ChatGPT Pro and Business add up to $500 in monthly API credits

OpenAI announced an API credit benefit for eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business subscribers on October 28. Subscribers can activate the promotional allowance for an API organization they own, funding applications and agents alongside their existing subscription.

Pro’s $100, $200 and $500 monthly tiers receive corresponding API allowances. Business pools $20 per paid Standard seat and $100 per paid Premium seat, capped at $500 per workspace each month. These amounts cover API charges billed to the linked organization.

The first grant is prorated for the remaining billing period. An offer claimed partway through a cycle can therefore show less than the full-period allowance. Annually prepaid Business workspaces receive a year’s grant upfront, capped at $6,000 per annual cycle.

A paid eligible subscription must be at least seven days old. The claimant must own both the subscription or Business workspace and the receiving API organization, using matching account emails. Plus and free trials are excluded. Availability also depends on the enabled account cohort and country.

Monthly grants expire at the billing-cycle boundary without rollover. After activation, grants renew automatically while the subscription remains eligible and the benefit is offered. Annual prepaid grants expire at the annual cycle’s end.

API costs retain their own billing and limits

ChatGPT and the API retain separate billing systems. Promotional API balances belong to an API organization, separately from credits inside ChatGPT. Paid API charges depend on the chosen models, token consumption and applicable tool or storage costs. Organization owners can review billing for the receiving organization.

Coverage includes text, images, voice, agents and tool usage or storage. Codex through API keys is excluded. Existing ChatGPT and signed-in Codex usage allowances stay unchanged.

Free credits are consumed before purchased API credits. Calls continue against a remaining purchased balance after the free grant runs out; an exhausted balance produces a credit error. Auto Recharge purchases paid credits when the balance falls below a configured threshold. Its monthly purchase cap excludes manual purchases. Purchased credits expire after one year.

Auto-reload is on by default during prepaid setup. Processing delays can leave a negative balance after exhaustion, deducted from the next purchase. Recharge caps control purchases; API spending controls govern usage.

A credit balance still operates within request-rate, monthly-usage and project spending controls. OpenAI’s limits guidance distinguishes alerts, which send notifications, from hard spend limits that can stop requests. Organization limits cover their projects, while project limits cover traffic billed to that project. Enforcement and updates take time, so recorded spending can slightly exceed a configured cap. Hard spending limits reset with the next monthly cycle. Exhaustion uses the code credit_balance_exhausted; organization and project spending limits have their own error codes.

The Usage Dashboard reports API activity; billing grant records show credits assigned to the organization. Its project selector operates independently of selectors elsewhere in the API Platform, and reporting uses UTC. Playground testing makes the same API calls as applications and counts toward token usage. Reporting treats organizations separately. Access requires ownership or Usage Dashboard permission. Clearing project filters shows all project data. One-minute intervals are available for token usage, rather than billing data.

Service Credit Terms restrict credits to their applicable service and prohibit transfers, sales, gifts and trades. Redemption or refunds for money are subject to legally required exceptions. The terms also specify that a credit balance is not a bank account or digital wallet.