Google unlocks a paid Gemini feature for everyone ahead of a big shutdown

Gemini Skills are now free for anyone over 18 with a personal Google account, which answers the biggest question hanging over Google's plan to retire Gems in November. If you built a custom Gem on your Pixel 11 Pro, Galaxy S26 Ultra or any of the best Android phones without paying for Google AI Pro, it'll carry over as a skill at no cost.

Google opens Gemini Skills to free accounts ahead of the Gems shutdown

Google confirmed the change on a new Gemini support page, which says Skills are now available in Gemini chat to anyone over 18 who's signed in to a personal Google account.

That was the big unanswered question after a banner in Gemini's Gems manager confirmed that the move to Skills starts on November 17. However, a new report notes that its own free account still shows Gems and no Skills at all, so it appears this is a phased rollout that may take a little while to reach you.



Personal accounts lose Gems in November 2026 and Workspace business, enterprise and non-profit accounts follow in March 2027, while education accounts close things out in June 2027.

What changes when Gemini Gems become Skills

The biggest difference is how you reach them. Gems opened in a chat of their own, while a skill can be called up in any conversation by typing a slash followed by its name (Google says this will switch to @ soon), and Gemini can also apply one automatically when it's relevant to what you asked.

However, Skills don't work with Canvas, Deep Research, video and music creation or Guided Learning for now, so a Gem built around one of those tools won't behave quite the same after the move.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is heading the other way with ChatGPT. Its own help page says new GPT creation and publishing aren't available on personal accounts, Free, Go, Plus and Pro included, and that it plans to retire custom GPTs in favor of Plugins, starting with Enterprise workspaces on December 11, 2026.

Free ChatGPT users can still chat with GPTs other people built, but they can't make their own, and OpenAI says its other plans are expected to follow the same retirement timeline. So if you use both, Gemini is now the one that lets you build a custom assistant for free, while ChatGPT users will likely have to move their workflows over to Plugins whether they pay or not.

Who should care about the Gemini Skills switch

For most free users, this is good news rather than a chore, since Google will recreate your Gems as Skills automatically and they'll stay free.

If you'd rather not wait, Google's support page also explains how to recreate a Gem as a skill by hand on the Gemini website, including moving over any knowledge files you uploaded.

Google kept its free Gemini users in the picture

Skills started out as a paid perk, so it would've been easy for Google to leave free users with nothing once Gems were gone. Instead, one of Gemini's most useful customization tools stays free, which feels like the right call, since the Gems it replaces never cost anything either.

Still, I'm hoping Canvas and Deep Research make it over to Skills before November, because a Gem that loses its favorite tool in the move isn't much of a win. If Google pulls that off, I'd personally love to see Skills become the one place where I set Gemini up exactly the way I like it.

More on Gemini and the Pixel 11 Pro:

• Google is phasing out Assistant for Gemini on Android
• Everything new in Android 17
• Google Pixel 11 Pro

• Follow me on X and Threads

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