Google launches free AI coding Assistant with 90X higher usage caps than GitHub Copilot

Google is shaking up the AI-powered coding tools market with Gemini Code Assist for Individuals, a free version of its AI-driven coding tool, Gemini Code Assist. This new release gives developers access to advanced code completion and assistance at no cost, setting a new benchmark for free-tier AI coding support

The free tool offers 180,000 code completions per month—90 times more than GitHub Copilot’s free plan. Announced on Tuesday, this release is aimed at developers, including students, freelancers, hobbyists, and startups, giving them powerful coding support at no cost.

Alongside Gemini Code Assist for Individuals, the company is rolling out Gemini Code Assist for GitHub, an AI-powered code review tool that automatically scans pull requests for bugs and suggests improvements.

Gemini Code Assist for Individuals:  Higher Usage Caps Than GitHub Copilot’s Free Plan

One of the biggest draws is the sheer volume of code completions. While GitHub Copilot’s free tier is capped at 2,000 completions per month, Gemini Code Assist for Individuals raises the limit to 180,000. The assistant is powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model, which enables it to generate, complete, and debug code across multiple programming languages.

“While other popular free coding assistants have restrictive usage limits, with usually only 2,000 code completions per month, we wanted to offer something more generous. We’re offering practically unlimited capacity with up to 180,000 code completions per month using Gemini Code Assist – a ceiling so high that even today’s most dedicated professional developers would be hard-pressed to exceed it,” Google said in a blog post.

The tool integrates with Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and JetBrains IDEs, letting developers use natural language to generate or refine code directly in their environment. It can also fix bugs and explain complex sections of code through an interactive chat window.

More Requests, Bigger Context Window

Beyond completions, Gemini Code Assist for Individuals offers 240 chat requests per day, nearly five times what GitHub Copilot provides in its free plan. It also boasts a 128,000-token context window, which is more than four times larger than competing tools. This means it can process and analyze bigger chunks of code in a single request, making it especially useful for larger and more complex projects.

Gemini Code Assist for Individuals is now available worldwide, powered by the fine-tuned Gemini 2.0 model. It supports all publicly available programming languages and is specifically optimized for coding. By training on real-world development scenarios, the model has been refined to deliver more accurate and relevant AI-generated code suggestions. Whether you’re a hobbyist, freelancer, or startup developer, Gemini Code Assist is built to tackle everyday coding challenges with greater precision than ever before.

Who Should Consider the Free Version?

The free individual plan comes packed with features, though the Standard and Enterprise tiers add productivity metrics and deeper Google Cloud integrations. For independent developers, freelancers, and students, the free version provides significantly more flexibility and AI assistance than competing free-tier options.

How to Get Started With Gemini Code Assist

Developers can sign up for the free public preview starting Tuesday. The tool is available to anyone with a personal Gmail account and can be installed as a plugin for compatible development environments.

Meanwhile, Gemini Code Assist for GitHub brings AI-driven code reviews directly into GitHub workflows by automatically analyzing pull requests, identifying bugs, and suggesting possible fixes.

With Google offering a much more generous free-tier alternative, Gemini Code Assist is making a strong play for developers looking for a high-cap AI coding assistant. The higher limits and expanded context window make it a serious competitor in the space.