Google I/O 2026 brought a wave of agent-focused Gemini features alongside something far less welcome: fresh usage restrictions. The limitations have already triggered backlash severe enough that subscribers are canceling their plans. Google did respond – though only to one specific group of users, according to reports from 9to5Google.
Gemini subscribers rarely worried much about caps under the old pricing structure. Everything changed when Google overhauled its usage limits, introducing restrictions based on chat duration, feature complexity, and overall query sophistication. Suddenly the resource shortage became impossible to ignore.
Now a general weekly ceiling exists alongside per-cycle caps that reset every five hours. According to Google’s explanation, this tiered approach makes sense “because a simple text prompt uses far fewer computational resources than a complex video or code prompt.”
Google stated: “We’re introducing compute-based usage limits that account for your query complexity, the features you use, and your chat length. Your limit refreshes every 5 hours until you hit your weekly maximum. As an AI Pro subscriber, you’ll receive four times the usage limit compared to non-subscribers.”
The presentation strategy focused heavily on reduced pricing for the AI Ultra plan. That messaging got drowned out by the rate reductions affecting both Pro and Ultra tiers.
The Gemini subreddit erupted almost immediately. One frustrated user exhausted 50% of their monthly allowance after just five queries. The five-hour windows created their own frustration – they reset cyclically until users hit their weekly quota, effectively freezing Gemini access between windows. Several subscribers reported the service automatically downgrading to the Flash model mid-session, even when Pro was selected, purely due to high demand.
Angry comments flooded discussion threads. Users working in the Antigravity coding tool hit maximum limits after barely an hour – a jarring contrast to previously available capacity. Some cancelled immediately.
Google addresses the bottleneck selectively
Google responded by raising limits in Antigravity – but nowhere else. Since announcing the tool’s general availability at I/O, Gemini’s Antigravity usage caps have been adjusted twice. On May 20th, Google tripled the rate-limit ceiling and reset weekly quotas across all users. One day later, on May 21st, Google tripled the weekly quota limits again, this time for Gemini models within Antigravity.
Varun Mohan, head of Google DeepMind, acknowledged users could hit weekly maximums “after just a few work sessions.” Whether additional adjustments to Gemini’s broader usage caps will follow remains unclear.
