Google AI Studio make me do a deposit of R$250,00 to use the API( I used only R$3,56)… Now the API stop working and need again a new deposit prepaid.
I’m seeing this as well, its exactly as shown. I have been forced to buy the minimum $25 credits just to use the API key again even though I already have the first tier Ultra sub with over $30 worth of its benefits credits left. Which up until the change worked perfectly fine.
Literally the exact same issue as mine. I have $1200 of credits left, but they’re not working anymore.
Hey all, there’s two possibilities here:
- The remaining credits are not eligible for the Gemini API.
- Your pre-pay wallet is at $0. There’s a current limitation where the pre-pay wallet must have $10 to use remaining GCP credits.
We’re working on making both of these things much clearer, and fixing the latter limitation
Thanks for the clarifications evanotero.
Regarding your post, I’m not sure if this has affected others, but after being forced to add the minimum prepay amount out of pocket and waiting a full reset cycle (roughly 24 hours), the API key in Google AI Studio started using credits from the Ultra subscription plan again.
On my test usage, the balance went from $46.60 to $46.10 with no deduction from the $25 prepay credit. This seems to confirm your statement — at least on my account.
That said, I’m concerned about how this will work long-term, especially since purchased credits expire one year after buying them. Many Ultra/Pro subscription benefits and similar credits don’t mention needing an extra purchase just to activate the API key.
Is there any official documentation or support that explains this for customers or businesses currently effected? While I understand its currently being solved by your statement. As you can imagine, it’s frustrating/confusing to buy a subscription (Or other product that supplies similar benefits) only to get blocked with another required purchase just to use the product already purchased in good faith.
I’m also facing the same issue.
I have added 1000rs credits, its reflecting on the billing page, but the project (gen-lang-client-0834129…) show 0 credits.
Same problem here.
I have an active Google AI Pro subscription which grants $10 monthly Gen AI & Cloud credits via the Google Developer Program. In Google Cloud Billing, I can clearly see this credit listed and available (Google Developer Program premium benefit - CREDIT_TYPE_MONTHLY, 100% remaining, ~NT$319 shown).
However, in AI Studio, my Credit balance still shows $0.00, and API requests fail with prepayment credits depleted errors.
I also confirmed that the “Prepay - AI Studio” payment account exists and has a valid payment method attached (Mastercard). So the account structure looks correctly configured — this appears to be a pure credit-sync issue between GCP Billing and AI Studio, not a missing Prepay account or missing payment method.
Project name: Default Gemini Project
Project number: 1307938034..
Billing Account ID: 01BE11-F3562B-1767..
Could someone from the team please manually sync this account?
I paid for 58 credits but I still get the same error. “Your prepay credits are depleted. Buy credits or switch to a project in a different billing account to continue.”
I never had this happening as frequently before, I could just buy my credits and use it right away, now I have to wait a whole day to be able to use my credits everytime this happens. I would get this error from time to time but its turning very frequent now. Very frustrating
I am experiencing the same issue.
I purchased VND 300,000 in Gemini API prepaid credits on July 22, 2026. My official Gemini API cost dashboard shows only VND 84,783 in recorded usage, so my expected remaining balance should be VND 215,217.
However, the prepaid billing page shows a negative balance of VND 13,284, and all API requests fail with:
429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: Your prepayment credits are depleted.
I already contacted Google Cloud Billing Support. They said they do not have access to the AI Studio prepaid ledger and directed me to this forum.
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