Google Gemini API 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: what it means and how to fix it

429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED

How to fix it

1. Retry with exponential backoff and jitter for per-minute limits.
2. For the daily quota, wait for the reset or move the project to a paid tier (link a Cloud Billing account).
3. Creating more keys in the same project does not add quota.

Is it down right now?

Check our live status page or the official one.

Retry it properly

import random, time
from google import genai
from google.genai import errors

client = genai.Client()

def generate(prompt, tries=6):
    for i in range(tries):
        try:
            return client.models.generate_content(model="gemini-flash-latest", contents=prompt)
        except errors.APIError as e:
            # 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED, 503 UNAVAILABLE, 500, 504: transient. 400/402/403: fix, do not retry.
            if e.code not in (429, 500, 503, 504) or i == tries - 1:
                raise
            time.sleep(min(60, 2 ** i) + random.random())  # exponential backoff + jitter

Google lists 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED, 503 UNAVAILABLE, 408 and 5xx as transient: retry with exponential backoff and jitter. 400, 402 and 403 are not.

Same kind of error at other providers

• Anthropic 429 rate_limit_error
• OpenAI 429 rate_limit_error
• OpenAI 429 slow_down

Other Google Gemini API errors

• 503UNAVAILABLE: The model is overloaded. Please try again later.retry
• 400INVALID_ARGUMENTfix
• 400FAILED_PRECONDITIONfix
• 402payment_requiredfix
• 403PERMISSION_DENIED: Your project has been denied accessfix
• 403PERMISSION_DENIED: Your API key was reported as leaked. Please use another API key.fix
• 404NOT_FOUNDfix
• 500INTERNALretry
• 504DEADLINE_EXCEEDEDretry
• -RECITATIONfix
• -SAFETYfix

Source

• Google Gemini API error documentation: ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-errors (checked Oct 24, 2026)

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