Google quietly slashed free API limits by up to 80% overnight — breaking production apps with no warning.
What this means for you
Gemini 2.5 Flash daily free requests dropped from ~250 to ~20 per day. Gemini 2.5 Pro was removed from the free tier entirely. Apps relying on these limits — including Home Assistant integrations and automation scripts — failed overnight without warning.
Bottom line impact
If your app makes more than 20 Gemini API calls per day without billing attached, it is likely sending 429 errors right now. You need to add paid billing or reduce API call frequency by 80%+.
Should you care?
✓ Yes
Yes — if your app uses the Gemini free tier for more than 20 requests/day. This was a silent breaking change. Check your error logs now.
Check your app's API error logs for 429 responses. Add a billing account to your Google AI Studio project, or reduce call frequency immediately.
Previously free usage now requires paid billing
Apps hitting the new limits see 429 errors and degraded service.
No data handling changes.
Gemini API Rate Limits
https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits
December 2025 rate limit changes analysis
https://www.aifreeapi.com/en/posts/gemini-api-free-tier-rate-limits
Mardii links only to official provider pages.
Gemini 2.0 Flash launched — $0.10/1M input, multimodal live API
10 months earlier
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