I do believe your mistaken about the cause of 429 is

Gemini API
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1

you see there is fine print associated with the free tier. If ever you have been apart of any promotion in which to recieved a free trial, You are not eligible for the free tier benifits. EVER, that is. there is an expiration day on your free tier benifits. there is also terms and conditions and specific areas that you may use your free tier benifits on, so that we have that cleared up. every ones on the same page. Gemini is awesome to work with. Very helpful i have had the pleasure of the paid and free versions and i can tell you a thing or two. we worked tirelessly and Gem kept me in compliance best practice and trouble shooy like a champ, just dont stop paying , which is how the world works.