Account Restricted / Billing Unavailable (Free Tier)

Gemini API
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1

Hello Google AI Support Team,

I am requesting a manual review of my account to restore Free Tier API access. My project is currently returning a 403 PERMISSION_DENIED error.

In Google AI Studio, my project shows:

  • Status: Restricted

  • Billing Tier: Unavailable

  • Message: “This Project’s API access is restricted. Please set up billing to continue.”

Project Details:

  • Project Name: Default Gemini Project

  • Project ID: gen-lang-client-01243836..

I intend to use the API strictly on the Free Tier. I have already fully completed my Age Verification, Phone Verification, and enabled 2-Step Verification (2SV) on this Google Account.

Could a team member please manually review my account and lift this restriction? Thank you!

2

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:

Since 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.