Is there a better way to mark it as solved?
Anyway the problem is Google AI Studio requires me to setup billing and for that i need to pay around 10$ in my currency because of Revoult card (most likely). Dont want to bind it to my main card so ill leave it here as out there are available other free API options
Hey, Ive tried to use Google Studio API free tier with Gemini 2.5 Flash in Ask mode but it still bills in Cursor’s Dashboard and doesnt appear in Google’s. What should i do?
Hey, thanks for the update. A couple quick notes in case you decide to go back to BYOK.
How it’s supposed to work: when you add your own API key for a model family (Gemini), requests go at cost through your Google account and don’t count against Cursor limits. Billing and rate limiting are fully on Google’s side. More details: Bring your own API key | Cursor Docs
If everything was billed in Cursor, that usually means the key wasn’t actually used. Common reasons:
The key is added, but the provider toggle is off. Then Cursor silently falls back to its own models.
The model picker is set to Auto or a Cursor-managed model, not a specific Gemini model provided by your key.
Gemini 2.5 Flash is already an older model. It’s worth checking that your key actually serves it, otherwise pick a current Gemini model.
About billing in Google AI Studio, that’s a Google requirement and Cursor can’t change it. So keeping things as-is is totally reasonable if you don’t want to add a card.
If you set up the key later and it still bills in Cursor with a verified key and a directly selected Gemini model, send the Request ID (chat menu top right > Copy Request ID) and we can dig deeper.