How to Decide If Gemini Advanced Is Worth $20 a Month
Google Gemini has what it takes to be a strong contender for the title of best AI chatbot. While I’ve already discussed the differences between Gemini and ChatGPT in detail, I thought it would be worthwhile to test out the free version of Gemini and its paid version, Gemini Advanced. Is it worth paying $20 a month for Google’s “best AI”? Here’s what I learned.
Coding
One of the first things I did with Gemini was test its encoding capabilities. Please note that I am not a coding expert. However, I have found that using tools like Gemini and ChatGPT can be useful for learning codin and generating code for experimentation. And since I always saw so many programmers using AI chatbots to improve their productivity, I decided to give it a try.
The prompt I created was simple. I asked Gemini and Gemini Advanced to “help me create code for a text editor that can only hide all of the last four lines of text”, essentially a small focus recording application. This is how he responded:
As you can see, I started to break down how I would create the code for this using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS styles. All along, it explained why the code was created and even provided an easy way to copy it.
The free model returned this for the same statement:
Essentially, it was inappropriate due to the censorship settings that Google had set for the free version of Gemini. Not exactly a good start, but that’s okay; Programmers are sure to find a lot of value in the $20 monthly plan required for Gemini Advanced. Obviously, what I’m asking Gemini to do is a huge undertaking: building a text editor is no easy feat. But he provided some workable solutions to get things started, and when I took the code he provided and transferred it to a working system, I was able to actually create a text input field, hiding all but the last four lines of text. and even add a toggle dark mode option and a word counter.
But how do Geminis fare in other areas?
Text generation
The next test I ran with Gemini was text generation. I asked Gemini and Gemini Advanced to generate the text for the following tooltip:
“Write a short description of my new smartwatch that has a five-day battery life and is waterproof.”
This is what Gemini Advanced returned:
Here’s what the free version generated:
As you can see, both options approach the prompt slightly differently. Gemini Advanced opted for a more suggestion-based design, while the free version contained several different sections with some items. Both versions began to include information that I did not provide, such as the compatibility of the watch with smartphones, as well as information about its design and interface.
I then asked Gemini to help me create a cold calling email for an Assistant Manager job listing.
Here is the response from Gemini Advanced:
Here is Gemini’s response:
As you can see, Gemini Advanced created a template that I could use without providing the important information that the regular version of Gemini asked for. While providing additional information can be important and will usually provide better answers to your queries, it is also important to keep sensitive information to yourself as Google analyzes everything that is generated and reported to Gemini to help further train the model. So, being able to get a template without providing a lot of additional information is key to making your chatbot more useful.
Keep in mind that I’m using very basic tips here because I want to simulate how a typical user would use Gemini. Although many people have become experts in creating hints for these chatbots, most people do not know all the inner secrets, so they tend to use simpler things which can be problematic for the chatbot.
Of course, getting more creative with the Gemini is another option, but I didn’t see much of a difference in how creative the Gemini and Gemini Advanced were. Both provided compelling answers to the queries I entered; I would recommend playing with the free version of Gemini and seeing if it can meet your needs before spending money on Gemini Advanced.
Generating Images
There really wasn’t much difference between the two as they use the same behind-the-scenes model to create the images. However, I did notice that Gemini Advanced generated images a little faster, although this could simply be because it only generated three images while the free version of Gemini generated four.
Here are the images created with Gemini Advanced:
Here’s what Gemini provided:
Ultimately, creating images with Gemini will be a mixed bag, regardless of whether you use the free or paid version of the AI model. So, I would recommend checking out some of the best AI image generators if you want to generate images a lot.
Add-ons
Another important thing to consider when considering Gemini and Gemini Advanced is that purchasing a subscription to Gemini Advanced also gives you access to a variety of other add-ons such as Gemini in your email, Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc. d. on.
These options are not available for free, and while I can’t say most people will need them, you can use them if you think you’ll find them useful. Ultimately, however, I don’t think they should play a huge role in determining whether Gemini is worth paying for or not.
Bottom line
Ultimately, Gemini Advanced offers some very clear improvements over the free version. But if you use it casually, it’s probably not worth investing $20 a month for access to Gemini Advanced. If you think you’ll need access to programming help as well as the various advanced features that Gemini Advanced has, I’d suggest checking it out for a month and seeing how it works.
During my testing, I also found that using Gemini with Google results is where it really benefits the most, although the free version definitely seems a little more censored than Gemini Advanced. Some prompts often returned recommendations to “search Google” for the answer, with “More” providing additional information. I’ve found that Gemini is still not entirely sure how it gets information, so be careful if you plan to use it.
The good news, at least for most users, is that to purchase Gemini Advanced you’ll need to opt for the 2TB plan for Google One, so you’ll also get a nice boost to your online cloud storage. Additionally, Google’s AI chatbot model will only improve over time. This means that while the differences may not seem that big now, they’re likely to become even 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 faced before the subscription service started offering more features and functionality, so it’s not surprising to see minimal difference in Gemini, which Google claims is on par with GPT-4, the latest and greatest version. from OpenAI.