€54k spike in 13h from unrestricted Firebase browser key accessing Gemini APIs

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

logankilpatrick wrote: post #170

startages wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that the main reason I never use services like Google Cloud if I don't have to, it's impossible to have a hard cap, and anyone pretending to be an expert, is just off. Google says that they can't provide a hard cap because that would mean shutting down all your services..bla bla, but at least give users the option.

We have spend caps at the billing account level and the project level (developer set) in the Gemini API now. There is up to a 10 minute delay in processing everything but this should significantly mitigate the risk here: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/billing#tier-spend-cap... By default, new Tier 1 paid accounts can only spend $250 in a given month.

Post by Moosdijk » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 5:52 PM UTC

benterix wrote: post #90

> We had a budget alert (€80) and a cost anomaly alert, both of which triggered with a delay of a few hours > By the time we reacted, costs were already around €28,000 > The final amount settled at €54,000+ due to delayed cost reporting So much for the folks defending these three companies that refused to provide hard spending cap ("but you can set the budget", "you are doing it wrong if you worry about billing", "ha…

Post by Leomuck » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 5:59 PM UTC

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #262

saidnooneever wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you cannot earn billions a year and not be cheating your users out of their money. its that simple. they dont care for people, otherwise they wouldnt be putting so much effort in making them poor.

What about their behavior makes you think they are a company that doesn't care for people? https://nypost.com/2026/04/15/business/amazon-warehouse-empl...

Post by giancarlostoro » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

startages wrote: post #152

benterix wrote: post #90

> We had a budget alert (€80) and a cost anomaly alert, both of which triggered with a delay of a few hours > By the time we reacted, costs were already around €28,000 > The final amount settled at €54,000+ due to delayed cost reporting So much for the folks defending these three companies that refused to provide hard spending cap ("but you can set the budget", "you are doing it wrong if you worry about billing", "ha…

Yeah, that the main reason I never use services like Google Cloud if I don't have to, it's impossible to have a hard cap, and anyone pretending to be an expert, is just off. Google says that they can't provide a hard cap because that would mean shutting down all your services..bla bla, but at least give users the option.

Post by michaelt » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 6:15 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #267

startages wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that the main reason I never use services like Google Cloud if I don't have to, it's impossible to have a hard cap, and anyone pretending to be an expert, is just off. Google says that they can't provide a hard cap because that would mean shutting down all your services..bla bla, but at least give users the option.

It shouldnt mean shutting down all your services, it should mean not letting you provision new ones and limiting the scope of what you can continue doing.