Google has announced the launch of a free version of Gemini Code Assist, bringing the power of AI-assisted coding to individual developers, including students, hobbyists, freelancers, and startups.
This development assistant powered by Gemini 2.0 is now available to Kenyan developers and it supports all programming languages in the public domain and more importantly, it is optimised for coding.
Gemini Code Assist offers practically unlimited capacity with up to 180,000 code completions per month, significantly surpassing the limits of comparable free coding assistants. Users can generate and complete code blocks, receive code review assistance, and interact through a chatbot interface, all without the need to switch between multiple resources.
“With the new, free version of Gemini Code Assist in Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs, individual developers now have the same code completion, generation, and chat capabilities that we’ve offered businesses for over a year, and that are already available for free in Firebase and Android Studio,” said Ryan J. Salva, Senior Director of Product Management at Google.
“Now anyone can more conveniently learn, create code snippets, debug and modify their existing applications — all without needing to toggle between different windows for help or to copy and paste information from disconnected sources.”
Recent DORA research indicates that over 75% of developers now integrate AI into their daily workflows, underscoring its growing importance. At Google, for instance, over 25% of new code is AI-generated, and subsequently validated by engineering teams.
With the most generous usage limit of 90 times, and more code completions per month than other popular free coding assistants, coders have a huge opportunity, whether as a student working on a time-sensitive project, there would be no need to worry about chat limits stopping pair – programming sessions or dealing with stalling because you hit a cap.
Gemini Code Assist for individuals comes with a generous token context window, with up to 128,000 input token support in chat. This large context window lets developers use large files and ground Gemini Code Assist with a broader understanding of their local codebases. The chat feature also makes it easy for developers to focus on the creative part of development, while leaving the necessary, but repetitive steps – like writing comments or automated tests from requirements – to Gemini.
While established enterprises readily deploy advanced AI tools to enhance developer productivity, access to these resources has historically been limited for students, independent developers, and emerging startups. Developers interested in advanced functionality such as productivity metrics, customised AI responses based on private source code repositories, or integrations with Google Cloud services like BigQuery can also consider Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise.
Given the projected global developer base expansion to 57.8 million by 2028, democratising AI access is both timely and crucial. Providing these tools, regardless of financial capacity, equips the next generation of developers with the essential digital capabilities required for future innovation.
