It doesn't, it's not "1000 Gemini Pro" requests for free, Google misled everyone. It's 1000 Gemini requests, Flash included. You get like 5-7 Gemini Pro requests before you get limited.

I'm getting 100 Gemini Pro requests per day with an AI Studio API key that doesn't have billing enabled.

After that it's bumped down to Flash, which is surpisingly effective in Gemini CLI.

If I need Pro, I just swap in an API from an account with billing enabled, but usually 100 requests is enough for a day of work.

Obviously I'm not talking about API keys, this is what I would recommend though: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits#free-tier

I'm talking about "logging in with a Google Account".

Your link shows the free tier gets 100 Pro requests per day.

That matches my experience with a free account. With Gemini CLI it doesn't seem to matter if I log in with a Google Account or use an API key from AI Studio with billing disabled.

Yesterday I had two coding sessions in Gemini CLI with a total of 73 requests to Pro with no rate limiting.

https://imgur.com/a/Ki6g1qc

I can't explain why you're seeing something else, but my experience has been pretty consistent.

Maybe your usage pattern is different from mine and you're getting hit by the 5 RPM limit??

I created an AI Studio key (unbilled) probably over a year ago or so. Is it still good for the current models are should I be creating a new key?

There is no difference.

Whoa. I’m definitely getting just handful of requests via free, just like patent commenter…