429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED on Paid Tier 1 — quota appears stuck on free-tier limits despite active billing

Gemini API
1

I’m hitting immediate 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED errors on every Gemini API call, on a project with active Tier 1 (Prepay) billing set up in AI Studio.

Project ID: gen-lang-client-01106561..
Project Number: 7522809242..

Details:

  • Billing Tier shows as Tier 1 · Prepay, confirmed active in AI Studio.
  • This project also has $300 in Google Cloud trial credit active (0 used, expires Nov 28, 2026) — mentioning in case that’s relevant to how the account is being classified internally.
  • The error occurs across every model I’ve tried: gemini-3.5-flash, gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.7-flash.
  • The AI Studio Rate Limits dashboard (aistudio.google.com/rate-limit) shows 0 usage against the listed RPM/TPM/RPD limits for these models, so this isn’t the standard per-minute quota being exceeded.
  • This has now persisted for over 48 hours, well past normal propagation delay.
  • I’ve read through several similar threads here (e.g. “CRITICAL BUG: Paid Project (Tier 1) but stuck on Free Tier Token Limit”) describing the exact same symptom — billing shows paid, but the enforcement backend still applies free-tier quota metrics.

Could someone take a look at whether this project’s tier is being correctly recognized on the backend? Happy to provide anything else needed.

2

Hi @Traders_Auction_Grou,
This happens because Google Cloud trial credits cannot be used in Prepay mode until you deposit an initial cash balance in your AIS prepaid wallet.

In Google AI Studio Prepay mode for project gen-lang-client-0110656..., promotional and trial credits remain locked while the cash balance is $0, returning 429 quota errors. Adding a minimum deposit unlocks your eligible Google Cloud credits, which will then be consumed first before your deposited balance is charged.

Next steps:

  • Go to https://aistudio.google.com/billing and select your project’s billing account.
  • Add the minimum deposit to fund your AIS prepaid wallet.
  • Retry your Gemini API calls once the wallet balance updates.
  • If you still face issues, let us know.
3

Thanks for the response, but this doesn’t match what I’m seeing. My prepaid wallet already has a funded balance:

  • Credit balance: $25.00
  • Added: Aug 28, 2026 (via Prepay)
  • Used: $0.00

The deposit has been in place for several days with zero usage, yet every Gemini API call across multiple models (gemini-3.5-flash, gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.7-flash) still returns 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED immediately. This isn’t a case of an empty wallet needing funding; there are untouched funds sitting there that the API isn’t drawing from at all.

Project ID: gen-lang-client-0110656..
Project Number: 7522809242..
Billing Account ID: 016225-37B4B3-0B2..

image.png
image.png1442×764 38.8 KB

4

Hello, could you share the error message please?

i.e. Is their any error message that you see in addition to the 429 resource exhausted

if you could try making a CURL request and share the complete response that would be really helpful. thanks!

5

(post deleted by author)

6

Hi, This issue was caused by a temporary backend error which has now been resolved. Your requests should now be working normally. Apologies!

7

Hi,

I am getting a different error now and it said that I don’t have the permissions. I deleted my old project and created a new one and that didn’t work when i tested it in make.com I also tried creating new api keys but that still didn’t work.

image.png
image.png786×385 40.1 KB

Kind Regards,
Ivan