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AI Gateway credits are a prepaid balance you purchase through app.ngrok.ai. Every request through https://gateway.ngrok.ai spends credits. Each request pays a small processing fee. When you use ngrok.ai inference for built-in OpenAI and Anthropic, credits also cover the model cost. See How credits are consumed for the full breakdown. AI Gateway credits are separate from your ngrok platform billing on dashboard.ngrok.com.

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Accounts and plans

You don’t need a specific ngrok subscription plan to use the AI Gateway or purchase credits. Sign in at app.ngrok.ai, buy credits, and create an access key. The AI Gateway and your broader ngrok account share the same ngrok account, but they are separate systems:
app.ngrok.aidashboard.ngrok.com
PurposeAI Gateway: keys, providers, credits, usagengrok platform: subscription, team members, tunnels, endpoints
CreditsAI Gateway credits (this page)Not used for AI Gateway traffic
If you want ngrok platform features alongside the AI Gateway (such as team members, or internal endpoints to reach self-hosted models) you can manage those through dashboard.ngrok.com. This generally requires a paid ngrok plan such as Pay-as-you-go; using the gateway with credits alone does not.

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Purchasing credits

Visit the Credits page and purchase at least USD $5.00. You can also start checkout via the AI Gateway API: 
curl -X POST https://api.ngrok.ai/credits/checkout-session \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "amount": 500 }'
Credits expire one year after purchase.

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How credits are consumed

RoutingCredits pay forYou pay separately
Built-in OpenAI or Anthropic (ngrok.ai inference)Processing fee and upstream model costNothing
Built-in provider with your provider keyProcessing feeUpstream model cost to your provider

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Balance tracking

You can view your balance on the Credits page, or via the API: 
curl https://api.ngrok.ai/credits/balance \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"

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What happens when credits run out

When your credit balance reaches zero, the gateway rejects new requests until you purchase more credits.

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Processing fee

Every successful request through the gateway incurs a processing fee at USD $0.05 per million tokens. The fee is based on the tokens in your request and response. It applies to all traffic—ngrok.ai inference, your own provider keys, and custom providers—and does not vary by model or provider. When you use ngrok.ai inference for built-in OpenAI and Anthropic providers, credits also cover upstream model cost. When you bring your own key, upstream costs stay on your provider account and credits cover only the processing fee.

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Next steps