GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
Scan through this year’s Google I/O announcements, and you’ll find two defining, interlocking themes. AI now permeates nearly every Google product; Search, Shopping, and even YouTube have all received the Gemini treatment to varying degrees. Likewise, Android’s Gemini app is set for an overhaul with a new “Neural Expressive” UI, Spark, and Daily Brief — making it an even more powerful hub for Google’s latest AI features right on your phone.
However, if you want to actually make use of Docs Live, Gemini Omni Flash, Gemini Spark, Information Agents, Google Pics, or the new Daily Brief, you’re going to have to hand over cash every month for a Gemini subscription. That’s right, most of the “exciting” new features Google has to talk about will require a Google AI Plus, Pro, or Ultra subscription.
Google is turning Android’s smartest features into subscription products.
These plans aren’t exactly cheap if you just want to dabble in the odd morning briefing. Prices start at $7.99 a month ($95.88 a year) for Plus and rising to $200 per month for the highest Ultra tier. There is now a more “affordable” $100 a month Ultra tier if you don’t require mammoth usage limits.
To be fair to Google, it throws quite a lot of features at its subscription tiers, which actually span a huge range of its products despite the “Google AI” moniker used here. The basic plan comes with 200GB of cloud storage, family sharing, more NotebookLM features, Deep Research in Gemini, and access to the new Gemini 3.5 Flash model. Pro might be an even better deal, giving you 5TB of storage, more generous AI coding limits, and YouTube Premium Lite bundled in for $19.99 a month.
What would make you pay for Google's AI subscription? 284 votes Inbox and email management 30 % Writing and editing help 11 % Search and summaries across apps 12 % Nothing — I avoid AI subscriptions 48 %
If you use all of these perks on a regular basis, Google’s AI subscriptions represent fair or even good value for money. However, you can’t pick and choose the odd feature; it’s all or nothing. This is especially irksome for consumers outside the US who pay very similar costs yet can’t access Daily Brief, Gemini Spark, AI Inbox in Gmail, Ask YouTube, and more.
But that’s almost beside the point. These features are deeply embedded in apps across Google’s broader ecosystem, even if consumers still tend to conflate Google services with Android itself.
Buying the phone is no longer enough
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