Google AI Studio: What Is It and How Does It Work?

Google AI Studio is a browser-based workspace where you can test Google’s most powerful generative AI models, from Gemini 3 to Nano Banana. Think of it as an online playground where you can experiment with prompting to generate apps and agents, as well as photos, videos, and other content types.

How Do I Start Using Google AI Studio?

To begin using Google AI Studio, you’ll first need to:

1. Head to “aistudio.google.com”
2. Log in with a Google Account
3. Accept Google’s AI Labs privacy and usage terms

After following these instructions, you’ll end up on Google AI Studio’s landing page where you can begin experimenting with its AI models.

How Does Google AI Studio Work?

Google AI Studio works by connecting you with its most advanced AI models in one, browser-based location. This means you don’t need to spend forever installing software or setting up with code to start. You can interact with its AI models through plain-English prompting, or by inputting images, video, and audio files.

If you look at the left-hand sidebar after you’ve logged in, you’ll see the following tabs:

• Playground: You can test out Google’s AI models here. For example, you can select the “Gemini” tab if you want to develop chatbots and agents, or the “Image” tab if you want to create high-quality imagery for a website.
• Build: If vibe coding is your key focus, click on this tab. From here, you can start using natural language prompting to build an app with AI. Gemini will generate your app’s code for you each time you prompt and produce a live preview of how the app looks and runs.
• Dashboard: This is a centralized area where you can manage your projects, the API Keys you’ve created, and your usage rate limits or billing.
• Documentation: Here you’ll find useful resources on Google’s AI models and what they can do.

Google AI Studio’s key features are listed below:

Long Context Window

Google AI Studio has a long context window. In simple terms, its Gemini models can process a high-volume of text, images, and documents all at once – and remember it! This is helpful if you intend to have long, in-depth conversations with the AI models, or want to upload large documents.

Multimodality

Google AI Studio is multimodal, meaning that you can test prompting for text, imagery, video, and audio in one place. The main AI models enabling you to generate different content types include:

• Nano Banana for image generation (on Free Tier)
• Imagen 4 for photo-realistic image generation (on Paid Tier only)
• Veo 3.1 for video generation (on Paid Tier only)

💡If you intend to use Google AI Studio to create content, read our AI content creation tips guide first

Easy Code Export

One of Google AI Studio’s strongest features is the ability to easily export your code and put it into action, a crucial step that’s made super accessible for new users.

Once you’ve finished a project, you can retrieve the code so that it’s ready to add your website or app. In “Playground” mode, select the “Get Code” button to convert the code into a suitable programming language (like Java or Python). If you’re a complete beginner, you can hand this code over to a developer later, since they’ll understand what’s most suitable for your project.

But if you’re using “Build” mode to vibe code an app, you have more options available. You could:

• Copy and paste your code from the “Code” tab
• Push your code to Github
• Download your app as a ZIP file by clicking on the download icon

Run Settings

If you’re using the “Playground” option, you’ll find “Run Settings” in the right-hand sidebar. This is your control room where you can adjust how you want Google’s AI models to run during the prototyping stage. The main tools you can access include:

• Model selection: This makes it easy to switch between AI models
• Temperature: A slider than enables you to control how creative or random you’d like an AI model to act
• Aspect ratio: If you’re generating images, you can use this feature to adjust the width and height of your image
• Safety settings: This tool enables you to adjust harmful content thresholds, spanning harassment, hate speech, sexually explicit content, and dangerous content
• Stop sequences: You can control when an AI model should stop generating further text or content in a response

When browsing through Google’s AI offerings, you’ll likely come across Google AI Studio, Vertex AI, and Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced). Though all these platforms enable you to use AI models like Gemini, they have major differences and specific use cases:

To get a taste of Google’s AI tools, I recommend beginning with Google AI Studio, since you’ll be able to vibe code apps and generate content without spending a cent.

For businesses with more specialized needs, I recommend looking into the other two options instead. Vertex AI’s complex, custom pricing and enterprise tools are most suitable for large or scaling businesses that want to create powerful apps. Meanwhile, Google AI Pro offers a useful selection of tools for small or medium sized teams to use and boost productivity.

Google AI Studio’s costs depend on the plan you’re on, which I’ve outlined in the table below:

The Free Tier is ideal if you want to experiment with Google’s AI tools, work on personal projects, or create app prototypes and internal business tools that don’t contain sensitive data.

However, I recommend enabling billing and upgrading to the Paid Tier if you want access to all of Google’s AI models and don’t want to be restricted by a limited number of daily requests. It’s most useful if you’re going to be using Google’s AI tools regularly, or are interested in creating public-facing apps that may contain private data.

Can You Get Google AI Studio for Free?

You can use Google AI Studio for free, but it does come with significant drawbacks. Google will use your data to train its AI models, so avoid submitting your private data when using the free tier. Additionally, you’ll only be able to experiment with a limited number of tools. Upgrade to the Paid Tier if you want to try out Google’s best AI content tools or models, such as Nano Banana Pro.

If you’re unsure how Google AI Studio might fit in with your business’ operations, here are a few examples of how it could help.

Speedier Content Creation

If you’re most interested in AI content creation and would like to generate content for your business, Google’s AI models like Nano Banana can help.

For example, you could head into Google AI Studio’s “Playground” and:

• Generate images or videos for your website and use prompting to refine the content until you’re happy with the finished result
• Use text-based prompts to generate website copy, such as long-form blog posts or social media captions for an image you’ve attached

Rapid Prototyping

In “Build” mode, you can start vibe coding and prototyping your own apps within minutes. This functionality is useful if you want to bring your initial ideas into reality, but you’ll still need to hand your project over to a developer later on so they can refine and secure your code. Because of this, I don’t recommend using Google’s AI models alone for public-facing apps that will contain sensitive data.

Developing Your Own Tools

You could also use vibe coding on Google AI Studio to develop your own tools. This might include a personal productivity tool to keep yourself on track, or an internal business tool that you and your colleagues could use to boost efficiency. Some ideas include:

• A budget tracker, helping you better organize your personal or business expenses
• An email drafter to generate email templates in your company tone of voice for different clients or purposes
• An AI product description generator to create descriptions in bulk for your store
• An alerts tracker that notifies your business of any major industry news or product releases
• An SEO analysis tool that could score your webpages based on how SEO-friendly they are

Google AI Studio is a low-cost solution for businesses that want to experiment with Google’s latest AI models, but don’t want to commit straight away. From one handy location, you can experiment with vibe coding and turn your ideas into reality. Alternatively, generate additional content that your business can use on its website, social media accounts, or as physical marketing materials.

However, Google AI Studio won’t be a perfect solution for most businesses, especially if you’re on the Free Tier. Google can use your public data to train its AI, there are daily usage limits, and you’ll have restricted access to some of Google’s AI models. Keep these cons in mind when deciding if the platform will be useful for your business in the long-term or not.

💡 Interested in other platforms on the market? Check out our guide to the seven best vibe coding platforms out there.