Gemini 3 in 2026: Is It Free? 3 Pro vs 3.1 Pro vs Deep Think, Veo 3, Pricing & Benchmarks

Google introduced Gemini 3 on November 18, 2025, describing it as its most intelligent AI model to date, combining state-of-the-art reasoning with advanced multimodal understanding and agentic functionality. Less than three months later, Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro on February 19, 2026 — their most capable model yet, delivering a 2x+ reasoning performance boost over Gemini 3 Pro while maintaining the same $2/$12 pricing. The story of the Gemini 3 family is one of relentless iteration: from the November launch that dethroned GPT-5.1 on LMArena to a February update that leapfrogged every competitor on the hardest reasoning benchmarks, all without raising developer prices by a single cent.

Yet "is Gemini 3 free" and "why can I only create 3 videos on Gemini" remain the most-searched questions — because the gap between what Google shows in demos and what free users actually get is wider than most realize. Veo 3 video generation, Deep Think reasoning, and unlimited 3.1 Pro access are all paywalled features. This guide covers every model in the Gemini 3 family, what's actually free vs. paid, Veo 3 access by plan, the full API pricing structure, and an honest head-to-head against GPT-5.2 and Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Gemini 3 Release Timeline: From 3 Pro to 3.1 Pro

Model	Released	Key Additions	API Model String
Gemini 3 Pro	November 18, 2025	State-of-the-art reasoning + multimodal; 1M token context; Google Antigravity IDE; day-one launch across Search, Gemini app, AI Studio, Vertex AI, CLI	gemini-3-pro-preview
Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview	Late November 2025	Native image generation ("Nano Banana" model iteration); next-gen image output alongside text	gemini-3-pro-image-preview
Gemini 3 Flash	December 17, 2025	Fast frontier-class performance; upgraded visual and spatial reasoning; agentic coding; free default in Gemini app	gemini-3-flash-preview
Gemini 3 Deep Think (update)	Early February 2026	Major upgrade to Deep Think reasoning mode; 93.8% GPQA Diamond; blends scientific knowledge with engineering utility	Via Deep Think toggle (UI)
Gemini 3.1 Pro	February 19, 2026	2x+ reasoning over 3 Pro; 77.1% ARC-AGI-2; 80.6% SWE-bench; 3-tier thinking levels (Low/Medium/High); improved token efficiency; same price as 3 Pro	gemini-3.1-pro-preview

What Is Gemini 3? What Made It Different from 2.5

Every generation of Gemini has built on the last. Gemini 1 introduced native multimodality and long context. Gemini 2 laid the foundation for agentic capabilities and pushed reasoning, with Gemini 2.5 Pro topping LMArena for over six months. Gemini 3 combines all of Gemini's capabilities together — state-of-the-art reasoning built to grasp depth and nuance, much better at figuring out context and intent behind requests with less prompting needed.

Unlike earlier Gemini releases that appeared in a small set of products first, Gemini 3 launched as a unified platform underpinning both consumer and enterprise experiences simultaneously across Search, the Gemini app, AI Studio, Vertex AI, the Gemini CLI, and the Antigravity IDE — the first time Google launched a Gemini model across multiple products on day one.

Gemini 3 Pro Benchmark Results at Launch (November 2025):

• LMArena overall: 1501 Elo — top leaderboard position at launch
• GPQA Diamond (science reasoning): 91.9%
• SWE-bench Verified (coding): 76.2%
• MMMU-Pro (multimodal understanding): 81%
• Humanity's Last Exam (Deep Think): 41%
• WebDev Arena (frontend coding): 1487 Elo

What Is Gemini 3.1 Pro? The Current Flagship (February 2026)

Building on the Gemini 3 series, Gemini 3.1 Pro is designed for tasks where a simple answer isn't enough — taking advanced reasoning and making it useful for the hardest challenges, whether looking for a clear visual explanation of a complex topic, synthesizing data into a single view, or executing an ambitious creative project step by step.

The standout result is ARC-AGI-2 — Gemini 3.1 Pro's 77.1% is more than double Gemini 3 Pro's 31.1%, the largest single-generation reasoning gain seen in any frontier model family. Google attributes this to more efficient thinking, extracting more insight per compute token during the reasoning chain. Crucially, Gemini 3.1 Pro maintains the same price as Gemini 3 Pro — a massive performance upgrade at zero additional cost. If you're already using Gemini 3 Pro via API, this is a free upgrade.

