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Google Gemini API free tier limits

Each line below was read on the official page linked next to it, on the date shown. A line older than 30 days says “not verified” instead of the old value.

Google · Free tier

Free allowance

Not published

Limits are per project and shown only inside Google AI Studio.

Free tier· ai.google.dev

Free tier on selected Gemini and Gemma models, through Google AI Studio.

  • No card needed
  • Works with OpenAI code
  • Accepts images
  • Trains on your prompts
  • Commercial use restricted
Free allowance
Not published

Limits are per project and shown only inside Google AI Studio.

Requests / min
Not published

Not published per model: “Rate limits … can be viewed in Google AI Studio.”

Requests / day
Not published

Not published per model: “Rate limits … can be viewed in Google AI Studio.”

Tokens / min
Not published

Not published per model.

Tokens / day
Not published

Not published per model.

Card to start
Not required

The Free tier qualifies with an “Active project or free trial”; no billing tier is involved.

Trains on your data
Yes

On unpaid services, content is used “to provide, improve, and develop Google products”, and human reviewers may read it.

Commercial use
Restricted

Only Paid Services may be used for API clients offered to users in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK.

OpenAI SDK
Yes
Image input
Yes

Gemini models take images natively.

Where it is offered
Listed countries only

Google publishes the list of available countries and territories. Users must be 18 or older.

12 of 12 cells above were read on the provider’s own page in the last 30 days (oldest check: ). Each check mark opens that page. The other 0 say “not verified” instead of repeating a number from someone else’s article.

Models with a free tier

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash
  • Gemini 3.7 Flash
  • Gemini 3.6 Flash
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
  • Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
  • Gemma 4

Text models listed with free input and output on the pricing page. Their limits are not printed there. Read on · ai.google.dev

What the numbers mean in practice

Google stopped printing free-tier numbers in the documentation. The rate-limits page says limits depend on the usage tier and are shown in Google AI Studio, and that they apply per project, not per API key. Creating more keys in the same project does not raise them.

Two conditions matter more than the numbers. Content sent on the free tier is used to improve Google products and may be read by human reviewers. And an app offered to users in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom must use the paid services.

Getting a Google Gemini API key

  1. Open “Get API key” in Google AI Studio.
  2. New users get a project and an API key created by default; otherwise choose “Create API key”.
  3. Store it in the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable.
  4. Check the limits of your project inside AI Studio: they are not published in the docs.

Steps as described on · ai.google.dev Open the Google Gemini API console.

Test the key with one request

Language
base_url
https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/
model
gemini-3.8-flash
key from
$GEMINI_API_KEY
import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/",
    api_key=os.environ["GEMINI_API_KEY"],
)

reply = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gemini-3.8-flash",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Reply with the word: ok"}],
)
print(reply.choices[0].message.content)
Endpoint read on · ai.google.dev

The key is read from an environment variable on your machine. This site has no field for keys and never asks for one.

Google Gemini API against the others

Questions and answers

What are the Google Gemini API free tier limits?

Free tier: not published (Limits are per project and shown only inside Google AI Studio). Requests per minute: not published (Not published per model: “Rate limits … can be viewed in Google AI Studio.”). Requests per day: not published (Not published per model: “Rate limits … can be viewed in Google AI Studio.”). Read on the official page on 3 Oct 2026.

Does Google Gemini API require a credit card?

Not required. The Free tier qualifies with an “Active project or free trial”; no billing tier is involved.

Does Google Gemini API train on data sent to the free tier?

Yes. On unpaid services, content is used “to provide, improve, and develop Google products”, and human reviewers may read it.

Can I use the Google Gemini API free tier commercially?

Restricted. Only Paid Services may be used for API clients offered to users in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK.

Is Google Gemini API compatible with the OpenAI SDK?

Yes. Set the base URL to https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/ and the model to an id such as gemini-3.8-flash.

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