The report highlights that google is changing how it calculates your weekly Gemini usage limits, and it’s another reflection of how powerful agentic AI functions have broken flat-rate consumer AI plans.
According to the latest update, as of now, Google says it’s switching to “compute-based” usage rather than a fixed number of requests per day.
In a fresh development, as detailed in a Google support document, the fresh compute-based usage limits include factors such as the complexity of your prompt, the functions you use (like image and video generation, deep research, and the use of Pro and extended-thinking or Deep Think models), and the length of your chat.
The report highlights that details on the fresh compute-based usage limits are vague, with Google noting that paid users will have higher limits than free users.
According to the latest update, usage limits for those on the $20-a-month AI Pro plan will be four times as high as standard limits, while $250-a-month AI Ultra plans will boast 20 times the standard usage limits. Users on the $8-a-month Google AI Plus plan will get usage limits that are twice as high as the “standard” limits offered to users without a plan, according to the Google support document.
According to the latest update, the compute-based limits for Gemini will refresh every five hours until you reach a weekly limit.
As part of the ongoing story, for example, Google AI Pro users got up to 100 Gemini Pro 3.1 prompts per day, regardless of how complicated the prompts were. Previously, Gemini usage limits were based on the number of requests per day.
Industry observers note that google’s move comes less than a month after GitHub overhauled its Copilot plans, switching from its old “premium request units” model to “AI Credits” based on the actual tokens used during AI exchanges.
In a fresh development, the changes come as the big AI providers are struggling to keep up with the demands of ever more powerful agentic functions, which can spawn sub-agents capable of gobbling up tens of thousands of tokens over multiple turns from a single request.
The report highlights that bucking the pattern, Anthropic recently doubled the Claude Code limits for its Claude Pro and Max plans, but only after inking a deal with SpaceX to boost its compute capacity.
As part of the ongoing story, just last month, an Anthropic exec admitted that the current Claude Pro and Max plans “weren’t built” for functions like Claude Code and Cowork, the Claude desktop capability that unleashes AI agents on your PC.
As part of the ongoing story, his coverage of artificial intelligence interrogates the most recent LLMs, and how they can be used at work and at home to be best prepared for the AI revolution. “AI is going to change our lives sooner than we think,” Ben writes. “Our best way to adapt is by using it every day.” Ben has been a PCWorld author since 2014, and has covered everything from laptops to security cameras before launching PCWorld’s AI beat. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature. Ben has been writing about consumer technology for more than 20 years, and now focuses his reporting on AI as it relates to the basic human experience.