Gemini Code Assist review
by Google LLCAI coding assistants
Google’s coding assistant for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs and Google Cloud at $19 a user billed annually; new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026.
- Paid only
- Per seat
- Public prices
What you're paying for
- Compliance included (main value)
- Worth the price
- Saves engineering time
For existing Google Cloud customers: completion, chat and an agent mode with daily request quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage.
Existing subscribers get code completion, chat and an agent mode with usage stated as daily request quotas (6,000 code requests, 960 chat requests and 1,500 agent requests per user on Standard), so the seat price is the whole cost. Google states that Gemini does not train on prompts or responses and that Code Assist does not store them, and lists Standard and Enterprise as generative AI indemnified services. New subscriptions are no longer sold, so new teams cannot buy it.
- IP indemnity and no prompt storageThe Service Specific Terms list Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise as a Generative AI Indemnified Service for unmodified output, and the security page calls it a stateless service that does not store prompts and responses.Evidence: Google Cloud Service Specific Terms and Code Assist security, privacy and compliance docs (2026-10-16)
- A fixed cost per seatUsage is stated as daily per-user request quotas and there is no overage: at the limit, requests stop until the quota resets, so spend does not go beyond the seats.Evidence: Gemini for Google Cloud quotas docs (2026-10-16)
- Code customization on EnterpriseEnterprise indexes up to 20,000 GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket repositories, reindexed daily in a single-tenant environment, to tailor suggestions to your code.Evidence: Code customization overview (2026-10-16)
- Best for
- Teams that already hold a Gemini Code Assist subscription on Google Cloud and want to know what it covers until renewal.
- Good to know
- New Standard and Enterprise subscriptions are no longer sold since Oct 9, 2026; Google points new customers to Antigravity.
How Gemini Code Assist compares
Against 3 other products we reviewed in AI coding assistants: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Gemini Code Assist | GitHub Copilot | Cursor | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedFor existing Google Cloud customers: completion, chat and an agent mode with daily request quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage. | Compliance includedUnlimited completions plus chat and agents on models from several providers, with no training on your code and IP indemnity from $19 a user. | Saves engineering timeAn editor built around coding agents, with zero data retention with model providers and privacy mode enforced for the team on Teams. | Saves engineering timeA coding agent for the terminal, IDEs and the web, sold with Claude chat on one seat, with no training and IP indemnity on Team. |
| Overall score | 4.1 | 8.3Best | 6.4 | 5.6 |
| Free option | Paid only | Free plan | Free plan | Paid only |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | –Not measured | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $22.80/user/mo | $10/mo | $8/mo | $20/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Seat + usage | Seat + usage | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; daily request quotas, no overage | Per user per month; chat and agent usage in AI credits ($0.01 each) | Per seat per month; third-party models from prepaid credit at API list price | Per seat per month; extra usage as usage credits at API rates |
| Free option | None now; the individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026 | Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent usage | Free plan with limited Agent and Chat on Cursor models; Tab on Free not stated | None with Claude Code; the Free plan excludes it |
| Reference scenario (5 developers) | Not priced: new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026 (existing: $95/mo on Standard) | $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5, billed monthly), computed | $150/mo on Teams Premium seats ($30 × 5, monthly), computed | $100/mo on Team Standard seats ($20 × 5, annual), computed |
| Included usage (organization plan) | 6,000 code, 960 chat and 1,500 agent requests per user a day | 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user a month, pooled; completions unlimited | Premium weekly pool per seat (4x Plus); no absolute size stated | 1.25x Pro per session per seat, shared with chat; no absolute size stated |
| Usage beyond the plan | None; requests stop until the quota resets | Per-token rates in AI credits; on by default for organizations, budgets available | Prepaid credit at per-token rates, plus $0.25 per million tokens on Teams | Usage credits at API rates, off until turned on; spend limits |
| Models | Google Gemini models only | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot models on Business | Cursor (Grok, Composer), Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models | Anthropic only (Fable, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku) |
| Training on your code | Gemini does not train on prompts or responses | Not on Business and Enterprise; Free to Max train unless you opt out | Not without explicit agreement (terms); Privacy Mode enforced on Teams | Not on Team and Enterprise by default; Free, Pro and Max opt-out |
| Data retention | Stateless: prompts and responses not stored | IDE prompts not retained; other surfaces 28 days (Business) | Zero data retention with providers in Privacy Mode, with exceptions | 30 days on Team; zero data retention on qualified Enterprise accounts |
| IP indemnity | Standard and Enterprise, unmodified output | Business and Enterprise, unmodified suggestions with the filter on | In the MSA; plans covered not stated | Commercial plans (Team, Enterprise, API), no liability cap |
