Project unexpectedly downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 1 after moving from Postpay to Prepay

Google AI Studio
1

Hi team,

My Gemini API project was previously upgraded to Tier 2, but it has been
downgraded to Tier 1 without notice. I believe an automated trigger related to a
refund caused this, even though my prepay account now well exceeds the Tier 2
requirements.

Account & Billing Details:

  • Current Billing Scheme: Prepay
  • Total Prepay Purchased: 200 USD (100 initial prepay + $100 additional
    prepay)
  • Current Prepay Balance: Positive ($200 + $1.5k in credits)
  • First Successful Payment: Way over 3 days ago (qualifies for the 3-day aging
    rule)
  • Billing Account Status: Active, no failed payments

Timeline of Events:

  1. Initial state: I was on the post-pay billing scheme. To qualify for Tier 2,
    I made an early payment of $100 towards my balance. Waited 5 days, but no
    automatic upgrade occurred.
  2. Switch to Prepay: I switched my billing account to Prepay and purchased $100
    in credits. Within 1–2 days, my project was successfully upgraded to Tier 2.
  3. Refund: Since the initial post-pay $100 payment was redundant, I requested a
    refund for that specific post-pay transaction. The refund was approved and
    credited back.
  4. Downgrade: Roughly 2 days after the refund processed, my project was
    automatically downgraded back to Tier 1.
  5. Re-payment: I have since purchased another $100 in prepay credits (meaning I
    have now deposited $200 total in prepay credits, completely offsetting any
    previous refund). My project, however, remains stuck on Tier 1.

Eligibility:

According to the Gemini API Rate Limits & Usage Tier documentation, Tier 2
requires $100 total paid + 3 days from the first successful payment. My prepay
account alone satisfies and exceeds this requirement.

Impact:

My production workflow is currently blocked. I am repeatedly running into Tier 1
rate limits (429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED), which is halting daily usage.

Since the official Gemini API Tier Downgrade Report Form is currently closed, I
am reaching out here. Could a community manager or Google support engineer
please review this project and restore Tier 2 access?

Thank you for your help!

2

Hello @edescamps ,

This is likely happening because of an automated flag on your account. The following should help in this situation…

Check for banners / error callouts in the AI Studio Projects page & the Billing page. Mostly these flags cause visible banners or other errors on these pages with concrete next steps / appeal links.

If the above provides no concrete steps to solve the situation, you should consider applying for a temporary rate limit increase until this can be resolved.

We apologise if the above doesn’t resolve the problem for you immediately. We’re working to improve our messaging in AI Studio and support processes to handle this better.

3

Thank you for the guidance @Sai_Deepika_K

Yes, indeed. There is a banner stating that I have reached my spending limit, but this is due to the tier downgrade.

Currently, I have spent $350 this month, well below the $2k Tier 2 limit, but am being throttled based on the Tier 1 limit.

I applied for a temporary tier limit increase a while back, before I was upgraded to Tier 2, with no success.