A phase-matching free ultrashort pulse retrieval based on the defocusing of a laser-induced plasma is presented. In this technique, a pump pulse ionizes a rare gas providing a plasma lens whose creation time is ultrafast. A probe pulse propagating through this gas lens experiences a switch of its divergence. The spectrum of the diverging part, isolated by a coronograph, is measured as a function of the pump-probe delay, providing a spectrogram that allows for a comprehensive characterization of the temporal properties of the probe pulse. The method, called PI-FROSt for "Plasma-Induced Frequency resolved Optical Switching", is simple, free of phase matching constraints, and can operate in both selfand cross-referenced configurations at ultra-high repetition rate in the whole transparency range of the gas. The assessment of the method demonstrates laser pulse reconstructions of high reliability in both near-infrared and ultraviolet spectral ranges.