| SSO / SCIM / audit log | SSO through Cloud Identity federation; SCIM not stated; Cloud Audit Logs | SAML SSO and audit log listed for Business; SCIM through managed users in an enterprise account | SAML SSO on Teams; SCIM and audit log on Enterprise | SAML SSO on Team; SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 1, 2 and 3 (Type II not stated), ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business and Enterprise | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 |
| Editors and surfaces | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, CLI, github.com | Cursor app, CLI, web, iOS; JetBrains and Xcode integrations on paid plans | Terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, iOS and Android, Slack, CI |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Gemini Code Assist offers clear quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage, but new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026, so it suits existing Google Cloud customers rather than new buyers. | From its public pages, Copilot Business puts unlimited completions, $19 of pooled usage per user, a wide model choice and the main enterprise controls on a $19 seat. Set budgets early: extra usage is on by default for organizations. | From its public pages, Cursor gives a team an agent-first editor with privacy mode enforced and SSO for $30 a seat. Included usage is stated only as multiples, several pages disagree, and SCIM and the audit log need Enterprise. | From its public pages, Claude Code gives a team an agent for the terminal, IDE and web, plus Claude chat, on a $20 annual seat with no-training terms and uncapped IP indemnity. Usage is stated only as multiples, and models are Anthropic-only. |
Evidence: Gemini Code Assist: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; GitHub Copilot: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Cursor: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Claude Code: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Score
- Pricing clarity
- 5.0 / 10, Fair
- scenario plan priced; cannot be bought online without sales; month-to-month price published; usage stated in requests or dollars; no extra usage offered; the business page still offers "Buy Code Assist" with prices and the pricing page has no sunset notice, while the sunset page says new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026; the business page describes an upfront annual commitment, while the pricing page says all subscriptions are billed monthly; the business page says Code Assist is available through the Google Developer Program, while the program’s plans page no longer lists it; price of the enterprise version of Code Assist on GitHub not stated
- Free plan and trial
- 0.0 / 10, Fair
- no free plan or trial; the free individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026; no trial of Standard or Enterprise is stated
- Price for 5 developers
- 0.0 / 10, Fair
- cannot be priced for a team buying today: new Standard and Enterprise subscriptions are no longer sold since Oct 9, 2026; existing customers pay $19 per user a month on Standard with an annual commitment
- Usage terms and model choice
- 4.0 / 10, Fair
- usage in requests or dollars; no extra usage offered; spending cap on the scenario plan (no metered usage: requests stop at the daily quota); models from two or more providers not listed; inline completions not stated as unlimited
- Code privacy and IP protection
- 10.0 / 10, Excellent
- no training on your code by default; zero data retention on the scenario plan; IP indemnity on the scenario plan; content exclusion or public-code filter on the scenario plan; reference plan Standard (existing customers); prompts and responses not stored; indemnity voided if filters or citations are disabled; the citation filter is a per-user setting, not in agent mode
- Compliance and admin
- 5.5 / 10, Fair
- no SOC 2 Type II stated; ISO 27001; SAML SSO on the scenario plan; SCIM not listed; audit log on the scenario plan; EU data option not listed (prompts may be processed in any Google Cloud data center; the region cannot be chosen)
Review
Review from public pages
Written from Gemini Code Assist's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
What the public pages show
We read Google's Gemini Code Assist business page, the Gemini for Google Cloud pricing page, the Code Assist docs on set-up, quotas, security, privacy and compliance, release channels, file exclusion, agent mode, code customization, audit logging, locations and certifications, the sunset and deprecation pages, the Service Specific Terms and the Cloud Data Processing Addendum on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign up or buy a licence. The pages showed US dollar prices.
The main fact is the sunset. Google's sunset page, updated Oct 13, 2026, says new Standard and Enterprise subscriptions cannot be bought from Oct 9, 2026; existing ones run to the end of their contracts, annual subscriptions can renew until Jan 31, 2027 and monthly ones until Dec 31, 2027. Agentic coding moves to Antigravity, included in Gemini Enterprise editions. The free individual tier, and Gemini CLI use on it, stopped serving requests on June 18, 2026.
Some pages differ from the sunset page. The business page still shows a "Buy Code Assist" button with prices, and the pricing page has no sunset notice. The business page describes an upfront annual commitment, while the pricing page says all subscriptions are billed monthly. The business page says Code Assist is available through the Google Developer Program, whose plans page no longer lists it. The price of the enterprise version of Code Assist on GitHub, a separate product in preview, is not stated.
Strengths
- Usage stated as request quotas
Standard allows 6,000 code requests, 960 chat requests and 1,500 agent requests per user a day (2,000 agent requests on Enterprise), with no overage charges.
Compared: Cursor and Claude Code state usage only as multiples of another plan.
