Google Reportedly Changes Free Access Limits for Thinking With Gemini 3 Pro AI Model

Google has changed the rate limits for users without a Google AI Pro plan for the 'Thinking' mode offered with its Gemini 3 Pro model, according to a report. While the US-based tech giant does not specify whether these rate limits will be increased or decreased, the support page has been updated to mention that they will be frequently updated. This could be the result of increasing AI demand, the report added. On the other hand, the company has made certain NotebookLM features inaccessible to people without a Google AI Pro plan due to rising demand.

Google's New Gemini Access Limits Might Be Limited to the US

9to5Google spotted that Google has changed the access limits for users who are subscribed to one of the Google AI plans for Gemini. The updated support page reveals that the basic access to the Gemini 3 Pro model in 'Thinking' mode will be subject to frequent changes for free users. The support page now reads “Basic access - daily limits may change frequently”. Gadgets360 was unable to verify these claims, as these changes do not appear on Google's support page for users in India.

The report added that before the launch of the Gemini 3 model, the limits were set at up to five prompts per day, which is the same as the Gemini 2.5 Pro access limits. The publication believes that this likely signals a future decrease in daily limits of “Thinking With 3 Pro” for free users, considering that the tech giant has been witnessing a demand surge.

However, these limits are not based on the number of prompts a user can send to the chatbot. Instead, AI models use a token-based system to determine these daily limits. Essentially, since LLMs process tokens, which are phrases and broken-down sentences, the more complex a query is, the more tokens will be exhausted.

This suggests that Google's limits are dynamic, and will be based on the complexity of the query itself and the computing power required to execute the task. For example, a user might be able to enter 10 simple prompts into the AI chatbot, while the same user could only be able to six complex ones in a single day.

Additionally, in a separate yet related development, the Mountain View-headquartered tech giant has announced on X that NotebookLM, an AI-powered research platform, is temporarily rolling back the Infographics and Slide Decks features for free users, while imposing additional limits for Google AI Pro subscribers. The company cites “overwhelming demand” and “capacity constraints” for this move. However, Google plans to bring these functionalities to its users in the future.