403 PERMISSION_DENIED — “Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”

Gemini API
1

Hello Google Gemini API Team,

I am requesting a manual review of my Gemini API access.

My Gemini chatbot consistently returns:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED

“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”

Project:

  • Project ID: gen-lang-client-023398617..

  • Project number: 35400164452..

  • Billing tier: Free tier

  • Project name: Default Gemini Project

I created a new Gemini API key and selected the Default Gemini Key associated with this project. The key is connected to my AI Studio app through the server-side GEMINI_API_KEY secret.

I also confirmed that my chatbot uses process.env.GEMINI_API_KEY and does not expose the API key in client-side code.

However, every attempt to generate a Gemini response still returns the 403 PERMISSION_DENIED error saying that the project has been denied access.

I would like to remain on the Free Tier and request a manual review of the project/account access restriction.

Could you please check whether there is an access, security, or eligibility restriction on this project and advise me how to restore Gemini API access?

I have not included my API key or any private credentials.

Thank you.

2

Hello @Michael_Navales ,

Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:

If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, please try the below steps:

  1. Check Model Availability & Rate Limits:

    • Ensure that the model you are requesting is available on your current plan. For example, not all models are available on the free tier. You can verify model availability, quotas, and limits on the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard.

  2. Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to Google Account Age Verification and verifying date of birth in Google Account Personal Info.

  3. Complete Phone Verification and turn on 2-Step Verification (2SV) on the Google Account associated with your project.

  4. Once age, phone and 2sv are configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.

  5. If completing these steps still does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you might want to consider adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.