Do AI API Credits Expire? The Official Pages, Side by Side
As of 2026-10-16, three of the four official pages state an expiry or reserve the right to void credits: OpenAI prepaid credits expire after 1 year; Anthropic's plan-included credits expire at the end of each billing cycle with no rollover; OpenRouter's terms reserve the right to expire unused credits one year after purchase. DeepSeek splits the balance into two fields but lists no time limit for the topped-up one. QCode Pay-as-you-go Packs are one-time quota, valid 7–90 days per pack.
Updated 2026-10-16
Prices change: on QCode, Claude, GPT and Chinese models are billed per token — live rates on /models.
- Billed per token — live rates on /models
- Pay by card (Visa / Mastercard / AMEX), Apple Pay, Google Pay or crypto
- Self-service: top up and activate instantly
What each official page says
OpenAI prepaid credits
Verbatim: Purchased credits expire after 1 year, and OpenAI cannot extend the expiration date of purchased credits or credit grants. Every OpenAI line on this page follows the archived snapshot of that note dated 2026-10-03.
Anthropic plan-included credits
Per the docs: Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle (or monthly for annual plans) and don't roll over. When a plan ends, new credits stop arriving, but credits you already have stay usable until they expire. The docs page and the help center say the same.
OpenRouter per its terms
The official FAQ asks Do credits expire? and answers: per our terms, we reserve the right to expire unused credits after one year of purchase. That is a reserved right, not credits already voided. Balances can be topped up manually or via auto top-up.
DeepSeek field wording
The API splits the balance into two fields: granted_balance is described as The total not expired granted balance, while The total topped-up balance carries no time-limit wording at all. When both fields hold money, granted_balance is drawn down first. The pricing page notes that prices may change and recommends topping up based on actual usage.
Short answer: three state it, one is silent
As of 2026-10-16, the answer is: they do expire — differently. Three of the four official pages state a term or a reserved right. OpenAI: prepaid credits expire 1 year after purchase, and your credit balance decreases as you use the API. Anthropic: plan-included credits are voided at each billing cycle with no rollover. OpenRouter: its terms allow it to expire unused credits one year after purchase. The one that stays silent is DeepSeek: the interface splits granted_balance from topped_up_balance, and the latter lists no term. On QCode, Pay-as-you-go Packs are one-time quota valid 7–90 days per pack: use it until it runs out, and whatever is left is forfeited at expiry.
OpenAI: 1 year, no extensions, no refunds as a rule
The OpenAI help center is precise: prepaid billing lets you purchase credits before using the API; purchased credits expire after 1 year, and OpenAI cannot extend the expiration date of purchased credits or credit grants; credits are non-refundable unless required by law or contract, or an approved exception applies; the minimum purchase is $5, and the default amount is $10; new API accounts use prepaid billing. Two easy-to-miss points: when prepaid credits run out the API returns the error code credit_balance_exhausted, and access may not stop immediately — usage processed during the delay can appear as a negative credit balance.
Three dates
The archived-snapshot date that all OpenAI quotes on this page follow.
The last-modified date in the metadata of Anthropic's usage-credits help page, which says usage credits are billed at standard API rates.
The updated-on date shown on QCode's pack and payment-methods docs pages, which is also this page's check date.
Confirmed vs not stated
Confirmed (verbatim on official pages)
All of the following can be checked word for word on the official pages. OpenAI — purchased credits expire after 1 year; expiration dates cannot be extended; credits are non-refundable as a rule; minimum purchase $5, default $10; the credit_balance_exhausted error code; the negative-balance note; new accounts are prepaid by default (all per the 2026-10-03 snapshot). Anthropic — plan-included credits expire at the end of each billing cycle with no rollover (monthly for annual plans); credits already received stay usable after the plan ends; usage credits are billed at standard API rates, and that help page is marked last modified 2026-10-08. OpenRouter — reserved right to expire unused credits one year after purchase; refunds for unused credits may be requested within 24 hours; unused credits are lost when the account is deleted. DeepSeek — granted_balance marked not expired; no limit wording for topped_up_balance; granted_balance drawn down first. QCode — Pay-as-you-go Packs run 7–90 days per pack; remaining quota is forfeited at expiry; rebuys add quota and set the expiry to the later of the two dates; the same key revives; HTTP 401 at key expiry and HTTP 402 at a used-up quota; packs are not refundable; CNY top-ups start at ¥100 and the USD minimum is $1 (crawled 2026-10-16).
