Last updated: November 3, 2026
ChatGPT API credits are a new subscription benefit, added October 28, 2026. Eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business owners can link one OpenAI API organization and receive $100 to $500 in API credits each billing cycle. The credits cover most paid API usage, but not Codex, and they expire without rolling over.
Contents
- What changed at a glance
- Credit amounts by plan
- Who is eligible
- How to claim ChatGPT API credits
- What the credits cover
- Limits and running out of credits
- Compared with Claude API credits
- Tips for getting the most from the credits
- Frequently asked questions
OpenAI announced the change in its API changelog on October 28, 2026: eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business subscribers can claim up to $500 per month in free API credits by linking an API organization they own.
What changed at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Start date | October 28, 2026 (OpenAI API changelog) |
| Eligible plans | ChatGPT Pro ($100, $200 and $500 tiers) and Business workspaces with paid Standard or Premium seats |
| Monthly amount | Up to $500 per billing cycle |
| Where credits land | One linked OpenAI API organization |
| Renewal | Granted automatically at each renewal after one activation |
| Expiry | End of the billing cycle, with no rollover |
| Payment method | Not required on the API side while free credits are active |
| Not covered | Codex usage through API keys; ChatGPT and signed-in Codex usage limits are unchanged |
ChatGPT and API billing stay separate. If you are still choosing a plan, our comparison of ChatGPT Plus vs Pro explains the subscription tiers, and this benefit is now one more difference between them.
Credit amounts by plan
The amounts below come from OpenAI’s developer guide to API credits for ChatGPT subscribers and its Help Center article on the benefit.
| Subscription | API credit allowance |
|---|---|
| Pro ($100 tier) | $100 per monthly billing period |
| Pro ($200 tier) | $200 per monthly billing period |
| Pro ($500 tier) | $500 per monthly billing period |
| Business Standard seat | $20 per paid seat, pooled for the workspace |
| Business Premium seat | $100 per paid seat, pooled for the workspace |
| Business workspace cap | $500 per monthly cycle, or $6,000 per annual cycle |
For a monthly Business workspace, the allowance is the smaller of $20 times paid Standard seats plus $100 times paid Premium seats, and $500. For example, 5 Standard and 3 Premium seats give $400.
Your first grant is prorated for the time left in the current billing period.
Who is eligible
- An active, paid Pro or Business subscription that is at least seven days old. Free trials and complimentary subscriptions do not qualify.
- Plus, Go, Free, Enterprise, Edu and legacy Codex seats are not eligible, according to the Help Center.
- You must own the ChatGPT subscription or Business workspace and also own the receiving API organization. A workspace admin role alone is not enough.
- The ChatGPT account and the API account must use the same email address.
- One subscription or workspace links to one API organization, and each organization can have only one active link.
How to claim ChatGPT API credits
You can start from ChatGPT or from the API Platform. Both paths create the same link. The ChatGPT path looks like this:
- Sign in to ChatGPT with the account that owns the eligible Pro subscription, or select the Business workspace as an owner.
- For Pro, open Settings → Billing. For Business, open the workspace billing settings in ChatGPT or the Admin Console.
- Find the API credits benefit and start the claim flow.
- Review the API organization that will receive the credits. If you own several, pick the one you will build in, because you cannot switch it yourself later.
- Confirm to activate the benefit.
- Open API Platform billing settings, select the linked organization and check Credit grants for the amount and expiry.
To start from the API side instead, sign in to the API Platform with the same email, select the organization you own, open Billing, find the API credits benefit, choose your subscription or workspace and confirm. New API users can link a Personal API Organization.
What the credits cover
The credits pay for paid API Platform usage billed to the linked organization. OpenAI lists:
- Responses API and Chat Completions for text, code and image understanding.
- Agents API, including OpenAI-hosted sandbox charges.
- Decisions API for structured decisions.
- GPT-Live and the Realtime API for voice.
- Images API for image generation and editing.
- Built-in tools such as web search, file search and Code Interpreter, with their usage and storage charges.
