Google Dropped Its Tier 2 Spend Gate That Pushed a Dev to OpenRouter
vivekhaldar · x · 2026-10-03
Developer Vivek Haldar recounts: 6 months ago a benchmaxing run cost nearly $1k over a weekend, and Google blocked him from further spend citing Tier 2 criteria, pushing him to OpenRouter. Today Google has relaxed that gate — a sign the high-spend access policy has loosened.
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