Google limits free Gemini 3 access after launch sparks demand surge

Google launched Gemini 3 on November 18, triggering an enthusiastic response from tech leaders and a surge in the company's stock price. Just days later, however, the search giant has significantly curtailed free access to the model due to overwhelming demand, reducing daily limits for non-paying users and temporarily suspending some features.

Free users who previously enjoyed up to five prompts per day now face uncertain "basic access" with fluctuating daily caps that can drop as low as three prompts. Image generation using Nano Banana Pro, the model's image creation tool, has been reduced from three to two images daily for free accounts. Google's NotebookLM service has temporarily rolled back its new infographic and slide deck features for free users, citing "capacity constraints".

Silicon Valley Embraces New Model

The launch sparked widespread enthusiasm across the tech industry. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff declared on November 24 that he was abandoning ChatGPT after three years of daily use. "The leap is insane — reasoning, speed, images, video… everything is sharper and faster," Benioff wrote on X, adding "It feels like the world just changed, again".

Alphabet stock jumped 6% on Monday following Benioff's endorsement and continued climbing on Tuesday, bringing the company's market capitalisation to nearly $3.9 trillion and pushing it closer to the $4 trillion threshold. The rally reflects investor optimism about Google's proprietary Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips, which power Gemini 3 and offer an alternative to Nvidia's dominant GPUs.

Competitive Pressure Mounts

Gemini 3 quickly topped the LMArena leaderboard with a score of 1501, outperforming OpenAI's GPT-5.1 in most benchmarks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned employees in an internal memo to expect "rough vibes" and "temporary economic headwinds" as Google's progress intensifies competition. Meanwhile, Nvidia stock dropped 5% on Tuesday amid reports that Meta Platforms is considering switching to Google's TPU chips starting in 2027.

Paid subscribers on Google AI Pro ($19.99/month) and AI Ultra ($249.99/month) plans remain unaffected by the new restrictions, retaining their full access to 100 and 500 daily prompts, respectively.