# Credits and billing

> The same entitlements and dinar balance for the app and the API, the reservation on each call, the monthly cap per key, and what does not exist yet.

Source : https://developers.tuk-ai.com/en/docs/billing · Verified on 2026-10-04

## One account, the same entitlements

The API goes through **the same checks** as the Tukai app: same subscription, same credits in Tunisian dinars (TND), same usage limits. There is no separate wallet for developers. What is consumed in the chat, the Studio or through the API comes out of the same account.

Direct consequence: your plan's usage limits (session, weekly or subscription period windows, rate, concurrent requests) **also** apply to your API calls. Heavy use of the chat can therefore cause your API calls to be refused (`429`), and vice versa.

To call the API, the account must have an active subscription or credits. Without either, the request is refused with `402` and nothing is charged. There is **no** trial credit for the API.

Plans and their prices are published on [tuk-ai.com/pricing](https://tuk-ai.com/pricing), the only up-to-date price list. This documentation does not copy any price.

## Top up

1. On [chat.tuk-ai.com/pay/checkout](https://chat.tuk-ai.com/pay/checkout), choose a plan and a payment method.
2. For an online payment, the account is credited when the payment provider confirms the transaction to Tukai, not when your browser returns to the page.
3. For a bank transfer or a payment that needs approval, upload the requested proof of payment. The order stays **pending approval** until Tukai has confirmed it: you can prepare your integration, but paid calls remain refused until the account is credited.

Your orders, their status and their receipts are in [chat.tuk-ai.com/subscription](https://chat.tuk-ai.com/subscription).

## What happens on each call

1. **Check**: subscription or credits, allowed model, plan and key limits.
2. **Reservation**: before generation, Tukai reserves an estimate of the call's cost. The reserved amount is no longer available for other uses during the call.
3. **Generation**.
4. **Settlement**: the final cost is calculated from actual consumption, then the reservation is settled. This calculation can happen **after** the response: during that delay, the call's cost is being calculated.

A refusal is not billed, nor is an error before the first generated word. An error after generation has started is billed in proportion to what was produced. See [Errors](https://developers.tuk-ai.com/en/docs/errors#what-is-billed).

## Monthly cap per key

Each key can carry a monthly cap in dinars, set at creation or changed later in the **Clés API** (API keys) tab. It is **enforced by Tukai** before each generation call (`/v1/chat/completions` and `/v1/messages`):

- the month is the **calendar month in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)**: the counter resets on the 1st at 00:00 UTC, which is 01:00 in Tunis;
- before each generation, Tukai reserves against the cap the highest possible cost of the call, the output being bounded by your `max_tokens` and by your plan's output cap; if this reserve exceeds the cap, the call is refused with `429`;
- concurrent calls cannot, together, get more than the cap admitted;
- if the counter cannot be read, the call is refused (`503`) rather than let through uncounted.

A small difference remains possible between the input estimate and its actual count; it is bounded and logged. Token counting (`/v1/messages/count_tokens`) is free and is not counted.

> **What this cap does not do**
>
> It only protects the key that carries it. It does not prevent the app, the Studio or another key from consuming the account, and it does not reserve any amount for your applications.

## What does not exist yet

To avoid any bad surprise in production:

- **No account-level spending cap** that you can set, and no spending alert sent by Tukai.
- **No balance reserved** for the API: heavy use of the chat or the Studio reduces what is left for your applications.
- **No per-request history**: the **Utilisation** (Usage) tab (group **Compte et sécurité** (Account and security)) shows where your usage limits and your credits for the month stand, not the detail or amount of each API call. Consumption there is not broken down between the app, the API and the CLI.

These limitations are listed in [Going to production](https://developers.tuk-ai.com/en/docs/production) along with how to work around them.