about performance in any specific language.
- Nothing is said about how answers from different models cite or link to websites.
Analysis: why this matters for AI-visibility measurement
This section is analysis, not something Google stated. Many brands now run a set of prompts through AI assistants to see whether they are mentioned, how they are described and which competitors appear next to them. That work is often called generative engine optimisation, or GEO, and the Gemini app is one of the assistants people check. The October change affects how those checks should be set up.
The account you test with now matters more
If a marketing team runs its Gemini prompts on a staff member's AI Pro account, those answers can come from Pro. After 9 October, a person with no subscription asking the same question in the Gemini app gets an answer from Flash-Lite. These are different models, so there is no basis to assume the answers will name the same brands or describe them the same way. A monitoring set that was built on a paid account may stop reflecting the free audience, which for most consumer brands is likely to be the larger group. That last point is an assumption about audiences, since Google's page gives no user numbers by tier.
Record the model and the effort level with every result
Once effort levels arrive, a single prompt can be answered by one model at three effort settings. A test log that records only the prompt and the answer will not be comparable over time. The practical fix is to store the account type, the model, the effort level and the date next to each answer. Without that, a change in brand mentions after 9 October could be blamed on content work when it actually came from the model switch.
Re-baseline around 9 October
A clean approach is to capture a set of answers on a free personal account before 9 October, then repeat the same prompts after the change has reached that account. The difference between the two runs shows what the model switch did to the answers your audience sees. Since Google says the change "starts" on 9 October and does not describe a rollout schedule, it is worth confirming in the app's model picker that the account has actually moved to Flash-Lite only before treating the second run as post-change data.
Keep the Gemini app separate from Search
The help page covers the Gemini app. It does not say anything about AI Overviews or AI Mode in Google Search, so the two should not be merged in reporting. If a brand tracks visibility in both, the results belong in separate rows of the report, each with its own method notes. The Relevant Audience GEO service page explains how AI visibility can be measured across different assistants.
Who is affected and who is not
Based on the help page, the people affected are users signed in with a personal Google account who either have no Google AI plan or are on AI Plus. Free users go from three models to one. AI Plus users go from three to two, on a date they will be told by email. AI Pro users keep their three models and gain Deep Think. AI Ultra users keep everything. Everyone with access to a model gets the low, medium and high effort choice, which spends more of the compute allowance at higher settings.
For a marketing team, the people who matter most are usually the customers. A team's own paid accounts are a poor stand-in for a public that mostly does not pay, and this change widens that gap.
What this means for Thai marketers
Google's page does not mention Thailand or any other country, and it does not give a Thai schedule. It applies to personal accounts in Gemini Apps without naming exceptions, so Thai teams should check the model picker on a free Thai account after 9 October rather than assume a date. Google has published nothing about how Flash-Lite performs in Thai compared with Flash or Pro. If a brand watches how Gemini answers Thai-language questions about its category, a before-and-after test in Thai on a free account is the only way to see the effect. Teams working on AI SEO should also keep separate test sets for Thai and English prompts, as the two can produce different answers even on the same model.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Gemini app limit free users to Flash-Lite?
Google's Gemini Apps Help page says the change starts to take effect on 9 October 2026 for personal-account users without a Google AI subscription. Google did not publish a country-by-country schedule.
Do AI Plus subscribers lose Gemini Pro?
Yes, AI Plus subscribers keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro, according to Google's help page. Google says each AI Plus subscriber will receive an email explaining when the change applies to them.
Which plan gets Deep Think after the change?
AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers get the Deep Think option, which Google describes as "maximum parallel reasoning". 9to5Google reported on 3 October 2026 that Deep Think had previously been available only on the Ultra plans.
Does this change Google AI Overviews or AI Mode?
The source does not say so. Google's notice covers Gemini Apps with a personal account and does not mention Search, AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Should brands change how they test answers in Gemini?
Brands that monitor Gemini answers should run at least part of their tests on a free personal account, because that account will only have Flash-Lite after the change. This is analysis based on Google's model grid, not a Google recommendation.
Next step
If your team tracks how AI assistants describe your brand, now is a good time to note which account and model each test uses and to take a baseline before 9 October. Relevant Audience can help set up an AI-visibility testing plan for Gemini and other assistants in Thai and English. Read the full notice on Google's Gemini Apps Help page.