- Indemnity and data terms on Standard
IP indemnity for unmodified output, no training on prompts or responses, no storage of prompts and responses outside the customer’s account, and Code Assist is on the Google Cloud HIPAA BAA list.
Compared: JetBrains offers no IP indemnity.
- File exclusion and a citation filter
.aiexclude and .gitignore files keep files out of completion, chat and customization, and an IDE setting blocks suggestions that match cited sources outside agent mode.
- Audit logging in Google Cloud
Cloud Audit Logs record Code Assist activity, and optional prompt and response logging goes to the customer’s own Cloud Logging bucket.
Things to know
- No longer sold to new customers
Since Oct 9, 2026 new Standard and Enterprise subscriptions cannot be bought; licences can be added until Jan 31, 2027, and subscriptions cannot be cancelled during their term.
Workaround: Google points new customers to Antigravity in Gemini Enterprise editions.
- Google models only
Code Assist uses Google’s Gemini models. Gemini 3.1 Pro needs the Preview release channel, which puts the project’s usage under pre-GA terms, and the model cannot be changed in VS Code agent mode.
- Region cannot be chosen
Prompts may be processed in any Google Cloud data center and the region cannot be chosen. The product security page lists SOC 1, 2 and 3 without saying Type II.
- No free tier or trial now
The free tier for individuals stopped on June 18, 2026, and no trial of Standard or Enterprise is stated.
Pricing reality
Gemini Code Assist bills each user per month. For an existing customer, 5 developers on Standard cost 5 × $19 = $95 a month with an annual commitment ($1,140 a year, computed), or 5 × $22.80 = $114 month to month; Enterprise is $45 or $54. There is no overage: completions, chat and agent requests count against daily quotas, and requests stop when a quota is reached. A Google Cloud project and billing account are required, with no separate fee stated. Because new subscriptions are no longer sold, our price item scores 0 for a team buying today. Licence reductions take effect only at the end of the term, and committed fees are owed whether or not the seats are used.
Exit path
Prompt, response and metadata logs sit in the customer's own Cloud Logging and can be exported, metrics are in Cloud Monitoring and audit logs in Cloud Audit Logs. When auto-renewal is off, licences end with the term and the subscription cannot be re-enabled. The Data Processing Addendum deletes customer data within 180 days, after a recovery period of up to 30 days.
Compared with
- Pick Gemini Code Assist when
- You already hold a subscription and want daily request quotas with no overage on Google Cloud.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You are buying today and want several model providers, unlimited completions and pooled credits at $19 a seat.
- Pick Gemini Code Assist when
- You want IP indemnity and stated request quotas on a fixed seat price.
- Pick JetBrains AI when
- You work in JetBrains IDEs and want prepaid credits at API rates with no surcharge.
Choose it if
- You already have a subscription and want to use it until your contract ends.
- You want a fixed seat price with daily request quotas and no overage.
- You build on Google Cloud and use its audit logging and VPC Service Controls.
Look elsewhere if
- You are buying a coding assistant for a new team.
- You want models from providers other than Google.
- You need to choose the processing region.
Bottom line
From its public pages, Gemini Code Assist offers clear quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage, but new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026, so it suits existing Google Cloud customers rather than new buyers.
Plan limits at a glance
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per user per month; daily request quotas, no overage |
| Free option | None now; the individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026 |
| Reference scenario (5 developers) | Not priced: new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026 (existing: $95/mo on Standard) |
| Included usage (organization plan) | 6,000 code, 960 chat and 1,500 agent requests per user a day |
| Usage beyond the plan | None; requests stop until the quota resets |
| Models | Google Gemini models only |
| Training on your code | Gemini does not train on prompts or responses |
| Data retention | Stateless: prompts and responses not stored |
| IP indemnity | Standard and Enterprise, unmodified output |
| SSO / SCIM / audit log | SSO through Cloud Identity federation; SCIM not stated; Cloud Audit Logs |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 1, 2 and 3 (Type II not stated), ISO 27001 |
| Editors and surfaces | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Gemini Code Assist yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Gemini Code Assist yet.
Gemini Code Assist lists 2 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Standard (existing customers; $19 with an annual commitment), costs $22.80/user/mo.
- Gemini Code AssistLowest priceStandard$22.80/user/mo$19 with an annual commitment; no longer sold to new customers since Oct 9, 2026
- Code completion, chat and agent mode
- 6,000 code and 960 chat requests per user a day
- 1,500 agent requests per user a day
- IP indemnity
- Gemini Code AssistEnterprise$54/user/mo$45 with an annual commitment; no longer sold to new customers since Oct 9, 2026
- Everything in Standard
- Code customization on up to 20,000 private repositories
- 2,000 agent requests per user a day
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: cloud.google.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.