What you need to know
- Google AI Pro now uses a new credit-based quota system instead of Gemini’s fixed message limits.
- Gemini’s sophisticated data and AI tools can now use up a large portion of your available bandwidth.
- The new restrictions apply to all Gemini features within apps such as Google Photos and other Google services.
Gemini was front and center at Google I/O 2026, as the company unveiled new AI-powered features and tools. However, alongside all those announcements, Google is also quietly making changes to its $20/month Google AI Pro plan, and not everyone is happy about it.
At I/O 2026, Google introduced the new Google AI Ultra plan for $100/month while reducing the price of its top plan from $250 down to $200 per month. But quietly aside from that, the company has also changed how usage restrictions work in the standard Google AI Pro program.
Previously, Google used a more accurate fixed message counting system for Gemini usage limits. Now, the company is moving to a credit-based system where the use of tokens depends on factors such as the speed of complexity, the features used, and the length of conversations.
Google says that paid users will now see a rolling five-hour usage window and weekly ratings based on how strong their alerts are. However, many users feel that the limits are much lower than before.
Some users on Reddit are already calling the new system a scam, with reports of one speedup eating up about 13% of their share. Some say that some features of the Gemini AI Plus can be as hot as 30% at a time.
The system feels very similar to the usage-based assignment method used by Claude, where more difficult tasks cost more credits. The five-hour quota is automatically refreshed, but there is also a hard weekly limit that users can hit.
Android Central’s take
I get why Google is doing this – AI interpretation isn’t cheap. But changing the limits this drastically right after showing off all these bright Gemini features at I/O feels like terrible timing. I personally didn’t experience the Gemini burning credits as violently as some users are reporting, but I totally understand why people are frustrated.
And importantly, these restrictions apply to Google’s entire Gemini ecosystem, not just the Gemini app itself. So when you use Gemini features within apps like Google Photos or other AI-powered Google services, they all contribute to the same equation.
You can check these limits directly within the Gemini app under Settings > Usage limits.
To be fair, Google has added some value elsewhere. The company recently increased cloud storage for subscribers from 2TB to 5TB, which eases the hit a bit. But for heavier Gemini users, this feels more restrictive than ever, and may push many power users to the new $100/month Ultra plan.