Google AI Studio do not use my $1300 credits shown on Google Cloud

Gemini API
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1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently facing a billing discrepancy where my Gemini API usage via Google AI Studio is charging my credit card directly, despite having $1,300 in active credits on the linked Google Cloud Billing account.

My current credit balance:

  • $1,000.00 – Trial credit for GenAI App Builder (Valid until April 2027)

  • $300.00 – Google Cloud Free Trial (Valid until July 2026)

The Problem: I have linked my AI Studio “Paid Tier” to the Google Cloud Project that belongs to this billing account. However, instead of drawing from the $300 Free Trial or the $1,000 GenAI credit, I am being invoiced and charged on my primary payment method.

My Questions:

  1. Does the $300 Free Trial credit cover AI Studio usage? Some community posts suggest that AI Studio is now excluded from Free Trial credits and only Vertex AI usage qualifies. Can a moderator confirm if this is the case?

  2. Product Scope for GenAI Credit: Is the $1,000 “GenAI App Builder” credit restricted solely to Agent Builder/Search, or can it be applied to Gemini 1.5/3.1 model tokens via the API?

  3. Correct Routing: If these credits only work for Vertex AI, what is the best way to migrate my AI Studio project to Vertex AI to ensure I am using my credits rather than out-of-pocket cash?

I would appreciate any clarity on why these specific credits aren’t being “seen” by the AI Studio billing system.

Thank you!

2

AI Studio is related to “Gemini API”, and Free Trial credit couldn’t cover it.

If you want to use the $300 for GPT Chat, you have to:

And “GenAI App Builder” credit does not apply to this.

3

The company made a change recently whereby cloud credits (the $300 free trial) cannot be used for AI Studio anymore; they are making us use only Vertex AI.

An official ticket was filed to have that reenabled; the company assigned me a Product Manager to handle it just today. Please Star (:star:) the issue if you are affected: Google Issue Tracker

4

The Vertex AI API was not able to be created for personal account. Have you solved this issue?

5

To be honest, I’ve never encountered this issue…

Any other details?