Gemini 3.1 Pro Benchmark Results (February 2026):

• ARC-AGI-2 (novel reasoning): 77.1% — vs. 31.1% for Gemini 3 Pro, 58.3% for Claude Sonnet 4.6
• SWE-bench Verified (coding): 80.6%
• GPQA Diamond (science): 94.3%
• LiveCodeBench Pro: 2887 Elo — vs. 2393 for GPT-5.2
• MCP-Atlas (tool use): 69.2% — leads all models tested
• Intelligence Index (Artificial Analysis): Score of 57, ranked #1 of 116 models at publication

Gemini 3.1 Pro introduces MEDIUM as a thinking_level parameter, adding a third tier between Low and High — giving developers more options to optimize trade-offs between cost, performance, and speed.

What Is Gemini 3 Deep Think?

Deep Think is Google's specialized reasoning mode, built to push the frontier of intelligence and solve modern challenges across science, research, and engineering — blending deep scientific knowledge with everyday engineering utility. It moves beyond abstract theory to help drive practical applications. Deep Think is available to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the Gemini app; select "Deep Think" in the prompt bar.

Deep Think was updated in early February 2026 with significantly enhanced capabilities. At Gemini 3 Pro launch, Deep Think achieved 41% on Humanity's Last Exam. The updated Deep Think mode pushes this to 93.8% on GPQA Diamond. Google's Quoc Le described it as "the engine behind our gold medal-level wins at IMO and ICPC" — referring to AI performance on the International Mathematical Olympiad and International Collegiate Programming Contest problems. Deep Think is for the hardest multi-step reasoning tasks where waiting a few minutes for a response is acceptable; average wait time for Deep Think responses is "generally a few minutes."

Is Gemini 3 Free? Who Gets What

Plan	Price	Models Available	Veo 3?	Deep Think?
Free	$0	Gemini 3 Flash (rate-limited); Gemini 2.5 Flash (Deep Research)	❌	❌
Google AI Pro	$19.99/month	Gemini 3 Pro + 3.1 Pro (higher limits); 1M token context; Deep Research; NotebookLM	✅ Veo 3 Fast only	❌
Google AI Ultra	$249.99/month	All models incl. Gemini 3.1 Pro unlimited; Deep Think; Agent Teams; early access to new features	✅ Full Veo 3 + Veo 3.1	✅
Google Workspace (Business/Enterprise)	$12–$30+/user/month	Gemini 3 Pro in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet; Deep Research	Partial (via Workspace Alpha)	❌ (Workspace Alpha for some)

How to Use Gemini 3 (Every Access Method)

Via Gemini App (Consumer):

1. Go to gemini.google.com or open the Gemini app on Android/iOS
2. Sign in with a Google account — Gemini 3 Flash available immediately on free tier
3. To access Gemini 3.1 Pro: click the model dropdown at the top of the conversation, select "Pro"
4. To activate Deep Think (Ultra only): select "Deep Think" in the prompt bar before sending
5. For Veo 3 video generation: upgrade to Google AI Pro, then use the video generation prompt in Gemini app or Google Flow

Via Google AI Studio (Developers — Free Tier Available):

1. Go to aistudio.google.com
2. Sign in with Google account — free rate-limited access to Gemini 3.1 Pro for experimentation
3. Select model: gemini-3.1-pro-preview in the model dropdown
4. Set thinking level: Low, Medium, or High via the thinking_budget parameter
5. Generate API key for production use (requires billing setup)

Via Gemini CLI (Developers):

1. Install: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
2. Authenticate: gemini auth login
3. Set model: gemini config set model gemini-3.1-pro-preview
4. Run: gemini "your prompt here"
5. Gemini CLI includes built-in Google Search grounding, file uploads, and code execution tools

Via Google Antigravity IDE:

Google Antigravity is Google's new agentic development platform, launched alongside Gemini 3. It integrates Gemini 3.1 Pro directly into an IDE environment with multi-step task execution, file system access, and codebase-level context. Available at antigravity.google.com for Pro and Ultra subscribers and API developers.

Does NotebookLM Use Gemini 3?

