# Manual billing sync request — project stuck on Free tier after linking an active billing account **URL:** \ **Category:** Gemini API\ **Tags:** billing\ **Created:** [August 3, 2026, 3:26am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977 "2026-08-03T03:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Romain\_Loustau](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/romain_loustau/32/140137_2.png) [@Romain\_Loustau](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Romain_Loustau)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:26am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977/1 "2026-08-03T03:26:46Z")
Hello, I’m unable to move my Gemini API project to the paid tier. My Google Cloud Billing account is Active and the project is correctly linked to it, but Google AI Studio still shows the project as “Free tier”, and every image-generation request (Gemini 3 Pro Image / Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) returns throttling / 429. When I try to enable billing or set up prepayment from AI Studio, I get “Error during billing setup”. - Project ID: gen-lang-client-00095128.. - Billing Account ID: 0125F9-B25A15-9CDE.. - Billing account state: Active (type: Direct), project already linked The Cloud Billing side looks fully configured, but the AI Studio billing / prepay state appears out of sync. Could you please perform a manual billing sync so the project reflects the paid tier and prepayment can be configured? Thank you very much for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/sai_deepika_k/32/34803_2.png) [@Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Sai_Deepika_K)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 4:00am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977/2 "2026-08-04T04:00:55Z")
Hello @Romain_Loustau , Could you please check if your project is configured as a Free Trial account in Google Cloud? ---
**Author:** ![Romain\_Loustau](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/romain_loustau/32/140137_2.png) [@Romain\_Loustau](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Romain_Loustau)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 11:33am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977/3 "2026-08-04T11:33:30Z")
hello and thanks for your help. yes, it actually says free trial account in GC. ![Capture d’écran 2026-08-04 à 13.28.19](https://d3qe71uytubmmx.cloudfront.net/original/3X/c/a/cacabafc3e8ac16f9b923c04cdac059cff9d491d.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/sai_deepika_k/32/34803_2.png) [@Sai\_Deepika\_K](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Sai_Deepika_K)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 9:04am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977/4 "2026-08-06T09:04:55Z")
Hello @Romain_Loustau , Your Tier should be upgraded now. Can you refresh your project page on [aistudio.google.com/rate-limit](http://aistudio.google.com/rate-limit) to verify your new quota limits. Please let us know if you experience any further issues. ---
**Author:** ![Romain\_Loustau](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/romain_loustau/32/140137_2.png) [@Romain\_Loustau](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Romain_Loustau)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/manual-billing-sync-request-project-stuck-on-free-tier-after-linking-an-active-billing-account/176977/5 "2026-08-06T17:20:43Z")
Super, thanks, it display the appropriate plan 🙂 thank you for your valuable help.