Request for manual review – Gemini API project Restricted / 403 PERMISSION_DENIED

Gemini API
1

Request for manual review – Gemini API Free Tier project restricted

Google AI Studio shows all projects on my account as Restricted with Billing Tier: Unavailable.

A newly created AI Studio Auth key returns:

HTTP 403 PERMISSION_DENIED
Your project has been denied access. Please contact support.

The project is intended only for low-volume synthetic development traffic. No sensitive or production data has been sent.

There is no appeal option visible in AI Studio or Google Cloud Console.

Could a Google team member please advise how I can request review of the restriction while retaining eligibility for the Gemini API Free Tier?

I can provide the full Project ID privately if required.

2

Hello @SANTIL ,
Please try the below steps:

  1. 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.

  2. Verify your Google Account:

  3. Upgrade to a Paid Tier:

    • If verifying your account does not restore access (or if using a model requiring a paid tier), you can unlock access by adding prepayment credits directly in Google AI Studio or attaching a Google Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud Console.
3

Hi @Mahesh_Sutar

Thank you. I have now completed and checked all of the steps you suggested.

The Google Workspace account has 2-Step Verification enabled, a verified 2SV phone number, recovery phone, Authenticator and valid date of birth. There are no outstanding age-verification or account-security warnings that would appear to prevent access.

I have also now created a completely new Google AI Studio project specifically to test this, with no billing attached and a newly generated API key. The new project is immediately shown as Restricted, exactly the same as my existing projects.

This therefore appears to be an account or organisation-level restriction rather than an issue with an individual project or API key.

I specifically want to use the Gemini API Free Tier for development and testing and do not want to attach billing merely to bypass what appears to be an automated restriction.

Could you please arrange a manual review of the Google account / Workspace organisation for Gemini API Free Tier eligibility and restore access if eligible?

I can provide screenshots, project IDs or any further verification required.

Thank you.

4

Hello @SANTIL ,

To be able to use free tier, Please try using your personal account rather than a workspace account. Meantime, I will also DM you to get your project id.

5

Hi Mahesh,

Just to update you, this has now been resolved. I switched to a
personal Google account as you suggested and was able to use the
Gemini API free tier successfully.

There is no need to continue with the project ID/manual review now.

Thanks for your help.

Best,
Karl