Google Gemini API Free Tier: Limits

Quick answer

Yes. The provider does not publish fixed free limits in its docs (Per model, shown in AI Studio) and no credit card is needed. The catch: Free prompts can be used to improve Google products, and the free tier is not allowed for apps serving EEA, UK or Swiss users.

Free Checked 29 Oct 2026 against the provider's docs. Compare Google Gemini API with other free LLM API providers.

Requests / min

Not confirmed

Per day

Not confirmed

Card needed

Trains on prompts

Yes

What you can build within the free tier

Because the exact free limits are not published as fixed numbers, treat this tier as a place to prototype and test. Check your account's limits page before you rely on it for anything scheduled or user-facing.

The catch

Free prompts can be used to improve Google products, and the free tier is not allowed for apps serving EEA, UK or Swiss users.

Commercial use: allowed
OpenAI-compatible API: Yes

When to pay

Pay as you go (Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite from $0.25 in, $1.50 out per 1M). Every Google model's price, with batch and cache rates, is on our Gemini API pricing page, and the other labs are in the full LLM API pricing table. Check prompt sizes first with the Gemini token counter.

Outgrowing the free tier?

Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 in and $3.75 out per 1M tokens. See what your own volume would cost.

Estimate your paid API cost

Free alternatives

MistralFreeShown in the console

CohereLimited20 RPM · 1,000 calls/month

GroqFree30 RPM · 1,000/day

OpenRouterFree20 RPM · 50/day

Same kind of service, trial access only: OpenAI API, Claude API.

Same kind of service, no free tier: DeepSeek API.

Change history

18 Sep 2026CutGemini 2.5 models limited to users who already used themSource
16 Mar 2026ChangedUsage tiers revamped and billing spend caps addedSource

Frequently asked

Is Google Gemini API free?

Does Google Gemini API need a credit card?

No. Google Gemini API does not ask for a card to use the free tier.

Does Google Gemini API train on free-tier prompts?

Yes, free-tier prompts can be used to improve the provider's models or products. Avoid sending confidential data on the free tier.

FreeAIDevTools

Independent LLM pricing and free-tier tracker

An independent site run by an AI engineer. Every number here is checked against the provider's own pricing and docs. How we verify.

Source: aistudio.google.com/docs/pricing · Terms: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms