OpenAI grants free API credits to ChatGPT Pro and Business

OpenAI documentation shows that eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business subscriptions can receive free API credits for building applications and agents within their own API organization. The credits are automatically issued based on the subscription, and any unused portion expires at the end of the billing cycle without carrying over; when there are valid free credits, there is no need to bind an API payment method. In terms of monthly credits, Pro's tiers of $100, $200, and $500 correspond to $100, $200, and $500 respectively; Business Standard provides $20 per paid seat, and Business Premium provides $100 per paid seat.

The initial issuance is calculated proportionally based on the remaining time in the current subscription billing cycle and expires at the end of that cycle. Business API credits are shared within the workspace, with a monthly cap of $500; annual payment workspaces receive a one-time issuance of the annual credits, which expire at the end of the annual billing cycle. Users must log in to ChatGPT with an eligible subscription account, with Pro credits claimed in Settings under Billing, and Business credits claimed in the workspace billing settings or Admin Console, confirming the API organization receiving the credits.

The credits cover the paid usage of associated organizations on the API Platform, including Responses API, Agents API, Decisions API, GPT-Live and Realtime API, Images API, as well as built-in tools and related costs such as web search, document search, and Code Interpreter. Using Codex via API key is not included in the benefits, and the credits will not increase the usage limits for ChatGPT or Codex that is already logged in. Free credits are prioritized over purchased credits; when exhausted and no remaining credits are available, requests will fail with HTTP 429 and error code creditbalanceexhausted.