Codex usage through API keys is excluded, and the credits do not raise your Codex usage limits or your ChatGPT usage limits. For per-token rates, see our OpenAI API pricing breakdown.
Limits and running out of credits
A credit balance does not lift rate, model, organization or project limits. Free credits are spent before purchased credits.
| Balance after free credits run out | What happens |
|---|---|
| Purchased API credits remain | Usage continues on purchased credits |
| No credits remain | Requests fail with HTTP 429 and error code credit_balance_exhausted |
To keep going, add paid credits or set up Auto Recharge.
Cancelling stops future grants but leaves issued credits usable until they expire. Downgrading to Plus, Go or Free, or moving to Enterprise, removes the link at the end of the billing cycle.
Compared with Claude API credits
Anthropic launched a similar benefit earlier in October. As Simon Willison noted, OpenAI’s offer is “pretty much exactly the same deal.” The figures below come from Anthropic’s API credits page for Max, Ultra and Team plans.
| Aspect | OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Anthropic (Claude) |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible plans | Pro and Business | Max, Ultra and Team |
| Individual amounts | $100, $200 or $500 by Pro tier | $100 (Max) or $200 (Ultra) |
| Team pooling | $20 Standard, $100 Premium, $500 cap | $20 Standard, $100 Premium, $500 cap |
| Coding agent covered | No (Codex via API keys excluded) | No (Claude Code excluded) |
| When credits run out | HTTP 429, credit_balance_exhausted | Requests stop until the next grant or a purchase |
The main difference is the top tier: only OpenAI’s $500 Pro tier reaches $500 for one person. For the Claude plans, see our Claude Max vs Ultra comparison.
Tips for getting the most from the credits
- Pick the right model. The changelog lists GPT-6.1 Sol at $2 input and $10 output per million tokens and GPT-6 Luna at $0.10 and $0.50, for prompts up to 272K tokens. Our GPT-6.1 Terra guide covers a middle option.
- Use caching. OpenAI added 12-hour prompt caching on October 20, which helps when shared instructions repeat hours apart.
- Set a spend limit. OpenAI’s hard spend limits, added July 22, 2026, return a 429 error when tracked spend reaches the monthly cap you set.
- Spend before the cycle ends. Credits expire at renewal, so schedule batch work and experiments early in the month.
- Use a dedicated project. Keys must come from the linked organization, so keep a separate project for credit-funded work.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT Pro include API credits?
Yes. Since October 28, 2026, eligible ChatGPT Pro subscribers can claim monthly OpenAI API credits: $100 on the $100 tier, $200 on the $200 tier and $500 on the $500 tier. You must link the subscription to an API organization you own.
Do ChatGPT Plus subscribers get API credits?
No. OpenAI’s Help Center says Plus and free trial subscriptions do not qualify. Enterprise, Edu and legacy Codex seats are also not eligible. Only Pro and Business workspaces with paid Standard or Premium seats can claim the benefit.
Do unused ChatGPT API credits roll over?
No. Monthly grants expire at the end of the subscription billing cycle and unused credits do not roll over. Annually prepaid Business workspaces receive a full-year grant, capped at $6,000, that expires at the end of the annual cycle.
Can I use ChatGPT API credits for Codex?
No. OpenAI says the benefit does not cover Codex usage through API keys, and the credits do not increase your ChatGPT or signed-in Codex usage limits. They cover paid API Platform usage such as the Responses, Agents, Decisions, Realtime and Images APIs.
What happens when my free API credits run out?
Your organization moves on to any purchased API credits. If no credits remain, requests fail with HTTP 429 and the error code credit_balance_exhausted. You can add paid credits or turn on Auto Recharge in the organization’s billing settings.
Sources
- API credits for ChatGPT subscribers (OpenAI developer docs)
- API credits benefit for eligible ChatGPT subscriptions (OpenAI Help Center)
- OpenAI API changelog (October 28, 2026 entry)
- API credits for Max, Ultra, and Team plans (Anthropic Claude Platform docs)
- API credits benefit for eligible ChatGPT subscriptions (Simon Willison, October 29, 2026)
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