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ZDNET's key takeaways
- AI Plus is now available in 34 countries, including the US.
- At $7.99 a month, AI Plus offers more access than the free plan.
- You can upgrade from free or downgrade from AI Pro.
Google users around the world who want an extra dose of Gemini can now snag a more budget-friendly AI plan. On Tuesday, the company announced that its AI Plus plan has expanded to the US and 34 other countries following an initial rollout last year.
Priced at $7.99 a month (with 50% off the first two months), the AI Plus plan is designed as a cheaper alternative to the AI Pro plan at $19.99 a month and the AI Ultra plan at a whopping $250 a month. AI Plus is also a way for users to get more AI features and perks than are available through a free Google account.
Also: 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 just additional features but also greater access to the same features. And that's certainly true with the AI Plus plan over a free Google plan.
What does AI Plus include?
To start off, AI Plus offers enhanced access to the Gemini 3 Pro model, Deep Research, image generation with Nano Banana Pro, and video generation with Veo 3.1 Fast. The plan also doles out 200 credits a month for video generation with Google Flow and Whisk, up from the 100 credits that come with a free account.
Free and AI Plus users can get research and writing assistance from NotebookLM. But Plus users are also able to tap into more audio overviews, notebooks, and more. Further, the Plus plan gives users access to Gemini in Chrome, Gmail, and other Google apps.
Also: I used these viral Gemini prompts to find the cheapest flight possible - here are the results
You can share all of the benefits of an AI Plus plan with up to five other people. And you're granted a hefty 200GB of storage for your emails, photos, and Google Drive files, compared with just 15GB on the free plan. Google One Premium 2TB subscribers will also get all the features of AI Plus over the next few days.
Initially rolled out in Indonesia in early Sept. 2025, the AI Plus plan then arrived in 40 more countries later the same month. With the latest expansion, the plan is now available in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and a host of other regions around the world.
Is AI Plus worth the price?
That 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 bumping into limitations, then the AI Plus plan is certainly worth considering. You should find that you're able to use Gemini Pro and the image and video generation tools more frequently.
If you're presently subscribed to an AI Pro plan and aren't using the AI features all that much, you may want to downgrade to AI Plus and save yourself $13 a month.
Also: Gemini can look through your emails and photos to 'help' you now - but should you let it?
I currently pay for an AI Pro plan, but I enjoy a 50% discount as a perk through my Verizon subscription. So the difference between $9.99 a month and $7.99 a month isn't enough to coax me to switch from AI Pro to AI Plus. But if the discount wasn't available, then I'd most likely downgrade to AI Plus.
Whatever you choose to do, the decision isn't written in stone. Since the plans are offered on a monthly basis, you can switch among them as you'd like and see which one works best.
Free vs. AI Plus vs. AI Pro perks
To further help you decide, this chart from Google lists the perks among the free, AI Plus, and AI Pro plans.
How do Google's AI plans compare to ChatGPT?
They're quite similar. Like Google, OpenAI offers one free tier and three paid subscriptions: ChatGPT Go at $8 a month, ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month, and ChatGPT Pro at $200 a month. The features and perks are somewhat comparable, and either ChatGPT or Gemini should be able to tackle even your most challenging questions and requests.
In the past, I likely would've recommended ChatGPT as your go-to AI. But with the launch of Gemini 3, Google's AI has been outperforming its major rival in speed, performance, and overall smarts.
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