Google Reduces Free Access to Gemini 3 Pro and Nano Banana Pro Due to High Demand

Google limits free Nano Banana Pro image generation usage due to 'high demand'

If you were hoping to create some silly images this long holiday weekend with Google's new Nano Banana Pro model, I have some bad news: the company is restricting free usage of the AI system. In a support document spotted by 9to5Google, Google notes free users can currently generate two images daily, down from three per day previously. "Image generation and editing is in high demand," the company writes. "Limits may change frequently and will reset daily." It would appear Google is also limiting free Gemini 3 Pro usage, with the document stating non-paying users will get "basic access -- daily limits may change frequently" as well. When the company first began rolling out Gemini 3 Pro on November 18, it guaranteed five free prompts per day. That was in line with Gemini 2.5 Pro. If you pay for either Google AI Pro or AI Ultra plan, your usage limits have not changed. They remain at 100 and 500 prompts per day, respectively. Google isn't the first company to enforce stricter usage following a popular release. You may recall OpenAI delayed rolling out ChatGPT's built-in image generator to free users after the feature turned out to be more popular than anticipated. However, OpenAI eventually brought image generation to free users.

Gemini 3 is in high demand, and Google's free tier can't keep up

Google released Gemini 3, its latest large language model, officially earlier this month. It brings an impressive leap in intelligence and capabilities. No wonder there has been high demand for Gemini 3 since launch, which is now forcing Google to reduce usage limits for free Google account holders. Google rolled out Gemini 3 across search, mobile apps, and other services on launch day. It also provided free Google users with access to "up to 5 prompts" per day. This was in addition to a limit of "up to 3 images/day" for Nano Banano Pro -- Gemini 3's image generation model. Due to a massive surge in demand, the company has updated its support page to reflect reduced Gemini access for users without a Google AI plan to "Basic access." Under this, the "daily limits may change frequently," depending on the load on the company's servers. Nano Banana Pro access is now also reduced to 2 images per day. And as 9to5Google spotted, Google notes that "image generation & editing is in high demand. Limits may change frequently and will reset daily." For comparison, Google AI Pro subscribers have access to "up to 100 prompts / day" in the Gemini app, while Ultra users get up to 500 prompts. For Nano Banana Pro, the limit is 100 and 1,000 images per day. Even NotebookLM users have not been spared. Google has "temporarily rolled back access" to its new Nano Banana Pro-powered Infographics and Slide Decks feature for free users. And for Pro users, there are additional limits in place now. Subscribe to Google's AI plan to get priority access to Gemini 3 Pro Google will likely restore the original usage limits for Gemini 3 Pro once the load on its servers decreases. However, with the holiday season reaching its peak and Christmas only a few weeks away, that may not happen until early January. Essentially, if you want to play around with Gemini 3 Pro or Nano Banana Pro without worrying about hitting any restrictions, subscribe to Google's AI Pro plan. It costs $20 monthly and gets you priority access to Gemini's latest models alongside 2TB storage space, family sharing, and other perks. And if your usage is even higher, subscribe to the more expensive AI Ultra plan, which costs $200 per month.