Persistent 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED error on Tier 1, well below quota limits (gemini-2.5-flash)

Gemini API
1

Problem Description

I’m experiencing persistent 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED errors on the Gemini API (gemini-2.5-flash model), even though my usage is well below the documented Tier 1 limits.

Current Usage vs. Limits

| Metric | My Usage | Tier 1 Limit |

|——–|———-|————–|

| RPM | ~50 | 1,000 |

| TPM | ~5% | - |

| RPD | <500 | 10,000 |

Error Message


429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
```

## What I've Already Tried

1. Created new API keys
2. Created a new GCP project
3. Implemented exponential backoff (up to 60s delay)

None of these actions resolved the issue.

## Impact

This problem is affecting my production application.

## Related Discussion

I found other developers reporting the same issue:
https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/429-resource-exhausted-error-on-paid-api-despite-being-far-below-all-quota-limits/111855

## Project Details

- **Project ID:** gen-lang-client-0845641125
- **Model:** gemini-2.5-flash

Could someone from the Google AI team please investigate this? It appears to be a backend issue rather than actual quota exhaustion.
3

Hi @IGOR_ANTONIO,

We truly appreciate you flagging this issue and apologize for the issues. We have escalated this issue to our internal team for further investigation. They are currently reviewing it, and we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information. Could you please provide the project number (not the project ID) via direct message?

Thank you!

5

Hi @IGOR_ANTONIO,

We’ve pushed a fix that should resolve the problem.

Please let us know if you are still experiencing any issues.

Thank you!