Home / Free API tiers / Google

Gemini API free tier

What Google's own documentation says about its free API access, entered by hand with a source link and a check date.

Google — Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio)

Also known as: Google AI Studio API · Google AI Studio free tier

Confirmed from official docs (not tested by a real API call) Ongoing free tier

The Gemini API has a Free tier that offers free input and output tokens on a subset of models, with limited access to certain models and rate limits that are not guaranteed.

What the Gemini API free tier includes

  • Models listed as "Free of charge" for both input and output on the free tier include gemini-3.8-flash, gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite, gemini-3.1-flash-lite, gemini-3-flash-preview, gemini-2.5-pro, gemini-2.5-flash, gemini-2.5-flash-lite, Gemma 4 and gemini-embedding-2, plus several TTS, Live and transcription models. (Gemini Developer API pricing)
  • Some models are "Not available" on the free tier, including Gemini 3.1 Pro, gemini-3.1-pro-preview-customtools and the Gemini Omni Flash and image models. (Gemini Developer API pricing)
  • On the free tier, content is "used to improve our products". (Gemini Developer API pricing)
  • The Free usage tier applies to an "Active project or free trial"; paid tiers require setting up billing. (Gemini API rate limits)
  • API keys come from Google AI Studio: "If you are a new user, Google AI Studio automatically creates a default Google Cloud project and API key after you accept the Terms of Service." (Using Gemini API keys)

Gemini API free tier limits

  • Free tier includes "Free input & output tokens" and "Limited access to certain models". (Gemini Developer API pricing)
  • Per-model free-tier rate limits are not listed on the page: "View your active rate limits in AI Studio". "Specified rate limits are not guaranteed and actual capacity may vary." (Gemini API rate limits)

Where the developer's docs point to for current limits:

Checked 2026-10-13.

Sources

  • Gemini Developer API pricing — page last updated 2026-10-09 — CC BY 4.0
    Google, "Gemini Developer API pricing", ai.google.dev, CC BY 4.0. Summarized and quoted in part; model list shortened.
  • Gemini API rate limits — page last updated 2026-10-15 — CC BY 4.0
    Google, "Rate limits", ai.google.dev, CC BY 4.0. Summarized and quoted in part.
  • Using Gemini API keys — page last updated 2026-10-06 — CC BY 4.0
    Google, "Using Gemini API keys", ai.google.dev, CC BY 4.0. Quoted in part.

Models listed as free

Model ids this entry lists as free (see its sources for the developer's own wording). Confirm the full, current list on the official page. An id links to its page on this site only when a model page with exactly that slug exists.

All Google models and official API pricing →

← All free API tiers by developer