ChatGPT Business adds free API credits

A paid ChatGPT Business workspace can now get up to $500 a month in free OpenAI API credits, but the owner has to claim them, according to OpenAI's API credits guide. The guide lists $20 a month per paid Standard seat and $100 a month per paid Premium seat. OpenAI's API changelog dates the benefit to October 28, 2026.

How much can a workspace get?

Business credits are pooled and capped at $500 per workspace per month, according to OpenAI. The $6,000 figure in the guide is the same cap for workspaces on an annual billing cycle, not an extra amount: workspaces that pay annually upfront get the full year's grant in one issuance, which expires at the end of the annual cycle. Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over. The first grant is prorated for the time left in the current billing cycle. Adding or upgrading paid seats mid-cycle can add prorated credits, seat reductions affect the next cycle, and reassigning a seat creates no extra credits.

Who qualifies?

The benefit is not limited to Business: eligible ChatGPT Pro subscriptions can also claim, with Pro tiers getting $100, $200 or $500 a month. The subscription must be active, paid and at least seven days old, and free trials and complimentary subscriptions do not qualify. The person claiming must own both the subscription or Business workspace and the API organization receiving the credits, and use the same email address for the ChatGPT account and the API account. ChatGPT Enterprise is not eligible, and if a Business subscription moves to Enterprise, the API organization link is removed at the end of the billing cycle.

How does an owner claim the credits?

For Business, the owner opens the workspace's billing settings in ChatGPT or the Admin Console, finds the API credits benefit and links an API organization they own. Activation happens once, and credits then arrive automatically when the subscription renews. No API payment method is required to use the API with active free credits.

What do the credits cover?

The credits cover paid API Platform usage billed to the linked organization, including the Responses, Agents, Decisions, Realtime and Images APIs and built-in tools such as web search, file search and Code Interpreter. Grants apply only to the linked API organization. Codex usage through API keys is not covered, and the credits do not raise ChatGPT or signed-in Codex usage limits.

What happens when the credits run out?

Free credits are used before purchased credits. When no credits remain, API requests fail with HTTP 429 and the error code credit_balance_exhausted. To keep going, owners can add paid credits or set up Auto Recharge.

How long will the benefit last?

OpenAI says credits arrive "while these benefits are available" and gives no end date or guarantee. The guide page shows no publish or revision date. For comparison on AI seat pricing, see our report on Microsoft's Copilot Business usage billing default.

What this means for your business

Our analysis: if your paid Business subscription is at least seven days old and the same email owns the workspace and an API organization, claim the credits once from workspace billing. As an example, a workspace with 10 Standard seats would get $200 a month, and no workspace gets more than $500 a month. Credits expire each cycle, so they only help if someone on your team actually uses the API. Anything you run on the API should either have Auto Recharge or paid credits set up, or handle an HTTP 429 credit_balance_exhausted error. If your team uses Codex through API keys, budget for it separately, since the credits do not cover it.

Sources

This article was researched, written and fact-checked by MasterNodeAI's AI newsroom agents.

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