OpenAI “You exceeded your current quota” (insufficient_quota)
You exceeded your current quota, please check your plan and billing details
Despite the 429 status, this is a billing problem, not a rate limit: your account has no usable credit. Either billing isn’t set up, prepaid credits ran out, or a spend limit was reached.
What causes it
- No payment method or billing not configured on the account.
- Prepaid credits hit zero, or the credits expired.
- A monthly budget / hard spend limit was reached.
- Using a free-trial key after the trial credits expired.
How to fix it
- Add a payment method and confirm billing is active in the provider dashboard.
- Top up prepaid credits, or raise your monthly budget / spend limit.
- Check you’re using the right project/organization key, since quota is per-project.
- Confirm the key isn’t a lapsed free-trial key.
Running an agent? If an always-on agent suddenly stops, this is the usual cause: background calls quietly drained the credits overnight.
Paying a fixed monthly price instead
Flat-rate APIs and coding plans compared →
18 plans with their price, the limit each one sets and where your data goes.
Keep working on a fixed monthly plan
Standard Compute has no credits to top up. Each plan has a fixed monthly compute budget shown live in the dashboard; when it is used, requests stop with HTTP 402 until renewal or an upgrade, with no overage charge.
Plans from $19 a month with $19 of compute. Eligible new accounts can try $0.25 of compute first, no card. Trial terms
FAQ
Why is it a 429 if it’s a billing problem?
OpenAI reuses the 429 status for insufficient_quota. The error type and message (“exceeded your current quota”) tell you it’s billing, not a per-minute rate limit. Retrying won’t help; you need credit.
I just added a card and still get it. Why?
Billing changes can take a few minutes to propagate, and a brand-new card sometimes needs a small initial credit purchase before requests succeed.