I added $5 in API credits yesterday and expected to move to Usage Tier 1. Billing shows Paid, but my account is still in Free.
What I tried
• Waited 6+ hours
• Logged out and back in, hard refreshed
• Created a new API key after payment
What I see
• Limits page: Current tier = Free
• API returns 429 like:
“Rate limit reached for gpt-4o-mini on requests per min (RPM): Limit 3. Please try again in 20s.”
Questions
Is anyone else seeing this since Aug 28, 2025?
Is there a known delay before Tier 1 applies after payment?
Any workaround besides waiting?
I emailed support with Billing (Paid) and Limits (still Free). I will update this post if it gets resolved.
There’s been a few such reports just in the past day or two.
There have previously been days-long service outages where every new payment from anyone didn’t elevate tier.
Check your account balance to see that you have the credit balance showing. Adding a payment method alone will “authorize $5” with the banking, but doesn’t actually charge you, easy to misunderstand. Some newly-onboarded accounts may get some free “mini” usage, making whether you paid or not more confusing.
If it’s been several hours without tier elevation, which is recalculated only when a payment is made, yet you paid up and are spending from your balance at only the minimal rate, you can send a message via “help” in the platform site, with the symptom and the need for organization tier fix.
Thank you for your response. I’ve double-checked with our bank and can confirm this was not just a $5 authorization hold. The payment was fully charged and already settled, and the OpenAI dashboard shows the credit balance correctly.
Despite this, the organization is still stuck in the Free tier several hours after payment. This makes it clear that the issue is not related to an authorization vs. charge confusion, but rather that the tier elevation process itself isn’t running as expected.
Could you please escalate this as a potential system issue with tier promotion, since multiple users have now reported the same problem in the past day or two?
Hi @vb ,
I have the same issue, and have tried many things but it is still showing me in free tier, and its actually slowing down my clients work. would you please let me know if it has any fix or all I have to do is wait?
Please also have a look at my account, I deposited some money on my API account, my plan is showing that I am Tier 1 usage, though I get 429 error about exceeding my quota.
Though, did not make at least one successful api request yet.
Account concerns cannot be addressed on the forum.
In the platform.openai.com site, If you have a positive credit balance in “billing”, “credit grants” tab shows your purchase line item, and it looks like you are ready to go, try the dashboard “chat” to make an API request (just press create and don’t enter an initial text in the workflow-interrupter).
Still issues? Then you have “help” on the sidebar of the same page, within which you can send a message.