If you encounter Error Code 429, it means you’ve reached your API’s monthly usage limit. This occurs when the credits or units allocated to your plan are fully utilized within the billing cycle, either due to exhausting free tokens or exceeding the allocated rate.
💡 Common Causes: Depletion of free tokens allocated initially, which may expire after three months or upon full use. Hitting the rate limit set for your account, necessitating pacing of API requests.
In particular:
- Usage under a default organization with limited credits, such as a free trial plan.
- Monthly budgets set lower than organization’s needs.
- High-demand services consuming excessive credits per request.
- Large or complex data sets requiring numerous requests.
- Exhaustion of prepaid plan credits.
Resolution Steps:
- Review Usage and Budgets: Check your current usage and monthly budget settings in your account to identify how many credits have been used. Adjust the monthly budget closer to the maximum allowed usage if necessary.
- Request Usage Limit Increase: If your needs exceed the current limits, explore options for increasing your usage tier or request a special exception to raise your usage limit by filling out the required form. We will assess your request and respond promptly.
- Upgrade to a Paid Plan:
- Create or transition to a paid account on OpenAI’s platform.
- Add a payment method, such as a credit or debit card.
- Generate a new API key if your existing key was created before the upgrade.
- Post-Upgrade Expectations:
- It may take up to 10 minutes for the system to recognize the new paid account settings and for the error to resolve.
- Monitor your API usage through the usage dashboard to ensure you remain within set limits.
For detailed instructions and to adjust settings, please visit your account settings and usage limits section.
Additional Considerations:
- If using the same phone number for multiple accounts, note that free credits are typically allocated only to the first account created.
- After upgrading, consider adjusting your usage limits to prevent unexpected charges. Set both soft and hard caps on spending according to your needs.
Immediate Actions:
- If you recently upgraded and still face issues, delete any old API keys and create a new one for the updated account settings to take effect.