Three things the pages do not say
As of 2026-10-16, these three have no verbatim line in the pages archived for this page — don't plan around them. One: whether credits you top up yourself in Anthropic's Console (neither plan-included nor usage credits) expire — the archived official pages carry no such line; for contrast, the usage-credits article says they do not expire in most cases, but in certain jurisdictions such as Japan they expire six months after purchase starting September 10, 2026. Two: whether DeepSeek's topped_up_balance expires — that field's description carries no time-limit wording. Three: whether a QCode account balance itself expires — none of the four docs pages crawled that day (packs, payment methods, dashboard guide, choose-a-plan) has a term; what those pages do say is different — leftover balance after a purchase is not wasted and can go toward another pack or a personal plan. This page only states that no expiry line is online, with no conclusion. Also note: OpenRouter's line is a reserved right, not credits already voided.
Plan-included credits vs credits you buy
Plan-included credits
Anthropic's rule: plan-included API credits arrive once per billing cycle (monthly for annual plans) and are voided at its end if unused, with no rollover; after the plan ends or is downgraded, no new credits arrive, and credits you already have stay usable until they expire. Usage credits do not expire in most cases; in certain jurisdictions such as Japan they expire six months after purchase starting September 10, 2026, and the archived pages say nothing about Console-topped-up credits — see the next section.
Self-purchased credits
OpenAI: new API accounts default to prepaid; purchased credits expire after 1 year and cannot be extended; the minimum purchase is $5 and the default amount $10. OpenRouter: manual top-ups or auto top-up both work, and the terms reserve the right to expire unused credits one year after purchase. DeepSeek: no term listed for the topped-up field. All three rules sit on their own help or terms pages; go by the live page of the day.
How to check your own case
Look at four places. Errors and balances: OpenAI returns credit_balance_exhausted when prepaid credits run out, and access may not stop immediately — delay-period usage shows as a negative balance; on QCode an expired key returns HTTP 401 and a used-up quota returns HTTP 402, both fixed by rebuying. Cycles and drawing order: Anthropic bills against the end of each billing cycle; when both DeepSeek fields hold money, granted_balance goes first. Refund window: OpenRouter accepts refund requests for unused credits within 24 hours of the transaction and not afterwards, and unused credits are lost if you delete the account. Dates: this page's OpenAI lines follow the 2026-10-03 snapshot, and vendor pages can change at any time.
QCode: packs counted in days
Pay-as-you-go Packs are one-time quota: once bought, you use it inside the validity window until it runs out — no daily reset like Personal Plans. Packs run 7–90 days: the Week Pack is $4 for $30 of quota over 7 days; the Quarter Pack is $30 for $330 of quota over 90 days. At expiry the remaining quota is forfeited; a rebuy adds the new quota onto what is left and sets the expiry to the later of the current expiry date and today plus the pack's days — the same key works again. An expired key returns HTTP 401; a used-up quota returns HTTP 402. Packs are not refundable. CNY top-ups start at ¥100 (packs from $4, and leftover balance can go to a rebuy or a plan); the USD minimum is $1. Whether a QCode account balance expires: as of 2026-10-16 that line is not written online. Billed per token; per-model rates are listed on /models.
Frequently asked questions
So do prepaid AI API credits expire or not?
As of 2026-10-16: three of the four official pages state a term or a reserved right. OpenAI purchased credits expire after 1 year and cannot be extended; Anthropic's plan-included credits expire at the end of each billing cycle with no rollover; OpenRouter's terms reserve the right to expire unused credits one year after purchase; DeepSeek's topped-up field lists no term. QCode Pay-as-you-go Packs count in days: valid 7–90 days per pack, and the remainder is forfeited at expiry.