Yes — NotebookLM is powered by Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3.1 Pro. Gemini 3.1 Pro is accessible through NotebookLM, included in Google AI Pro and Ultra plans. NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, deep research summaries, and source analysis features all run on the Gemini 3 backend. NotebookLM is available at notebooklm.google.com; free tier included, enhanced with Google AI Pro (5x more notebooks, more Audio Overviews).

How to Use Veo 3 in Gemini

Veo 3.1 and Veo 3.1 Fast models are available in the API in public preview, with new features including extending Veo-created videos, referencing up to three images to generate a video, and providing first and last frame images to generate videos from — plus 4, 6, and 8-second output duration options.

Consumer (Gemini App):

1. Upgrade to Google AI Pro ($19.99/month) for Veo 3 Fast access
2. In Gemini app, type a video description: "Create a 6-second video of a rainstorm hitting a neon-lit city street at night"
3. Gemini generates the video and presents it for download — Veo 3 Fast delivers results in under 2 minutes
4. Pro users get a daily limit; Ultra subscribers get higher limits and full Veo 3 quality

Developer (API):

1. Use model string veo-3.1-generate-preview (or veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview for faster/cheaper)
2. Submit text prompt or image reference(s)
3. Specify duration (4, 6, or 8 seconds), aspect ratio, resolution
4. Veo API pricing is charged per second of generated video; see Google AI Studio for current rates

Gemini 3 API Pricing: Full Developer Breakdown (2026)

Model	Input ≤200K /MTok	Output ≤200K /MTok	Input >200K /MTok	Output >200K /MTok
Gemini 3 Flash	Low cost	Low cost	—	—
Gemini 3 Pro / 3.1 Pro	$2.00	$12.00	$4.00	$18.00
Context caching (reads, ≤200K)	$0.20	Standard output rate	$0.40	Standard output rate
Google Search grounding	Free (preview)	Billing begins Jan 5, 2026	—	—

Context caching advantage: For contexts under 200K, caching costs just $0.20 per million tokens — drastically reducing overhead for developers building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications where the same large document is referenced repeatedly. On 100 requests to a 150K-token document, caching reduces input costs from $30.00 to $0.20 — a 99.3% reduction.

Thinking tokens: Thinking tokens (the model's internal reasoning chain) are billed as output tokens at the standard $12/MTok rate, even though they don't appear in the visible response. For High thinking level tasks, a single complex response can generate 5,000–20,000 thinking tokens. Use Low or Medium thinking for cost-sensitive workloads.

Is Gemini 3 Better Than GPT-5? Honest Comparison

Benchmark	Gemini 3.1 Pro	GPT-5.2	Claude Sonnet 4.6	Claude Opus 4.6
ARC-AGI-2 (novel reasoning)	77.1%	~40%	58.3%	~69%
SWE-bench Verified (coding)	80.6%	74.9%	79.6%	80.8%
GPQA Diamond (science)	94.3%	~88%	—	—
Office productivity (GDPval-AA)	1317 Elo	—	1633 Elo	1606 Elo
Context window	1M tokens	400K tokens	200K (1M beta)	200K (1M beta)
Native video input/output	✅ Yes (Veo 3)	Limited	❌	❌
API input price /MTok	$2.00	$1.25	$3.00	$5.00
Computer use	Limited (Project Mariner)	Limited	72.5% OSWorld	72.7% OSWorld

Summary: Gemini 3.1 Pro leads on abstract reasoning (ARC-AGI-2), science benchmarks (GPQA), coding competitions (LiveCodeBench Pro), and delivers the largest context window at the most competitive API price. Claude Opus 4.6 is still preferred by human evaluators for expert tasks on GDPval-AA, and leads on Arena.ai text and coding preference leaderboards. GPT-5.3-Codex leads on specialized terminal-based coding tasks. The honest answer to "is Gemini 3 better than GPT-5": Gemini 3.1 Pro is currently better on benchmarks that prioritize reasoning, science, and cost-efficiency; GPT-5.2/5.3 leads on developer ecosystem maturity and human-preference rankings for writing. Claude leads on computer use and office automation.

Does Gemini 3 Have Memory?

