Billing setup complete but Quota Tier stuck on "Free tier" — multiple projects, multiple keys (original) (raw)

I’ve set up billing correctly but AI Studio continues to show “Free tier” for every API key I create. I’ve now tried this across multiple projects and keys over two days with the same result.

What I’ve done:

1. Created a Google Cloud billing account with a valid payment method (not free trial credits)
2. Created a project (“Test Again” — gen-lang-client-0631488633) in AI Studio
3. Linked the billing account to the project — confirmed in Cloud Console under Billing → Account Management → linked projects
4. Completed the billing setup flow in AI Studio — received the confirmation message: “Your Google Cloud billing account and Gemini API project are now linked. You can now access higher rate limits, advanced models, and more exclusive features.”
5. Created a new API key within the billed project
6. Quota Tier column still shows “Free tier” with no clickable upgrade link
7. Repeated the entire process with a brand new project and new API key — same result

What I’ve verified:

• Billing account is NOT a free trial — it’s a full paid account with a real payment method
• Project is confirmed linked to billing account in Cloud Console
• AI Studio completed the billing flow and showed the success confirmation
• Tried hard refresh, incognito browser, creating new keys — all still show Free tier
• This has persisted for 24+ hours

Environment:

• Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com)
• Date: March 8-9, 2026
• Goal: Access Gemini 3.1 models at paid tier rate limits

Expected: Quota Tier should show “Tier 1” after billing setup Actual: Quota Tier shows “Free tier” despite billing being fully linked and confirmed

Is there a known sync issue currently? Can someone on the Google AI team verify my account/project status on the backend?

Thank you.

I’m having the same issue, so annoying. You’d think they’d want to make it easy for us to give them money

Same I have the same issue. I also use a different google account and different credit card, but it is still not working for me.

I’m getting the same problem. Tried every possible way to get off “Free Tier”. Still stuck on “Free Tier”

Hi

Can you DM me with your project numbers ?

I’m facing the exact same issue with mine as well. Shows “Free Tier” instead of “Tier 1”.

Hope someone is working on a fix for this.

scott_t March 11, 2026, 2:11pm 7

Is there any update on this? I’ve tried recreating API keys, payment methods, signing in and out of google accounts; tried everything at this point. I link up billing and it confirms a paid API key is linked, but I can’t do anything in any model. It keeps saying I’m on a free account and I’ve reached a quota when I haven’t been able to do anything. Trying to access Nano B Pro 2..

Same problem here. I wanted to make use of 3.1 pro, and I’m getting 429 error…

Mark70 March 11, 2026, 2:19pm 9

You might have to give them a month to update it

No update, no progress.
No help.
Disappointing!!

Same issue. Tried re-adding the project and re-creating the key - nothing works, still says Free Tier although there’s a payment method associated with the project.

I’m having the same problem. No fix so far.

Mark70 March 17, 2026, 2:09pm 14

Does a google AI employee look at this forum?

Looks like theres a few people that need help. will someone look at this soon?

I am also encountering this issue. Just upgraded the billing, but new api keys are stuck at free tier.

Same issue confirmed here too — billing linked, confirmation message received, but the quota tier still shows “Free tier” on all API keys.

A few things worth checking for anyone stuck on this:

1. Make sure you’re using the correct project — go to console.cloud.google.com, confirm the project you linked billing to, then create the API key specifically within that project. Sometimes AI Studio defaults to a different project.
2. Check the API key’s project — in AI Studio under “Get API key”, each key shows which project it belongs to. Verify it matches the billed project, not some auto-generated one.
3. Wait up to 48 hours — some users report that the tier upgrades with a delay after billing is linked, even if the quota page looks stuck.
4. Submit a support ticket via support.google.com/gemini-api if it’s been more than 48 hours — this seems to be a backend sync issue that requires manual intervention.
   Hopefully Google addresses this soon — it’s clearly affecting a lot of users.

zh4ngx April 8, 2026, 10:59pm 17

I’m stuck on tier 1 prepay even though i have credit and i’m getting a “429”

 Attempt 1 failed with status 429. Retrying with backoff... _ApiError: {"error":{"code":429,"message":"Your prepayment credits are depleted. Please go to AI
      Studio at https://ai.studio/projects to manage your project and billing.","status":"RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED"}}