CRITICAL BUG: Paid Project (Tier 1) but stuck on Free Tier Token Limit

Gemini API
, ,
100

@David_Quenet Can you DM me, please, I have the Quota problem as well. Need to sort this out as I can only work half an hour per day on the projects because my paid API key´s are not working properly. I run out of free quota and that´s it…

101

Same! {“error”:{“code”:429,“message”:"You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details. For more information on this error, head to: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits. To monitor your current usage, head to: https://ai.dev/rate-limit. ",“status”:“RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED”}} But im in pro.. How come

Retry

102

This likely not a bug. If you look at your Gemini dashboard. I signed up for an API (not requiring the paramount coding and prototyping. I set a cao $50 and although not reflected on the dashboard I suspecy I hit that cap. Or close to it.

Screenshot 2026-03-27 003735
Screenshot 2026-03-27 0037351152×811 51.2 KB

103

Screenshot 2026-03-27 005849
Screenshot 2026-03-27 005849421×412 24.6 KB

104

Hi @chunduriv — same billing misclassification issue. Context caching returning max_total_token_count=0 on Paid Tier 1 with confirmed billing. Can I DM you my Project Number?

105

this seems to be still an issue. getting max free tier limits on tier 1 plan

106

Hi @chunduriv We are currently on Paid Tier 1 for the project:aigrademypaper, but our application is being crippled by 429 TooManyRequests errors that don’t align with our quota.

The Discrepancy:

  • Observed Behavior: Massive spikes in 429 errors (lots of failures) starting around May 4.

  • Dashboard Metrics: Our “Peak requests per minute (RPM)” chart shows we peaked at 31 RPM.

  • Assigned Limit: Our limit for gemini-3-flash is 1,000 RPM.

Evidence: I’ve attached two screenshots from the AI Studio dashboard showing the contradiction:

  1. Usage Dashboard: Shows the high volume of 429 errors.

  2. Rate Limits Breakdown: Shows our peak RPM is significantly below the 1,000 RPM threshold (using less than 10% of our capacity).

    Rate_Limit

    Rate_Limit1680×399 29.1 KB

This is severely impacting our production environment. If any Google team members could look into the backend logs for aigrademypaper to see why the enforcement doesn’t match the dashboard limits, it would be greatly appreciated.

107

My … for Google could fill volumes. They make things 200X more complex than need be. I used to be able to create API keys for Gemini in the cloud console. No more! Nothing but errors. Lately, it’s the dreaded 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED BS. I’m NOT on a free trial. I have an active billing account connected to a project. Google fails to fix this. I hate that we’re completely at their … customer service mercy. Has anyone found a way around this? Thanks.

Update: Just tried creating a support ticket on Cloud Console–Don’t have permission! God…

108

Wow! Incredible. Instead of fixing this serious problem, these Google trolls would rather spend time editing our posts.

109

Did you find a solution to this bug? These google bums cannot comprehend the issue