I am requesting a manual review of an unexpected Gemini API access restriction.
Project details
Project name: TEST
Project ID: concrete-tuner-505514…
Project number: 415547127…
Account type: Personal Google account
Intended tier: Free Tier
Intended model: Gemini 3.7 Flash
Use case: Personal, low-volume local development and coding assistant testing
Google AI Studio currently shows my project status as Restricted, with the message:
“API access for this project is restricted. Set up billing to continue.”
My API key itself is valid. I was previously able to successfully call the Gemini models endpoint and retrieve the available model list, including Gemini 3.7 Flash.
However, actual generation requests fail with:
403 PERMISSION_DENIED
Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.
I have also tested the API directly outside of the third-party application, and the restriction persists.
This project is only used for personal development and low-volume testing. I am not reselling Gemini access, operating a public API proxy, performing bulk scraping, sending unsolicited automated traffic, or attempting to bypass API quotas.
I would like to continue using the Free Tier and would prefer not to enable paid billing solely to remove what may be an automated restriction.
Could the Gemini API team please manually review whether my project or account has been incorrectly flagged and restore Free Tier access if I am eligible?
I can provide additional information privately if required.
I will not post my API key or credentials publicly.
Hello @Kass_Turing ,
Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:
If you’re on the free tier with no billing attached, please try the below steps:
Check Model Availability & Rate Limits:
Ensure that the model you are requesting is available on your current plan. For example, not all models are available on the free tier. You can verify model availability, quotas, and limits on the AI Studio Rate Limit dashboard.
Once age, phone and 2sv are configured, retry your request or create a new API key in Google AI Studio.
If completing these steps still does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you might want to consider adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio and/ or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console. Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.
I am requesting a manual review of my Google Cloud project because my Gemini API access has been restricted.
I am using a personal Google account (regular Gmail account), not a Google Workspace, school, or company account.
When I tried to create a project for using the Gemini API, I initially received the following error:
“Failed to create project, The request is suspicious. Please try again.”
I was eventually able to create the project, but the project is now restricted.
When I try to use the Gemini API, I receive:
403 PERMISSION_DENIED
“Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.”
The project is also shown as restricted in Google AI Studio, with billing tier unavailable. I understand that enabling billing may remove the restriction, but my intention is to use the Gemini API Free Tier for personal testing and development without enabling paid billing.
I have already completed phone verification and enabled 2-Step Verification on my Google account, but the project remains restricted.
Project name:
My Project 15268
Project ID:
qualified-city-507617-..
Could you please manually review this project and check whether the restriction was applied by mistake?
If possible, I would like to have access to the Gemini API Free Tier restored without enabling paid billing.
Since you have already completed phone verification and turned on 2-Step Verification, please complete the remaining requirements to help lift the account flag:
Confirm Model Availability: Check the AI Studio Rate Limit Dashboard to ensure the specific model you are calling is supported on the free tier.
Generate a New API Key: Once your age is confirmed, create a brand-new API key in Google AI Studio and retry your request.
If the 403 error persists after completing these steps, the restriction can usually be resolved by adding prepaid credits in Google AI Studio or linking a billing account in the Google Cloud Console Please note this will mean you lose your free tier quota.
I also tried to create a new API key as suggested, but the API key creation failed with a “suspicious request” message. My project still shows a warning icon.
Could you please review the restriction on my project?
There is no manual sync at our end. If you are on free tier and still get 403 errors after completing all the age related verifications/ 2 step/ phone verifications, please consider attaching a billing account to your project or adding prepaid credits to your AI Studio wallet.
Thank you for the clarification. I would like to use the Gemini API Free Tier for personal testing without adding billing or prepaid credits.
Since my project is still restricted and I cannot even generate a new API key due to the “suspicious request” error, is there any way to manually review or restore Free Tier access for my project?
If you’ve completed checks like phone verification/ 2sv/ age verification, etc and are on free tier and still getting this error, its highly likely that your account was flagged by automated systems. To resolve this, consider setting up billing by linking an active billing account to your project in Google AI Studio. Once billing is configured, please retry the request or generate a new API key and then retry.
If you still face issues after setting up billing, please let us know.