ChatGPT Pro and Business now include monthly API credits
If you pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business and also buy OpenAI API credits for prototypes, claim the link. Eligible paid subscriptions can get monthly free API credits on an API org you own. Miss the claim and you're paying twice for the same habit: chatting in the product and calling the API from a script.
How much you get
From OpenAI's API credits guide and Help Center article:
| ChatGPT plan | Monthly API credits |
|---|---|
| Pro ($100 tier) | $100 |
| Pro ($200 tier) | $200 |
| Pro ($500 tier) | $500 |
| Business Standard seat | $20 per paid Standard seat |
| Business Premium seat | $100 per paid Premium seat |
Business credits are pooled across the workspace and capped at $500 per workspace per month. Annually prepaid Business workspaces get the year's grant in one issuance, capped at $6,000 for the annual cycle, and that grant expires at the end of the annual billing cycle.
Your first grant is prorated for time left in the current billing cycle. Unused credits expire at cycle end and do not roll over.
Who can claim
You need all of these:
- An active paid ChatGPT Pro or Business subscription (not a free trial or complimentary plan), at least seven days old
- Ownership of that ChatGPT subscription or Business workspace and ownership of the API organization receiving the credits
- The same email on the ChatGPT account and the API account used to link
Plus, Go, Free, Enterprise, Edu, and legacy Codex seats are not eligible for this benefit. A ChatGPT seat alone does not grant teammates API org or project access; that is separate.
How to claim (once)
You claim once. After that, credits grant automatically on renew while the benefit stays available and you stay eligible.
Two equivalent paths (developer guide):
- From ChatGPT: Settings → Billing (Pro) or workspace billing / Admin Console (Business) → start the API credits claim → pick the API org → confirm.
- From API Platform: sign in with the same email → select the org you own → Billing → claim and link the eligible ChatGPT subscription or workspace.
Then check API Platform billing for the grant. You do not need an API payment method to burn active free credits.
What the credits cover (and what they don't)
They cover paid API Platform usage on the linked org, including Responses, Agents (including OpenAI-hosted sandbox charges), Decisions, GPT-Live and Realtime, Images, built-in tools (web search, file search, Code Interpreter) and other API Platform APIs.
They do not:
- Cover Codex usage through API keys
- Raise your ChatGPT or signed-in Codex usage limits
- Move into ChatGPT Business plugin or workspace credit balances (those are separate offers)
Free credits are consumed before purchased credits. When free credits are gone and you have no purchased balance, API requests fail with HTTP 429 and credit_balance_exhausted. Add paid credits or Auto Recharge if you need continuity.
Founder notes that actually matter
Same email, owner on both sides. Shared logins and "my cofounder owns the API org" break the claim. Fix ownership before you invent a workaround.
Burn them on real experiments. Monthly expiry means leftover balance is a gift to OpenAI, not a savings account. Point prototypes, evals, and agent tool tests at the linked org while the grant is live. Our agent tools page is a useful checklist of what an agent integration tends to call; how it works is the short version of Dealpuffin's own model if you're wiring agents to listed offers later.
Don't confuse ChatGPT spend with API spend. ChatGPT billing and API billing stay separate. Paying for Pro does nothing for API until you claim. This is the same class of mistake as treating a free usage period as free forever; see usage-based billing after Metronome and Orb for the habit of reading unit economics before the invoice arrives.
One subscription links to one API org. Pick the org that runs your prototypes. Changing the receiving org later means contacting support; it is not a self-serve toggle.
Frequently asked questions
Do unused credits roll over?
No. Unused credits expire at the end of the billing cycle and do not roll over.
Can I use these credits for Codex via API keys?
No. Codex usage through API keys is not covered. The credits also do not raise ChatGPT or signed-in Codex limits.
What happens when free credits run out?
Purchased credits, if any, are used next. If nothing remains, requests return HTTP 429 with credit_balance_exhausted.
Is a seven-day-old trial enough?
No. The subscription must be paid and at least seven days old. Free trials and complimentary subscriptions do not qualify.
Related on Dealpuffin
Billing habits for early teams: Picking usage-based billing after Metronome and Orb. For agent wiring: Agent tools and How it works.