Does ChatGPT Pro include API credits?

Yes. As of Oct 28, 2026, Pro 100 includes $100 a month of OpenAI API credits, Pro 200 includes $200 and Pro 500 includes $500, per OpenAI's developer docs.

Does ChatGPT Plus get free API credits?

No. Only paid Pro and Business subscriptions qualify. Plus, Go, Free and Enterprise don't get the benefit.

Do ChatGPT API credits roll over?

No. Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, and your first grant is prorated for the days left in the current cycle.

Can I use ChatGPT Pro API credits for Codex?

Not through API keys. OpenAI says Codex usage through API keys isn't covered, and the credits don't raise your signed-in Codex or ChatGPT limits.

How do I claim the OpenAI API credits from ChatGPT?

Open Settings, then Billing in ChatGPT, find the API credits benefit and link an API organization you own. The subscription must be at least seven days old and use the same email as your API account.

Is the ChatGPT Pro API credit better than Claude Max's?

It's the same at $100 and $200 a month. ChatGPT goes further with $500 on Pro 500, while Claude's individual plans stop at $200 on Max 20x.

ChatGPT Pro API credits: claim up to $500 a month

ChatGPT plan	Plan price	Monthly API credits
Pro 100	$100	$100
Pro 200	$200	$200
Pro 500	$500	$500
Business Standard seat		$20 per paid seat
Business Premium seat		$100 per paid seat
Free, Go, Plus, Enterprise		None

What are ChatGPT Pro API credits?

They're a monthly allowance for the OpenAI API, separate from what you use inside ChatGPT. OpenAI's developer docs describe them as free credits "to build apps and agents with the OpenAI API." We spotted the benefit on Oct 28, 2026. You don't need a card on the API platform to use them.

It matches what Anthropic already does: Claude Max 5x and Max 20x include $100 and $200 a month for the Claude Platform.

This is confirmed by OpenAI, and it's logged on our AI plan changelog.

Who can claim OpenAI API credits from ChatGPT?

Paid Pro or Business only. The subscription has to be active, paid and at least seven days old. Free trials and complimentary subscriptions don't qualify.
You must own both sides. You need to be the owner of the ChatGPT subscription (or Business workspace) and an owner of the API organization that receives the credits.
Same email on both. Your ChatGPT account and your API platform account have to use the same email address.
Not Plus, Go, Free or Enterprise. OpenAI lists Enterprise as not eligible, and moving a Business workspace to Enterprise removes the link at the end of the billing cycle.

How to claim your ChatGPT API credits

You can start from ChatGPT or from the API platform. Both link the same benefit, and you only do it once.

Sign in to ChatGPT with the account that owns the Pro subscription.
Open Settings, then Billing. On Business, use the workspace billing settings or the Admin Console.
Find the API credits benefit and start the claim flow.
Pick the API organization that should receive the credits. New to the API? You can link your Personal API Organization.
Confirm. The credits show up in the API platform's billing settings.

Pick the organization carefully. OpenAI says you have to contact support to change it later, and the credits only work with project API keys from that organization.

Your first grant is prorated for the days left in your current billing cycle, so a Pro 200 subscriber halfway through the month gets roughly $100 the first time, not $200. After that, it renews with your subscription.

What the credits cover, and what they don't

Covered	Not covered
Responses API (text, code, image understanding)	Codex used through API keys
Agents API, including OpenAI-hosted sandbox charges	Your ChatGPT usage limits (they don't go up)
Realtime API and GPT-Live voice	Signed-in Codex limits (they don't go up)
Images API, web search, file search, Code Interpreter	API organizations other than the linked one

The Codex part trips people up. If you run Codex signed in with ChatGPT, it uses your plan's included usage and then Codex credits, as before. If you point Codex at an API key instead, OpenAI says this benefit won't pay for it.

Free credits are spent before any API credits you've bought. When they run out and you have nothing else on the account, requests fail with HTTP 429 and the error code credit_balance_exhausted. Turn on Auto Recharge if you don't want a script to stop mid-run.

What $100, $200 or $500 of OpenAI API credit buys

On GPT-6.1 Sol, Pro 200's $200 covers about 10,000 requests of 5,000 input and 1,000 output tokens each. That's our estimate, using the standard prices on OpenAI's API pricing page and no caching.

Model	Per 1M tokens (in / out)	Requests on $100	On $200	On $500
GPT-6.1 Sol	$2 / $10	5,000	10,000	25,000
GPT-6.1 Terra	$1 / $5	10,000	20,000	50,000
GPT-6 Luna	$0.1 / $0.5	100,000	200,000	500,000
GPT-6 Astra	$10 / $50	1,000	2,000	5,000

Estimate. Each request is 5,000 input plus 1,000 output tokens at base-tier prices from our OpenAI API price tracker. Cached input is cheaper, long prompts over 272K tokens cost more, and tool calls bill on top.

For a hobby agent or a side project, that's plenty. For a production app with real traffic, treat it as a discount on the first part of your bill, not a free tier.

ChatGPT Pro API credits vs Claude Max API credits

At $200 a month the two deals are the same size, but ChatGPT comes out ahead at the top end because Pro 500 adds $500 of credit and Claude tops out at $200 on an individual plan.

	ChatGPT (OpenAI)	Claude (Anthropic)
$100 plan	Pro 100 ($100): $100	Max 5x ($100): $100
$200 plan	Pro 200 ($200): $200	Max 20x ($200): $200
Top individual plan	Pro 500 ($500): $500	None above Max 20x
$20 plan	Plus: none	Pro: none
Teams	Business: $20 or $100 per seat, $500 cap	Team: $20 or $100 per seat, $500 cap
Wait before claiming	7 days	7 days
Rolls over	No	No
Pays for the coding agent	No (not Codex via API keys)	No (not interactive Claude Code)

From OpenAI's API credits guide and Anthropic's monthly API credits article, both read Oct 29, 2026.

One small Claude difference: Anthropic says its credits do cover claude -p and the Agent SDK when you run them with an API key from the linked Console organization. Neither company lets the credits top up your chat or coding-agent limits. For that, see Claude extra usage or Codex credits.

Picking between the two $200 plans on everything else? Read ChatGPT Pro 200 vs Claude Max 20x.

Plan changes and edge cases

Upgrading Pro (say Pro 100 to Pro 500) can add extra prorated credits for the rest of the cycle. Later grants match the new plan.
Canceling stops new grants, but credits you already have stay usable until they expire.
Downgrading to Plus, Go or Free removes the API link at the end of the billing cycle.
Moving from Pro to Business ends the Pro link. A workspace owner can link again once Business has been paid for seven days.
Rate limits still apply. Free credits don't lift your API organization's rate limits.

Wondering whether the plan or the API is the better deal for your own usage? Our Codex plan vs API calculator runs the numbers.

ChatGPT Pro API credits: how to claim up to $500 a month

How much API credit each ChatGPT plan gets