Why does my API display an error message about subscription even with a valid X-RapidAPI-Key?

I’m currently dealing with an API for video data retrieval, and I’m encountering an error that indicates I’m not subscribed to the service, despite having a valid API key configured. Here’s how I’ve set everything up:

import axios from 'axios';

const BASE_API_URL = 'https://youtube-v31.p.rapidapi.com';

const config = {
  params: {
    maxResults: '50'
  },
  headers: {
    'X-RapidAPI-Key': process.env.REACT_APP_RAPID_API_KEY,
    'X-RapidAPI-Host': 'youtube-v31.p.rapidapi.com'
  }
};

export const callAPI = async(url) => {
    const response = await axios.get(`${BASE_API_URL}/${url}`, config);
    return response.data;
};

And here’s an example of how I’m using it:

import { callAPI } from '../services/apiService';

const VideoFeed = () => {
  const [categoryChosen, setCategoryChosen] = useState('Latest');
  const [videoItems, setVideoItems] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    callAPI(`search?part=snippet&q=${categoryChosen}`)
      .then(data => setVideoItems(data.items))
      .catch(err => {
        if (err.response) {
          console.error('Server error:', err.response.data);
        } else if (err.request) {
          console.error('No response received:', err.request);
        } else {
          console.error('Request setup error:', err.message);
        }
      });
  }, [categoryChosen]);

Despite having my API key correctly set in the .env file, I keep getting the message ‘You are not subscribed to this API’. What could be wrong, and how can I resolve this?

Had this exact problem a few months ago - super frustrating. Turned out my subscription expired without me knowing. RapidAPI subscriptions have monthly limits or expiration dates that’ll catch you off guard. Check your dashboard under ‘My Subscriptions’ to verify status. Also, some APIs have multiple pricing tiers. If you downgraded or your payment failed, it might show as subscribed but with restricted access. Double-check your environment variable is loading correctly by temporarily logging the API key value - make sure it matches what’s in your RapidAPI account. YouTube API on RapidAPI is particularly strict about subscription status.

Check if your payment method’s valid and hasn’t been declined lately. I hit this exact error when my credit card expired - RapidAPI couldn’t process the monthly charge. My subscription showed as active in the dashboard, but API calls got blocked. Go to your billing section and check the payment status. You might also be hitting quota limits. Even with an active subscription, going over your monthly requests triggers these subscription errors. Check your usage stats to see if you’ve maxed out your plan. Try a simple GET request with Postman or curl to figure out if it’s your code or the API access that’s broken.

make sure ur rapidapi subscription is still active for the youtube api, even if ur api key is good. go to ur rapidapi dashboard and confirm ur subscrption status. it could b the issue!