Setup takes under 5 minutes. Light usage costs nothing.
Google's Gemini API has a free tier that's generous enough for everyday writing tasks. Combined with TidyText, it becomes a private AI writing and translation tool that stores no data and charges no subscription. Here is exactly how to set it up.
TidyText supports seven AI providers — Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, DeepSeek, Mistral, and OpenRouter. For most users, Gemini is the right default for three reasons:
The Gemini API free tier allows 15 requests per minute and 1,500 requests per day with no billing information required. For personal writing use — improving emails, translating documents, polishing drafts — you are unlikely to approach that limit. OpenAI and Anthropic require a paid account before you can use their APIs.
The recommended model for TidyText is gemini-2.5-flash. It handles multilingual text accurately, responds quickly, and costs fractions of a penny per request if you do exceed the free tier. It is not the most powerful model Google offers, but it is the right balance of speed, quality, and cost for writing improvement tasks.
You only need a Google account. No credit card, no billing address, no payment method added. Get the key, paste it in TidyText, done.
Open aistudio.google.com in your browser. Sign in with any Google account. If this is your first visit, accept the developer terms of service — this takes about 10 seconds.
You will see the API keys management panel. Click Create API key. When prompted, choose "Create API key in new project" — this keeps it clean. The key generates in a few seconds.
The key starts with AIza. Click Copy. Store it somewhere safe — a password manager or a text file. Google will not show it to you again in full after this screen.
Go to tidytextai.com. Click the settings icon in the top-right corner. The Settings panel opens as a drawer from the right side.
In the Provider dropdown, choose Google Gemini. A model selector and API key field will appear below it.
Select gemini-2.5-flash from the model dropdown — this is the recommended model for most writing tasks. Paste your API key into the key field.
Settings saves to your browser. Close the drawer. Paste any text into the main area and click Improve or Translate. Your first request goes live immediately.
Your API key is stored in your browser's localStorage and never transmitted to TidyText's servers. If you use TidyText on a different device, you will need to paste the key again — it does not sync across devices.
TidyText supports all current Gemini models. Here is what each is best for:
| Model | Best for | Free tier |
|---|---|---|
gemini-2.5-flash Recommended |
Most writing tasks — fast, accurate, handles all 44 languages well | Yes |
gemini-2.5-pro |
Complex or nuanced text where accuracy matters most; slower | Limited |
gemini-2.0-flash |
Very fast responses; slightly less precise on multilingual text | Yes |
gemini-1.5-flash |
Good fallback if 2.5 Flash is unavailable | Yes |
Start with gemini-2.5-flash. If you find the output is missing nuance on particularly complex text, try gemini-2.5-pro. For everything else, Flash is the right choice.
Paste text in any language and click Improve. TidyText detects the language automatically and edits in that same language — fixing grammar, improving flow, and sharpening clarity without translating or imposing English conventions. It works equally well whether you paste in English, French, Arabic, Japanese, or any of the 44 supported languages.
Switch to Translate mode, select a target language, paste your source text. TidyText sends a prompt that instructs Gemini to produce idiomatic output — the kind that sounds written by a native speaker, not word-for-word translated. You also receive notes explaining key decisions: why a phrase was restructured, what equivalent the translator chose, which cultural nuance was handled.
If the first output is not quite right, click the Retry button on the output card. TidyText sends your original input and the previous output back to Gemini with an escalating prompt — asking it to take a fresh approach. You can retry up to three times, getting progressively more distinct alternatives.
A typical Improve request on a 200-word email uses approximately 600 tokens total. At Gemini 2.5 Flash's paid rate, that's less than £0.001. Most personal use stays comfortably within the free tier (1,500 requests/day) and costs nothing.
When you click Improve or Translate, your text travels directly from your browser to Google's Gemini API. TidyText has no server — there is no proxy, no logging layer, no copy of your text stored anywhere we control.
Your API key stays in your browser's localStorage. It is not sent to TidyText. It is sent only to Google's API as part of your authenticated request — exactly as it would be if you used the Gemini API in any other application.
If data retention is your primary concern, read the full breakdown on the privacy page, or review Google's AI Studio data usage terms directly.
Get your free Gemini key at aistudio.google.com, then open TidyText. Five minutes, zero cost.
Open TidyText →No account · No subscription · Your key, your data