Google moves free Gemini users to Flash-Lite, launching Nano Banana 2.1
Google is narrowing the models available in the Gemini app for free personal accounts to Gemini Flash-Lite only, down from three. The cheapest AI Plus plan keeps Flash-Lite and Flash but loses Pro, while AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers retain all three models; Google says affected users will get an email about when the change applies. Three days earlier Google released Nano Banana 2.1, an image model built on Gemini 3.6 Flash, which scored 1050 on overall preference in Google's text-to-image human preference tests versus 990 for Nano Banana 2. On the Gemini API, a 1K image costs $0.0336, down from $0.067, while input rises to $1.50 per million tokens from $0.50 with no free tier.
The free-tier trim funnels stronger capabilities into paid plans, while cheaper image generation is meant to pull more developers onto the Gemini API.
From today, Gemini app users without a paid Google AI plan start losing two of its three models. Free personal accounts move to Gemini Flash-Lite only, according to Google’s Gemini Apps Help page. The change comes three days after Google released Nano Banana 2.1, a new image model built on Gemini 3.6 Flash.
Subscribers to AI Plus, Google’s cheapest plan, keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro. Google says they will receive an email explaining when the change applies to them. AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers keep all three models.
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