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Gemini used to be a pretty useful AI, although I have to admit that it seems to be getting less popular with people lately. I only really mention it because Gemini 4 Argon could finally put it back in the spotlight. However, in my opinion, its free models are quite inefficient and not very capable when compared to ChatGPT or Claude, which recently upgraded its free model to Sonnet 5.5.
It is kind of crazy to think that Gemini used to be considered good and that, at one point, people were even saying ChatGPT was falling behind. But OpenAI improved its free models, and nowadays they are quite capable.
To make matters worse, and probably to the disappointment of many users, Google has started warning users about a pretty significant change to the limitations placed on free users. Starting October 9, 2026, Gemini will only be available for free through its weakest model, Flash-Lite, while users who want to use Flash or Pro will have to pay for a Google AI plan.
So, if you have been using Gemini as your main AI assistant for free, this news could be important because you may have to consider paying for a subscription or looking at other options.
That said, Flash-Lite 3.5, which is currently Gemini's fastest model, can still handle a lot of tasks for many people. However, when it comes to more complex tasks, you will be losing free access to Flash and Pro, especially their Reasoning options, which allow the models to think more deeply before providing an answer.
As I mentioned earlier, I barely use Gemini compared to a few months ago. I think the only time I really use it is when I need to work with a lot of documents, such as multiple PDFs at the same time.
Gemini is great for reading and analyzing large documents, but when it comes to programming or working on complex projects, even its Pro model has ended up falling short in its web interface, especially when compared to what Claude Sonnet 5.5 can currently do.
The only reason I can think of for Google making such a drastic decision is that a genuinely capable free model could be on the way, which would make the current models, such as Flash and Pro, seem less necessary.
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My name is Joel! I love to read, I go to university like most people my age.
In my free time I usually train boxing, I love music, I also know how to play the guitar and the harmonica.