Gemini pricing: there are two Ultra tiers now, and most pages get this wrong
Google split Ultra into a $100 and a $200 plan at I/O 2026. Most pricing pages still report a single $99.99 tier replacing the old $249.99 one. What the four Google AI plans actually cost.
Verdict
Google AI Pro is $19.99 a month. Ultra is not one plan: I/O 2026 created a $100 tier at 5x Pro limits and cut the old $250 tier to $200 at 20x. AI Plus pricing is disputed.
The four plans#
| Plan | Cost | What separates it |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | The Gemini app, with standard limits |
| AI Plus | $4.99 or $7.99, disputed | Entry paid tier |
| AI Pro | $19.99/mo | 2TB storage, NotebookLM Plus, 20 Deep Research a day |
| AI Ultra | $100/mo | 5x Pro limits, 20TB, YouTube Premium |
| AI Ultra | $200/mo | 20x Pro limits, Project Genie, YouTube Premium |
Yes, two rows say Ultra. That is the point of this page.
The mistake almost every pricing page makes#
Two Ultra tiers
What I/O 2026 actually created
Not one $99.99 plan replacing the old $249.99 one.
Here is what most published comparisons say:
Google AI Ultra was cut from $249.99 to $99.99 at I/O 2026.
Here is what Google's own announcement describes:
- A new $100 Ultra tier with 5x the usage limits of AI Pro, 20TB of storage, YouTube Premium, and Gemini Spark in the US
- The existing top tier reduced to $200 from $250, with 20x Pro limits, and Project Genie added globally for over-18s
So the $250 plan did not become $99.99. It became $200, and a cheaper Ultra was added underneath it.
AI Plus: we are not going to pick a number#
Independent trackers report AI Plus at $4.99 and at $7.99, both confidently, both recently.
Google's I/O 2026 announcement mentions AI Plus receiving features such as AI Inbox in Gmail and YouTube Premium Lite. It does not state the price.
One plausible reading is that $7.99 was the launch price and $4.99 came from a later cut, which would make both figures correct at different times and neither correct as a current answer. We cannot confirm that, so we are not going to assert it.
Check the Google One page in your own country before subscribing. Regional pricing varies, and this tier in particular has moved.
What AI Pro at $19.99 actually includes#
This is the tier most people are choosing, and it is the one where the bundle matters:
- The Gemini app at raised limits
- 2TB of cloud storage
- NotebookLM Plus
- 20 Deep Research sessions a day
The storage is the part worth pricing separately. Google One 2TB on its own has historically sat around $9.99 a month. If you were already paying for that, the AI half of AI Pro is effectively costing you about ten dollars rather than twenty.
If you do not want the storage, you are comparing a plain $19.99 against ChatGPT Plus at $20 and Claude Pro at $20, and on price alone there is nothing in it.
What you are buying at each Ultra tier#
| $100 Ultra | $200 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage vs Pro | 5x | 20x |
| Cloud storage | 20TB | 20TB+ |
| YouTube Premium | Included | Included |
| Gemini Spark | US only | Included |
| Project Genie | No | Global, 18+ |
The honest summary: the $200 tier buys you 4x the allowance of the $100 tier and one extra product.
Against the rest of the market#
| Provider | Entry paid | Mid | Top |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Plus (disputed) | AI Pro $19.99 | Ultra $100 / $200 | |
| OpenAI | Go $8 | Plus $20 | Pro Codex $100 / Pro Max $200 |
| Anthropic | — | Pro $20 | Max 5x $100 / Max 20x $200 |
The three of them have converged on the same ladder: roughly $20, then $100, then $200. Anthropic's Max tiers even use the same 5x and 20x language Google now uses.
That convergence means price is no longer how you choose between them. It is what the model is good at, and what else comes in the box.
Which plan to actually buy#
| Your situation | Plan |
|---|---|
| Occasional use | Free |
| Regular use, want the cheapest paid step | AI Plus, once you have confirmed its price locally |
| Daily use, and you want cloud storage anyway | AI Pro $19.99 — the bundle is the reason |
| You genuinely hit Pro's limits every week | Ultra $100 |
| You hit limits daily and want Project Genie | Ultra $200 |
Most small businesses land on AI Pro, and most of them would not notice if they were moved back to the free tier for a week. That is the test worth running before the second month bills.
The short version
What works
- AI Pro at $19.99 bundles 2TB of storage and NotebookLM Plus, so it is not only an AI subscription
- The $100 Ultra tier gives a genuine middle option between $19.99 and $200, which no other major provider offers
- Both Ultra tiers include YouTube Premium, which is real money if you were paying for it separately
What does not
- Two plans share the name Ultra, and Google does not distinguish them clearly at the point of purchase
- Most published pricing for AI Plus is contradictory, with $4.99 and $7.99 both widely reported
- The tier differences are usage multipliers rather than features, so you cannot tell what you need until you hit a limit
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Gemini cost?
- The Gemini app is free to use. Paid Google AI plans are AI Plus, AI Pro at $19.99 a month, and two Ultra tiers at $100 and $200 a month. AI Plus pricing is reported inconsistently, at both $4.99 and $7.99, and Google did not state it in the I/O 2026 announcement.
- What is the difference between the $100 and $200 Ultra plans?
- Usage limits and two extras. The $100 tier gives 5x the usage limits of AI Pro in the Gemini app and Google Antigravity, 20TB of storage, and Gemini Spark in the US. The $200 tier gives 20x Pro limits and adds Project Genie globally for over-18s. Both include YouTube Premium.
- Did Google AI Ultra drop from $249.99 to $99.99?
- Not quite, and this is where most pages are wrong. The $249.99 tier was cut to $200, and a separate new tier was introduced at $100 below it. There are now two Ultra plans, not one cheaper replacement.
- Is Google AI Pro worth $19.99?
- It depends on whether you would pay for 2TB of cloud storage anyway. Google One 2TB alone has historically cost around $9.99, so if you already needed the storage, the AI half of the bundle is effectively half price. If you do not need the storage, you are comparing a bare $19.99 against ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro at $20.
Written by
Tashawar Awais
Researcher and editor
Tashawar handles verification and editing. Every figure in a review is checked a second time before it goes out, and anything that cannot be traced to a vendor page or a documented source is either qualified or cut. Where pricing is genuinely unclear, as it is with Canva team plans or Close CRM tiers, the article says so and tells the reader to confirm directly instead of quoting a number with false confidence.
- Second check on every published figure
- Removes claims the sources do not support
- Flags pricing that changes without notice