OpenAI and Google Reduce Free Sora and Gemini Usage Limits
The two companies decided to quietly implement the limits right as we approach the festive season.
If it feels like you’ve been getting the “limit reached” pop-up way more often when trying to generate a quick video or image, it’s not just you losing your mind. It’s actually happening, and on purpose. OpenAI and Google have quietly tightened the screws on their free AI tiers, slashing how many Sora videos and Gemini Nano Banana Pro images you can generate in a day.
And yes, it’s happening right in the middle of peak holiday experimentation season, when everyone suddenly remembers they want to make an AI-generated Christmas card or a dramatic anime-style recap of their year.
Emmanuel Umahi
OpenAI fired the first shot with Sora 2, limiting free users to just six video generations a day. That’s a massive drop from the roughly 30 videos users were able to produce without paying just a week ago. Bill Peebles, head of Sora, said the company’s GPUs are “melting,” which, joke or not, points to the real issue: video generation is extremely compute-heavy. And it looks like rationing free access is a way to keep the system from buckling as usage skyrockets.
And just to be clear, ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers aren’t affected at all. If anything, this update could help cut down on the amount of AI slop that people pump out daily.
we’re setting usage limits for free users to 6 gens/day. chatgpt plus and pro users have unchanged limits, and everybody can purchase additional gens as needed. our gpus are melting, and we want to let as many people access sora as possible!
— Bill Peebles (@billpeeb) November 28, 2025
Google, meanwhile, took a quieter approach but arguably made an even bigger shift. Gemini 3 Pro, which initially launched with five free prompts a day, no longer guarantees any fixed number. The support page now simply says “basic access,” which is corporate-speak for “we’ll change your limit whenever we need to.”
And Nano Banana Pro, Google’s image generator, has been nudged down to just two images per day for free users. Considering the previous model allowed up to 100 image generations, the new limit feels like a splash of cold water.
What’s interesting is how both companies rolled out these limitations at almost the same time. Coincidence? Maybe. But it also looks like the first clear sign of where AI business models are heading. Free tiers were never meant to last forever. They’re the digital equivalent of free samples at a supermarket; the goal has always been to get you hooked, build the habit, and eventually nudge you toward paying. And now that demand is exploding, GPUs are overheating, and operational costs are piling up, the “free buffet” era is quickly fading.
While competitors like Meta still offer relatively generous access to some AI features, it's no news that AI is slowly moving from novelty to utility, and utilities don’t stay free for long. So if your favourite AI tool suddenly feels stingier, it’s not personal, it’s business. And this holiday season, the real gift tech companies want you to unwrap is a subscription.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
