Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio)
Google AI Studio / Gemini API Free API tier
The catch: Unpaid prompts and outputs are used to improve Google products and may be read by human reviewers (the paid-tier data terms apply instead in the EEA, Switzerland and UK), and exact limits are only visible inside AI Studio.
| Access | Free API tier |
|---|---|
| Free limits | Free tier (qualification: 'Active project or free trial', no billing account). Text models priced 'Free of charge' (Standard) on the pricing page: 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-flash-preview, gemini-2.5-pro, gemini-2.5-flash, gemini-2.5-flash-lite, and Gemma 4 via the API (gemma-4-31b-it, gemma-4-26b-a4b-it). Not free: gemini-3.1-pro-preview and all image, video and music generation models; Batch and Flex are 'Not available' on the free tier. Google no longer publishes per-model free RPM/TPM/RPD: the rate-limits page says limits 'can be viewed in Google AI Studio' (aistudio.google.com/rate-limit). What is public: limits apply per project, not per key; RPD resets at midnight Pacific; preview and experimental models are more restricted; access to the 2.5 models is now limited to users who actively used them before. |
| Modality | text, code, audio |
| Credit card | Not required |
| Commercial use | Allowed |
| Trains on your data | Yes, on the free tier |
| Licence or terms | Google APIs Terms of Service + Gemini API Additional Terms of Service (effective 23 Mar 2026) |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Model id | gemini-3.8-flash |
| Base URL | https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/ |
| Last checked | 2 Oct 2026 |
How to use Gemini 3.8 Flash and family
It speaks the OpenAI API at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/, so the OpenAI SDK you already use works once you change the base URL and key.
curl https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/chat/completions -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -d '{"model":"gemini-3.8-flash","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'I want to use the free AI model "Gemini 3.8 Flash and family" from Google AI Studio (model id: gemini-3.8-flash) in my project. Please: 1. Check the provider docs and give me the exact steps to get a free API key. 2. Give me a minimal working example that reads the key from an environment variable. 3. Tell me the real free limits and any catch (commercial use, card, data use). Listed limits: Free on 3.x Flash, 2.5 and Gemma 4; limits shown in AI Studio only. 4. If the same provider has a more generous free option, mention it.
Before you ship on it
- Unpaid prompts and outputs are used to improve Google products and may be read by human reviewers (the paid-tier data terms apply instead in the EEA, Switzerland and UK), and exact limits are only visible inside AI Studio.
- Prompts on the free tier may be used to train models. Keep customer data off it.
- Gemini API Additional Terms (effective 23 Mar 2026): use is 'for developers building with Google AI models for professional or business purposes, not for consumer use'. No ban on commercial use of unpaid quota, but 'You…
- Free tiers are shared capacity: treat the limits as a ceiling, not a promise, and keep a paid fallback.
Questions
Is Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio) free?
Yes. Google AI Studio offers it as free api tier, with these limits: Free on 3.x Flash, 2.5 and Gemma 4; limits shown in AI Studio only. No credit card is needed.
Can I use Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio) commercially?
Yes, under Google APIs Terms of Service + Gemini API Additional Terms of Service (effective 23 Mar 2026). Check the current terms before you ship.
How do I start with Gemini API free tier (Google AI Studio)?
It speaks the OpenAI API at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/, so the OpenAI SDK you already use works once you change the base URL and key.
Source: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, checked 2 Oct 2026.