Why trust Greenbot
Google launched a free version of Gemini Code Assist with usage limits that dwarf rival products. The tool, announced on Wednesday, provides 180,000 monthly code completions – 90 times more than GitHub Copilot’s free tier.
Code Assist includes 240 daily chat requests, nearly five times what GitHub Copilot offers free users. “While other popular free coding assistants have restrictive usage limits, we wanted to offer something more generous,” emphasized Ryan J. Salva, Google’s senior director of product management.
The assistant is powered by Gemini 2.0, which is Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) model fine-tuned specifically for coding tasks. It supports all programming languages in the public domain. It’s 128,000-token context window processes larger codebases than competitors offer.
Also, it works with popular environments like Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs, Firebase, and Android Studio. This provides convenience, allowing users to avoid constantly switching environments. Users can interact through natural language prompts to generate code, fix bugs, or explain complex sections.
The free tool targets students, hobbyists, freelancers, and startups. Signing up requires only a Gmail account, and no credit card is needed. However, the free version lacks some enterprise features like productivity metrics, Google Cloud integrations, and private code customization. These remain available in the paid tiers: Standard ($19/month) and Enterprise ($45/month).
Google simultaneously launched Gemini Code Assist for GitHub. This provides free AI-powered code reviews for both public and private repositories. The tool automatically scans pull requests to detect bugs and offers suggestions directly within GitHub.
The timing is strategic. Google hired Salva seven months ago to lead its developer tools division. Salva previously headed GitHub’s Copilot team.
“Now anyone can more conveniently learn, create code snippets, debug, and modify their existing applications — all without needing to toggle between different windows for help,” Salva explained.
Competition remains intense among AI coding tools from tech giants and startups. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Cursor AI, and Anthropic’s Claude Code are battling for market share. Google’s generous limits could attract early-career developers, potentially driving future subscriptions.
Research from Google shows that 75% of developers now use AI daily. Over 25% of all new code at Google itself is generated by AI and then reviewed by engineers. With the worldwide developer population forecasted to reach 57.8 million by 2028, Google believes AI coding tools should be accessible regardless of financial resources.