Can OpenAI extend credits that are about to expire?
No. Verbatim: OpenAI cannot extend the expiration date of purchased credits or credit grants. Credits are non-refundable unless required by law or contract, or an approved exception applies. On the purchase side: the minimum purchase is $5 and the default amount $10. The OpenAI quotes here come from the archived snapshot of that note dated 2026-10-03.
Are Anthropic's plan-included credits the same thing as usage credits?
No. Plan-included API credits expire at the end of each billing cycle with no rollover (monthly for annual plans). Usage credits are how paid Claude plans keep working after the included usage runs out, billed at standard API rates; that help page is marked last modified 2026-10-08. Usage credits do not expire in most cases, but in certain jurisdictions such as Japan they expire six months after purchase starting September 10, 2026; for credits topped up in the Console the archived pages carry no expiry line.
What if I don't want a monthly plan?
QCode's Pay-as-you-go Packs are one-time quota: buy once, use inside the validity window until it runs out — no daily reset like Personal Plans, built for phase-by-phase use and for anyone who doesn't want to subscribe monthly. Pay-as-you-go Packs: no monthly plan, from $4 (USD top-ups from $1); valid 7–90 days, and you can rebuy any time before expiry or once the quota runs out.
What does the API return when the quota runs out or a key expires?
OpenAI: an error with the code credit_balance_exhausted means the organization has no prepaid credits remaining, and access may not stop immediately — usage processed during the delay can appear as a negative credit balance. QCode: an expired key returns HTTP 401 (API key has expired) and a used-up quota returns HTTP 402 (insufficient_quota); rebuying restores it.
How do I pay and get started from China or Russia?
QCode's top-up floors: CNY top-ups start at ¥100 via Alipay and WeChat Pay; the USD minimum is $1, via Visa / Mastercard / AMEX on the international checkout, Apple Pay / Google Pay, or cryptocurrency. For Russia: SBP, a Russian bank card or other Russian local methods — you pay in rubles and the balance is credited in USD; these appear only when the interface language is Russian.
Sources
Anthropic: the api-credits docs page plus the help center's monthly-API-credits and manage-usage-credits articles (crawled 2026-10-16; the usage-credits article is marked last modified 2026-10-08). OpenAI: the prepaid API billing help article (web.archive.org snapshot dated 2026-10-03). OpenRouter: the official docs FAQ (crawled 2026-10-16). DeepSeek: the official API docs, get-user-balance and pricing pages (crawled 2026-10-16). QCode: the payg-packs and payment-methods pages on docs.qcode.cc and the pay-as-you-go page on qcode.cc in all five languages (all crawled 2026-10-16).
Not tied to a billing cycle: Pay-as-you-go Packs run 7–90 days
Pay-as-you-go Packs: no monthly plan, from $4 (USD top-ups from $1); leftovers at expiry are forfeited, and a rebuy restores the same key. Billed per token; per-model rates are listed on /models.
Related reading
Claude Code Pay-as-you-go Packs: No Subscription, 7–90 Days
How the packs work: one-time quota, forfeit at expiry, rebuying restores the same key.
Buy Claude API Credits (Oct 2026): No PayPal, 1-Year Expiry
Console prepay, auto-reload and the one-year expiry rule.
When an AI API bill does not match: reset times, usage reconciliation and refund terms 2026
The three reset times, the usual reasons a bill drifts, and the refund terms.
Crypto payment guide
Nine coins, 56 networks, zero platform fee for AI coding API credits.
Vendor statements on this page were checked on 2026-10-16; the OpenAI lines follow the 2026-10-03 archived snapshot, and Anthropic's usage-credits help page is marked last modified 2026-10-08. Figures such as minimum purchases and top-up floors are the vendors' own published statements, not verified by us, and official pages can change without notice. For QCode, docs.qcode.cc of the day applies; model availability follows /models.