Gemini has a memory feature that stores key information across conversations — enabled by default in the Gemini app. It remembers preferences, context from past conversations, and user details to improve future responses. You can view and delete stored memories in Gemini app → Settings → Memory. Gemini's 1M token context window is separate from this persistent memory — the context window handles what Gemini can process in a single conversation, while memory persists the most relevant facts across sessions. Both features are available on free and paid plans.

Does Gemini 3 Keep History of Conversations?

Yes — conversation history is on by default in the Gemini app. Previous chats are stored and accessible in the left sidebar. To disable history: Gemini app → Settings → Gemini Apps Activity → turn off. Note: turning off history also disables memory features. For API usage, conversation history is not retained between API calls — developers must pass the full conversation context in each request.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Was Gemini 3 Released?

Google officially released Gemini 3 Pro on November 18, 2025, marking a major milestone in AI multimodal model development. Gemini 3 Flash followed December 17, 2025. Gemini 3.1 Pro — the current flagship — was released February 19, 2026.

Is Gemini 3 Free?

Gemini 3 Flash is available on the free tier with rate limits. Gemini 3 Pro and 3.1 Pro require Google AI Pro ($19.99/month) for meaningful access. Deep Think mode requires Google AI Ultra ($249.99/month). Developers can access Gemini 3.1 Pro for free with rate limits via Google AI Studio for experimentation, but production API use requires billing.

Is Gemini 3 Pro Free?

No — Gemini 3 Pro and 3.1 Pro require at minimum Google AI Pro ($19.99/month) for the Gemini app. In Google AI Studio (developer platform), rate-limited access to 3.1 Pro is free for testing, but production use requires a paid API account.

How Much Does Gemini 3 Cost? (API)

Gemini 3 Pro and 3.1 Pro are priced identically: $2.00 per million input tokens and $12.00 per million output tokens for requests under 200K tokens. Above 200K tokens: $4.00/$18.00. Context caching reduces repeated input costs to $0.20 per million cached tokens. This makes Gemini 3.1 Pro the lowest-priced frontier model per token among Pro-tier offerings from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

What Is Gemini 3.0? Is It the Same as Gemini 3?

Yes — "Gemini 3.0" and "Gemini 3" refer to the same model generation. Google branded it as "Gemini 3" without the .0 suffix. "Gemini 3.0 Pro" searches typically mean Gemini 3 Pro (launched November 2025). The current latest model is Gemini 3.1 Pro (February 2026), which Google now uses as the ".1" mid-cycle increment rather than the older ".5" naming convention.

Does Gemini Pro Come With Veo 3?

Google AI Pro ($19.99/month) includes Veo 3 Fast — faster video generation at standard quality, with a daily cap on number of generations. Full Veo 3 (higher quality, up to 8-second videos, higher daily limits) requires Google AI Ultra ($249.99/month). Free accounts get no Veo 3 access — this is why free users hit a "3 video" limit: they are seeing the Pro trial or being shown a paywall.

Is Gemini 3 AGI?

No — Gemini 3 is not AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Google's own Frontier Safety Framework evaluations confirm that Gemini 3.1 Pro remains below internal critical capability thresholds for AGI-level behavior. The 77.1% ARC-AGI-2 score is remarkable but the benchmark itself tests novel pattern recognition, not general intelligence. AGI implies broad, autonomous self-directed intelligence across all domains — no current model including Gemini 3.1 Pro, GPT-5, or Claude Opus 4.6 qualifies under any established definition.

How to Access Gemini 3 in CLI?

Install the Gemini CLI: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli. Authenticate with gemini auth login. Set the model to gemini-3.1-pro-preview in config. The Gemini CLI connects to the same API as Google AI Studio and supports streaming, file uploads, Google Search grounding, and code execution tools. Free-tier rate limits apply without a billing account.

How Does Gemini 3 Compare to Gemini 2.5?

Gemini 3 Pro significantly outperforms Gemini 2.5 Pro across most benchmarks. Gemini 2.5 Pro held the LMArena top position for over six months before Gemini 3 displaced it at launch. Gemini 3.1 Pro's ARC-AGI-2 score (77.1%) represents roughly a 3x improvement over comparable Gemini 2.5 Pro reasoning performance. Pricing is similar, so there is no reason to use Gemini 2.5 Pro for new workloads — Gemini 3.1 Pro is the direct upgrade at the same cost.