Google readies ‘AI Ultra Lite’ plan and explicit ‘usage limits’ for Gemini

Source: 9to5Google

Google is quietly preparing a new “AI Ultra Lite” subscription tier to slot between its $20 Pro and $250 Ultra plans, plus a dedicated dashboard for subscribers to see their remaining token budget.

If you’ve been following AI news in recent weeks, you know that after months of rapid adoption of AI agents and coding tools, we’ve now entered a bit of a token crunch. Users of Claude have complained about notable decreases to their per‑session usage limits, while GitHub Copilot has dramatically adjusted pricing for many of its models. Some people (myself included) have taken this as a sign to upgrade to a higher‑tier subscription plan to maintain unfettered access.

Gemini’s Position

While Google offers many of the same niceties as Anthropic’s ecosystem—a Gemini CLI, the Antigravity IDE, AI Studio, Stitch—the coding capabilities of Gemini have not yet captured the hearts of developers. A recent report from The Information indicates that Google co‑founder Sergey Brin is leading a “strike team” to radically improve code creation with Gemini.

If the strike force succeeds, more subscribers are likely to ramp up Gemini‑powered coding, which tends to be token‑heavy. Currently, the only upgrade options are to switch to the Gemini API (pay‑as‑you‑go) or to the Google AI Ultra plan at $250 / month in the US—a dramatic increase over the $20 / month Pro plan.

Ultra Lite

As spotted by the APK Insight team, the latest update to the Gemini app for macOS includes signs of an in‑between plan to bridge the gap between AI Pro and AI Ultra. The new plan carries the codename “Neon” and is currently dubbed Google AI Ultra Lite (branding may change).

• No price point is shown in the app; a range between $50 and $150 would reasonably separate it from the Pro and Ultra plans. Both Anthropic and OpenAI offer $100 plans, which Google may seek to match.
• Details on additional Gemini features for Ultra Lite are not yet available, other than increased usage limits.
• The highest AI Ultra plan currently offers exclusive demos like Project Genie, increased usage of the video & music generator Flow, larger notebooks in NotebookLM, and premium features in several other Google apps.

Usage Limits Dashboard

The Gemini app also points to an upcoming dedicated page to display token usage, helping users assess whether they’re on the correct plan:

gemini.google.com/usage

Anthropic provides a similar usage page for Claude subscribers, showing the percentage of the token budget available for the current session, when the session limit resets, and the weekly budget. Gemini’s usage page is not yet live but appears poised to offer a comparable experience. In Google Antigravity, Gemini uses separate five‑hour and weekly usage limits, plus overage credits:

• GXU_FIVE_HOURLY
• GXU_WEEKLY
• OVERAGE_CREDITS

A visual indicator of the current token budget makes it easy to know whether you have enough headroom to begin a token‑heavy coding session or if you should wait a few hours.

Outlook

Between the upcoming usage indicator and the “Google AI Ultra Lite” tier, Google seems to be positioning itself to handle a major increase in demand for its AI models. What remains to be seen is whether Google will succeed in driving new demand for its models and tools.

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