Hello, I would like to use the Gemini API free tier, but my project is unable to call models. Could you please help investigate the reason for the access restriction?
Project ID: my-project-78985-jianji
The API key can retrieve the model list normally (HTTP 200), but calling gemini-3.8-flash returns:
403 PERMISSION_DENIED
“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”
In AI Studio, the billing tier shows “Unavailable”, and the rate limits page is empty; the Cloud Console homepage does not display any restriction reason or appeal portal.
Please let me know what verifications need to be completed and whether access to the free tier can be restored. Thank you.
Hello @lj0528166 ,
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:
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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.
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Ensure you have completed age verification by navigating to Google Account Age Verification and verifying date of birth in Google Account Personal Info.
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Once age verification is configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.
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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.
