Google Gemini has everything it needs to be a strong contender for the best AI chatbot. While I've already discussed the differences between Gemini and ChatGPT in-depth, I thought it would be worthwhile to put Gemini's free version and its paid version, Gemini Advanced, to the test. Is it worth paying $20 a month for Google's "best AI?" Here's what I found out.
Coding
One of the first things I did with Gemini was test out its coding capabilities. Now, mind you, I'm not an expert in coding. However, I've found that using tools like Gemini and ChatGPT can be handy for learning a bit about codin, and creating some code to play around with. And since I've always seen so much about coders using these AI chatbots to help speed up their productivity, I figured I'd give it a shot.
The prompt I created was simple. I asked both Gemini and Gemini advanced to "help me create the code for a text editor that can hide but all the last four lines of text," essentially a little focus-writer app. Here's how it responded:
As you can see, it started breaking down how I would go about creating the code for this using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS Styling. All along, it explained why it created this code, and even provided an easy way to copy it over.
The free model returned this for the same statement:
It was basically a non-starter due to the censorship settings that Google has in place for Gemini's free version. Not exactly a great start, but that's fine; coders will surely find a lot of usefulness out of the $20 monthly plan needed for Gemini Advanced. Obviously what I'm asking Gemini to do here is a huge task—building a text editor isn't an easy thing. But it did provide some workable solutions to help get things started, and when I took the code it provided and moved it over to a working system, I was able to actually create the text entry box, hide all but the last four lines of text, and even add a toggleable dark mode option and a word count.
But how does Gemini hold up in other areas?
Generating text
The next test I put Gemini through was generating text. I asked both Gemini and Gemini Advanced to generated text for the following prompt:
"Write a short product description for my new smartwatch, which has five-day battery life and is waterproof."
Here's what Gemini Advanced returned:
Here's what the free version generated:
As you can see, both options approach the prompt somewhat differently. Gemini Advanced went for a more sentence-driven design, while the free version produced several different sections, complete with some bullet points. Both versions started to include information that I hadn't provided, like the watch's compatibility with smartphones, as well as information about its design and interface.
Next, I asked Gemini to help me create a cold-call email for an assistant manager job listing.
Here is the response from Gemini Advanced:
Here's the response from Gemini:
As you can see, Gemini Advanced generated a template for me to use without me providing it with important information that the regular version of Gemini requested. While providing more information can be important and will usually provide better responses to your prompts, it's also important to keep private information to yourself, as Google goes through everything generated and told to Gemini to help train the model further. As such, being able to get a template without providing a lot of additional information is key to making the chatbot more useful.
Keep in mind that I'm using the simplest possible prompts here, as I want to mimic how the everyday user will use Gemini. While many people have become experts at creating prompts for these chatbots, most people don't know all the inside secrets, so they tend to go with things that are simpler, which can be troublesome for the chatbot.
Of course, getting more creative with Gemini is another option, but I didn't see too much different in how creative Gemini and Gemini Advanced were. Both provided solid responses to the prompts I entered; I'd recommend toying around with the free version of Gemini and seeing if it can meet your needs before you spend any money on Gemini Advanced.
Image generation
There really wasn't much difference between the two here, as they utilize the same behind-the-scenes model to generate the images. However, I did notice that Gemini Advanced was slightly faster with its image generation, though that could be simply because it only created three images, while the free version of Gemini generated four.
Here are the images created using Gemini Advanced:
Here's what Gemini provided:
Ultimately, generating images with Gemini is going to be a mixed bag, whether you're using the free or paid version of the AI model. As such, I'd recommend checking out some of the best AI art generators if you're looking to do a lot of image generation.
The add-ons
Another important thing to keep in mind when looking at Gemini and Gemini Advanced, is that purchasing a subscription with Gemini Advanced also gives you access to a slew of other add-ons, like Gemini in your email, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and so on.
These options aren't available for free, and while I can't say that most people will need them, they are an option you can take advantage of if you think you'll find them useful. Ultimately, though, I don't think they should play a huge part in determining whether Gemini is worth paying for or not.
The bottom line
Ultimately, Gemini Advanced offers some very clear enhancements over the free version. But, if you're just using it casually, you probably won't find it worthwhile to invest $20 a month into accessing Gemini Advanced. If you think you'll need access to coding help, as well as the various add-on features that Gemini Advanced comes with, I'd suggest checking it out for a month and seeing how it works out.
During my testing, too, I found that using Gemini with Google results is when it really shines the most, though the free version definitely feels a bit more censored than Gemini Advanced. Some prompts would often return recommendations to "search Google" for the answer, while Advanced would provide more information. I found that Gemini is still kind of wonky with how it sources things out, too, though, so be careful about that if you plan to use it.
The good news, at least for most users, is that purchasing Gemini Advanced requires you to pick up a 2TB storage plan for Google One, so you'll be getting a nice boost to your online cloud storage, too. Additionally, the model behind Google's AI chatbot is only going to get better with time. That means that while the differences might not seem that big right now, they'll probably get bigger in the future as Google expands its AI chatbot and works to make Gemini Advanced feel more like a premium product.
This is also an issue that ChatGPT Plus had before the subscription service started offering more features and functionality, so it isn't that surprising to see a minimal difference in Gemini, which Google claims is on par with GPT-4, the latest and greatest from OpenAI.
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