Starting November 13, picking a Pro model in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search needs Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month. The $4.99 AI Plus plan keeps Flash and Flash-Lite, and old Pro chats carry on with another model. Who should upgrade, and who can ignore it.
If you pay $4.99 a month for Google AI Plus and pick Gemini’s Pro model for real work, you lose it on Thursday, November 13. After that date, choosing a Pro model in the Gemini app or in AI Mode in Google Search needs Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month.
What Google told subscribers
Google emailed AI Plus subscribers in October. 9to5Google published the email on October 14. It says that starting November 13, 2026, “the ability to select Pro models in both the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search will only be available to Google AI Pro subscribers and above.” AI Plus keeps Flash and Flash-Lite. Chats you started with a Pro model are not deleted. They “can be continued with a different model.”
The change followed Google’s move to put Gemini 4 Argon in AI Pro and AI Ultra in mid-October. Argon was never part of AI Plus.
Notebookcheck reported today that Google’s subscription page already lists only Flash for AI Plus, as of its November 9 check. The outlet says Google has given no reason and announced no compensation.
What AI Plus still includes
The email is about model choice only. Google’s AI Plus help page still lists the rest of the plan: 400 GB or 2 TB of storage, Gemini in Gmail, Google Flow, Gemini Notebook and Google Colab. AI Plus is sold in the US and Canada.
| Plan | US price | Pro model picker after Nov 13 | Context window* |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Plus | $4.99/mo | No (Flash, Flash-Lite) | 128,000 tokens |
| AI Pro | $19.99/mo | Yes, plus Gemini 4 Argon | 1 million tokens |
*As reported by Notebookcheck from Google’s Gemini help page. The same report puts AI Plus usage limits at 2x the free tier and AI Pro at 4x.
Who should move to AI Pro
The upgrade costs $15 more a month, or $180 a year. Our read on who should pay it:
- Stay on AI Plus if you mostly ask quick questions, draft emails or summarize short documents. Flash handles that, and you keep the storage you are paying for.
- Upgrade if you drop long contracts, research PDFs or codebases into Gemini. For that work, the jump from 128,000 tokens to 1 million matters as much as the model itself.
- Check your history before Thursday. If you can’t remember the last time you switched to Pro, you won’t miss it.
- Compare before you pay. If you already have a ChatGPT or Claude plan for heavy work, AI Plus at $4.99 may still be the right storage-plus-Flash bundle on its own.
The cheap Gemini tier is now a storage plan with Flash
Google spent October widening the gap between its tiers. Argon starts at $19.99, while everyday features like decks, Sheets and PDFs made in the chat reached every account, free ones included. Taking Pro out of the $4.99 plan sharpens that split. For a small team buying Gemini per person, the real decision is now $4.99 for storage and fast answers, or $19.99 for the models that do longer work.