Back in January, Google announced a wave of Gemini-powered features coming to Gmail, including a handful of tools rolling out to everyone for free. The one people were most curious about, the Gmail AI Inbox, was held back for testers only. That’s changed. Google has now started rolling out the Gmail AI Inbox in beta to a broader audience. The catch is that it’s locked behind the AI Ultra plan, which runs $249.99 a month.
The feature itself is pretty straightforward. Instead of your usual list of unread emails, AI Inbox sits above your regular inbox and generates a prioritized summary of what matters. It organizes your messages into to-dos and topics. It can show bills and appointments, and identifies “VIP” contacts based on who you email most. The whole thing is powered by Gemini 3 and processes your data in an isolated environment. According to Google, your emails aren’t used to train its AI models. You can also turn it off entirely if you’d rather keep your inbox the way it is.
A Lot of Features for a Steep Price
The $250 monthly price isn’t just for AI Inbox. The AI Ultra plan bundles in the highest Gemini usage limits. It also grants access to advanced models, 30TB of cloud storage, YouTube Premium, and Google Home Premium Advanced. So if you’re already deep in Google’s ecosystem and using those other tools, it might make sense. For most people though, it’s a hard sell just for a smarter inbox.
To be fair, most of the other Gmail AI upgrades Google announced in January are already free, including Help Me Write, thread summaries, and personalized suggested replies. It’s not the first time Google has gated its more advanced Gmail AI tools behind a paid tier, but the price jump from free to $250 a month is sharper than usual. Google hasn’t said when or if AI Inbox will come to the $19.99 AI Pro plan, though wider availability seems likely down the line.
