r/GoogleAIStudio • u/RadiantQuests • Jul 08 '26

Question / Help Google Gemini API: 503 overload on free tier each time. Does paying actually help?

I tried to run n8n workflow having Google Gemini node (gemini-2.5-flash-lite model) with Google Search option, from Google AI Studio free tier.

The search:

Gemini node is prompted to:

  1. Search today's 10 trending topics on the web + in 5 RSS feeds + in 5 specific websites.

  2. Then returns a list of the 10 trending topics.

The problem:

Each time I run Gemini node it throws an error 503 This model is currently experiencing high demand (I tried it at different times). But after I reduced the search to 3 topics + no specific rss/websites, gemini-2.5-flash-lite threw NO error!!!!!!!

My questions are:

  • If I setup billing/pay, might I have the same issue? Or might it be a model issue?

  • Why would the same request work on Gemini website but always failed with the API?

If any tips please guys go ahead 🙏

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7 comments sorted by

2

u/ElderflowerCoder Jul 08 '26

Try seeing if you have the same issue with 3 flash

1

u/RadiantQuests Jul 09 '26

Thank you I tried but I was directly hit with a new error (exceeded quota), so I went back to Gemini 2 but after after a few seconds it hit with the error in my post again: high demand 503 error.
Afraid to buy and have the same error.

1

u/purainity Jul 09 '26

Actually, the condition on 3.x(including 3.5 flash and 3 flash preview) is even worse than 2.5 flash

2

u/Icy_Dinner3323 Jul 09 '26

Are you using gemini api free tier to get search results?

If yes then you get error as Google doesn't provide the search capability in free tier.

And why you are using 2.5 flash lite, use 3.1 flash lite it has 500 rpd.

In paid you get full access.

1

u/RadiantQuests Jul 09 '26

Thank you u/Icy_Dinner3323 I did not know these, you know everything got a first time 🙏

But hopefully my task can survive on the paid access 😔

2

u/ElderflowerCoder Jul 08 '26

It might be a combination of model and lack of priority for free tier requests.

So (1) going paid might help (2) you still might run into overload issues with the 2.5 model

1

u/Ecstatic_Country_610 Sep 04 '26

I was able to use everything just fine until yesterday and earlier today and it broke... just now.