Note: As of August 29th, 2025, we've renamed ChatGPT Team to ChatGPT Business. For more information and questions related to the name change, please refer to our article: ChatGPT Business Rename FAQ
Note: As of April 2, 2026, ChatGPT Business and ChatGPT Enterprise plans now feature two seat types: a standard ChatGPT seat and a new Codex-only seat, based on flexible pricing.
Read our ChatGPT Business and ChatGPT Enterprise help articles to learn more about these seat types, and how you can assign them to members in your workspace.
Note that these seats are only available to ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Business - they are not available to ChatGPT Edu, Teachers, or Healthcare plans.
How do credits work in ChatGPT plans?
Credits unlock additional, flexible access to advanced ChatGPT features like Deep Research, Thinking models, Image Gen, Advanced Voice and Codex. These features are available across ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, with varying usage models:
Business users receive per-seat limits for all advanced features. If a user exceeds their limit and the workspace has purchased credits, they can continue drawing from the shared pool. Purchasing credit packs is optional and only necessary if a workspace owner wants to unblock users who exceed their usage limits, or the workspace features Codex seats.
Enterprise and Edu workspaces purchase a shared credit pool at the contract level. All users and seat types in the workspace draw from this pool when using advanced features. There are no per-seat usage caps by default - owners/admins can use RBAC to set spend controls by group.
Your current plan hasn't changed, and still includes access to advanced models and capabilities, as well as virtually unlimited access to Instant models, and access to business features like apps, etc.
Review the ChatGPT rate card and the Codex rate card for rate information.
Are credits refundable?
Credits are not refundable, except where required by law or in cases of confirmed account compromise (see below).
What happens when I reach my credit or usage limit?
Business: Users see a banner when their included usage is exhausted. If no credits are available in the workspace pool, the feature is blocked and users can send an in-product request to their admin to add more. Admins and owners can use automatic recharge to make sure the workspace has sufficient credits.
Enterprise and Edu: Once the shared credit pool is exhausted, advanced features will be paused unless Workspace Owners enable overages or purchases additional credits through their OpenAI Account team. Workspace Owners receive email and in-product alerts when thresholds are hit.
How do I buy credits?
How can I check my credit balance and usage?
Workspace Owners across Business, Enterprise, and Edu plan types can view their remaining credits and download usage reports by going to Settings > Billing.
Do credits expire or rollover?
Business: Credits are valid for 12 months after purchase.
Enterprise and Edu: Credit allocation and expiration are defined in your Order Form. If you're unsure of your terms, contact your account team.
Can I use credits for any ChatGPT feature?
Credits only apply to advanced models and features. You do not need credits to use core ChatGPT models and features such as search, file upload, and canvas.
Can I configure alerts or limits for credit usage?
Business: Workspace Owners can configure credit usage alerts in Workspace settings > Billing > Usage Alerts.
Enterprise and Edu: Workspace Owners can configure usage alerts and hard overage limits in Workspace settings > Billing. Overage limits let you set a strict limit on how much their organization can extend usage beyond their committed plan (eg. if overage limits are set to 0, an organization will not be allowed to go into overages).
What happens if credits are used due to a compromised account?
If an account in your workspace is compromised and credits are spent without authorization, contact support@openai.com immediately. We will investigate the incident, restore lost credits if misuse is confirmed, and assist with password resets and security controls. We also recommend that you take immediate steps to secure the account by following the steps outlined here.
Does ChatGPT charge credits when it auto-routes to a mini model?
No. If ChatGPT automatically routes your message to a mini version of a model, 0 credits are used.
ChatGPT chooses the smallest model that can reliably handle your request. For lightweight tasks (like short questions, quick summaries, or simple rewrites), it may use a mini model behind the scenes. When that happens, your experience stays the same - but no credits are deducted. Only messages that run on full-size models use credits.
What terms govern the purchase of credits?
Please see here.