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ZDNET Highlights
- AI Plus is now available in 34 countries including the US.
- At $7.99 per month, AI Plus offers more access than the free plan.
- You can upgrade from free or downgrade to AI Pro.
Google users around the world who want an extra dose of Gemini can now get the more budget-friendly AI plan. Last week, the company announced that its AI Plus plan has expanded to the US and 34 other countries after its initial rollout last year.
Price $7.99 per month (with 50% off the first two months). AI Plus Scheme Designed to be a cheaper alternative to the AI Pro plan at $19.99 per month and the AI Ultra plan at $250 per month. AI Plus is a way for users to get more AI features and perks than a free Google account.
Too: Inside the making of Gemini 3 – how Google’s slow and steady approach won the AI race (for now)
In general, each successive plan offers not only additional features but also more access to the same features. And this is definitely true with the AI Plus plan compared to the free Google plan.
What’s included in AI Plus?
To start, the AI Plus Gemini 3 Pro model provides advanced access to Deep Research, Image Generation with Nano Banana Pro, and Video Generation with VO 3.1 Fast. This plan also offers 200 credits per month for video creation with Google Flow and Whisk, which is more than the 100 credits that come with the free account.
Free and AI Plus users can get research and writing assistance from NotebookLM. But Plus users are able to get more audio overviews, notebooks, and much more. Additionally, the Plus plan gives users access to Gemini in Chrome, Gmail, and other Google apps.
Too: I Used These Viral Gemini Hints to Find the Cheapest Flight — Here Are the Results
You can share all the benefits of the AI Plus plan with up to five other people. And you’re given a whopping 200GB of storage for your emails, photos, and Google Drive files, compared to just 15GB in the free plan. Google One Premium 2TB customers will also get all the features of AI Plus in the next few days.
in the beginning Launched in Indonesia As early as September 2025, AI Plus plan Reached more than 40 countries Later that month. With the latest expansion, the plan is now available in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and many other regions around the world.
Is AI Plus worth the price?
This depends on your current level of access and how often you need to use Gemini and the various AI features and tools.
If you’re currently using a free Google account to access Gemini and are experiencing limitations, the AI Plus plan is definitely worth considering. You should find that you’re able to use Gemini Pro and the image and video creation tools more often.
If you’re currently subscribed to the AI Pro plan and aren’t using the AI features that much, you might want to downgrade to AI Plus and save $13 per month.
Too: Gemini can now look at your emails and photos to ‘help’ you – but should you let it do that?
I currently pay for the AI Pro plan, but I enjoy a 50% discount through my Verizon subscription. So the difference between $9.99 per month and $7.99 per month is not enough to motivate me to switch from AI Pro to AI Plus. But if the discount wasn’t available, I probably would have downgraded to AI Plus.
Whatever you choose to do, its decision is not written in stone. Since the plans are offered on a monthly basis, you can switch between them at will and see which one works best.
Free vs AI Plus vs AI Pro Features
To further help you decide, this chart from Google lists the benefits between the free, AI Plus, and AI Pro plans.
How do Google’s AI plans compare to ChatGPT?
They are quite similar. Like Google, OpenAI offers a free tier and three paid subscriptions: ChatGPT Go at $8 per month, ChatGPT Plus at $20 per month, and ChatGPT Pro at $200 per month. The features and facilities are somewhat comparable, and ChatGPT or Gemini should be able to deal with even your most challenging queries and requests.
Also: Is ChatGPT Plus Still Worth Your $20? I compared it with the Free, Go, and Pro plans – this is my advice
In the past, I probably would have recommended ChatGPT as your favorite AI. But with the launch of Gemini 3, Google’s AI is outperforming its key rival in speed, performance and overall smartness.
