Paid Auto Stays On Capable Models

August 26, 2026

On a paid plan, Auto no longer drops to a budget model — even on a one-word prompt. It picks the cheapest healthy model whose quality score is 60 or above.

What you can do

• Keep paid Auto off budget models — Pro, Pro Max, and Black never route to the budget tier (Luna, Flash-Lite, and other 1× picks).
• Hold a quality floor of 60 — Auto then chooses the cheapest healthy model at or above that score. Short prompts no longer land on a cheaper workhorse that sits at 50–54.
• Leave Community on the cheap default — Community Auto still uses the planner floors, so everyday asks can stay on Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
• Pin when you want a specific model — choosing a model in the picker still overrides Auto on every plan.

Where this shows up

You are on Pro or Pro Max, leave the model on Auto, and type a short follow-up. You used to get a budget or mid-50s workhorse. Now Auto stays on a model at quality 60 or above.

You are on Community and want the cheapest capable default for light chat. That path is unchanged.

Try it

• On a paid plan with the model set to Auto: "hi"
• Then: "Summarize this thread into three decisions and the open questions."
• Pin Gemini 3.7 Flash if you want that specific workhorse instead of Auto's quality-60 pick.

Heads up

Paid Auto can cost more per turn than before, because budget models are no longer in the paid Auto pool. Your plan quota and credit packs do not change. Manual model picks are unaffected.