Google's Gemini API offers a free tier that lets developers test and build with their AI models at no cost. But there are important limits and restrictions you need to know about before getting started.
Is Gemini API Really Free?
Yes, Gemini API has a recurring free tier for several models. You pay nothing for tokens, but you face strict rate limits on how many requests you can make per minute and per day.
Free Tier Models and Limits
Here are the models available in the free tier with their rate limits:
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- 2 requests per minute
- 50 requests per day
- Best for: Flagship reasoning tasks
Gemini 2.5 Flash
- 10 requests per minute
- 250 requests per day
- Best for: Fast general-purpose tasks
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
- 15 requests per minute
- 1,000 requests per day
- Best for: Lightweight and cheap applications
Gemini 2.0 Flash
- 15 requests per minute
- 200 requests per day
- Best for: Previous generation tasks
Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite
- 30 requests per minute
- 200 requests per day
- Best for: Older lightweight applications
What About Gemini 3 Pro?
Gemini 3 Pro does not have a free tier. Pricing starts at $2.00 per million input tokens and $12.00 per million output tokens.
Paid Tier Pricing
When you upgrade to paid tiers, here is what you pay:
Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Input: $1.25 per million tokens (for prompts up to 200k tokens)
- Output: $10.00 per million tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash
- Input: $0.30 per million tokens
- Output: $2.50 per million tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
- Input: $0.10 per million tokens
- Output: $0.40 per million tokens
Important Restrictions
Geographic Limitations
The free tier is not available in the EU, EEA, UK, or Switzerland. Users in these regions must use paid services.
Data Usage Policy
On the free tier, Google can use your prompts and responses to improve their models. If you upgrade to a paid tier, Google will not use your data for model training.
Rate Limit Increases on Paid Tiers
Tier 1 paid plans offer much higher limits. For example, Gemini 2.5 Pro goes from 2 requests per minute on free to 150 requests per minute on Tier 1. Flash-Lite can reach 4,000 requests per minute on paid tiers.
Real-World Cost Example
A customer support bot handling 10,000 conversations per day using Flash-Lite on Tier 1 would cost approximately $50 to $70 per month in API fees.
Should You Use the Free Tier?
The free tier is great for testing, learning, and small personal projects. But for production applications or anything requiring consistent uptime and higher request volumes, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Keep in mind the data usage policy on the free tier. If you are working with sensitive information, the paid tier offers better privacy protections.
Bottom Line
Gemini API does offer a genuinely free tier with no token costs. However, the strict rate limits and geographic restrictions mean it is best suited for experimentation rather than production use. For serious applications, plan on budgeting for paid API access.
