Google has officially launched a free version of Gemini Code Assist, its AI-driven coding tool tailored for enterprises, now accessible worldwide for individual developers. Announced today, the public preview of Gemini Code Assist aims to provide students, hobbyists, freelancers, and startups with enhanced access to cutting-edge coding assistance powered by artificial intelligence.

“This tool allows users to learn more effortlessly, create code snippets, troubleshoot issues, and modify existing applications without having to switch between various windows or copy information from separate sources,” stated Ryan J. Salva, Google’s senior director of product management. He emphasized that while many other free coding assistants impose limitations—typically capping users at just 2,000 code completions per month—Google aims to offer a more favorable option.

This announcement appears to directly challenge GitHub Copilot, a leading competitor in this space, which also features a free tier limited to 2,000 code completions and a cap of 50 Copilot Chat interactions monthly. In contrast, Google’s offering includes an impressive capacity of up to 180,000 code completions each month, described as a level so high that even the most committed professional developers would find it challenging to exceed.

Similar to its enterprise version, Gemini Code Assist for individuals operates on Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model. It excels in generating full code blocks, completing code as you write, and offering general coding support through a chatbot interface. This free tool can be seamlessly integrated into Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and JetBrains environments, supporting all public domain programming languages.

Developers can communicate with Gemini Code Assist in natural language, such as requesting the coding assistant to “create a simple HTML form with fields for name, email, and message, followed by a ‘submit’ button.” Currently, it supports 38 programming languages and can handle up to 128,000 tokens in its context window, allowing for comprehensive processing of text when formulating responses.

While the free Individual tier offers significant capabilities, it does not encompass the advanced features available in the Standard and Enterprise editions of Gemini Code Assist. Users seeking productivity metrics, integration with Google Cloud services like BigQuery, or the ability to personalize responses using private code data will need to explore Google’s paid subscription options.