Looking around I have read that I could use Google AI Studio API to generate images (with some limits, like for the text generation). I tried with some C# code using Google_GenerativeAI Nuget Package, and it worked only for text generation: image generation always returned “exausted quota”.
I then tried to add some billing information to my account, got the 255€ free trial, and then I was able to generate images using gemini-2.5-flash-image model, for example. It was then clear that the issue was not in my code..
Despite this I keep finding information, even asking to Gemini itself, that image generation SHOULD be free, up to a certain amount.
Could you clarify this?
- requests to gemini-2.5-flash-image through API with a Google AI Studio Key are always paid, or are they possible from the free tier?
- upgrading to tier 1 by adding billing information is a requirement to ask for images within a certain free thresholds, or all requests are to be paid?
- is there maybe a regional restriction in the amount of free image request ? I’ve read that Europe may have some restrictions in this regard compared to US
Thanks in advance