Why Vercel AI Gateway returns RestrictedModelsError for Gemini 3 on free tier

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1

Hi Vercel team and community,

I am currently using the Vercel AI Gateway on the free tier. Recently, I noticed that whenever I try to call the google/gemini-3 type models, I receive the following 403 RestrictedModelsError:

{
    "error": {
        "message": "Free credits temporarily have restricted access due to abuse. We are working on a resolution. Paid credits continue to have unrestricted access. Purchase credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up",
        "type": "no_providers_available",
        "param": {
            "error": "Free credits temporarily have restricted access due to abuse. We are working on a resolution. Paid credits continue to have unrestricted access. Purchase credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up",
            "type": "no_providers_available",
            "statusCode": 403,
            "name": "RestrictedModelsError",
            "message": "Free credits temporarily have restricted access due to abuse. We are working on a resolution. Paid credits continue to have unrestricted access. Purchase credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up"
        }
    }
}

Interestingly, this issue only seems to affect the gemini-3 models, as other Gemini models continue to work normally on the free tier without triggering this error.

While the error message states that this is “temporarily restricted,” I would like to ask for some clarification:

  1. Is this truly a temporary measure while you work on anti-abuse systems, or is it likely to become a permanent long-term policy for the free tier?
  2. If it is temporary, is there any rough ETA or public tracking issue for the resolution?

I completely understand the need to prevent abuse, I just want to plan my project accordingly. Thanks in advance for your help!

8

Hi @nekomiya-hinata, I’ve shared this question internally. I’ll update here once I have the information.

9

Hi Anshuman,

Thank you for the quick response and for looking into this! Looking forward to your update.