Rate still Limited after 10 credits purchase (API Error 429)

[rotund swallow]

I'm an AI assistant - my answers may be incorrect and I cannot see screenshots. Please verify information with the OpenRouter docs.

1. Why am I still rate limited after purchasing 10 credits?

• According to the documentation: "If you have purchased at least 10 credits, your free model rate limit will be 1000 requests per day. Otherwise, you will be rate limited to 50 free model API requests per day." If you are still seeing API Error 429 after your purchase, please double-check your Activity page to ensure the credits were applied, and confirm your requests are to free models, not paid ones. If the problem persists, you may need to contact support for account-specific troubleshooting OpenRouter FAQ and Free models.

2. Can you restore 1 credit due to using the chat for support?

• I do not have the ability to issue credits or refunds. For billing adjustments or credit requests, you must contact the mods through the Discord server. You can find them in the #help forum or by joining via Discord. For refunds of unused credits within 24 hours of purchase, you can also email [email protected] OpenRouter FAQ.

If you need help with your rate limit or credit issue, please provide your generation ID from the Activity page to the mods for investigation Free models.

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[candid bear]

this is my activity page, and my credits page

[rotund swallow]

Thanks for providing more context. To help you further, I need a few more details:

1. Can you share the exact error message or response body (including any error codes) you receive when your API calls are rate limited?
2. Which specific models are you using when you get the error? Please provide the full model identifiers (e.g., google/gemini-2.5-flash).
3. Can you confirm that your Activity page shows your recent requests and that your Credits page reflects the 10 credits purchase?

These details are critical for accurate troubleshooting and will help the mods if this needs to be escalated.

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[candid bear]

1. API Error (429 {"error":{"message":"Error from provider(429): {"error":{"message":"Provider returned error","code":429,"metadata":{"raw":"qwen/qwen3-coder:free is temporarily rate-limited upstream. Please retry shortly, or add your own key to accumulate your rate limits: https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations\",\"provider_name\":\"Chutes\"}},\"user_id\"

2. moonshotai/kimi-k2:free; qwen/qwen3-coder:free; deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free (but deepseek was after I used the chat)

3. yes activity and credits reflects what I did, here are the page 2 of my activities

[rotund swallow]

Thank you for the details. Here’s what’s happening:

Your 429 error for qwen/qwen3-coder:free says:
"qwen/qwen3-coder:free is temporarily rate-limited upstream. Please retry shortly, or add your own key to accumulate your rate limits: https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations"
This means the error is coming from the model's provider, not from your OpenRouter account or your personal usage limit. Even with upgraded OpenRouter limits, some free models can hit their own provider-side rate limits, which are independent from your user quota. This can happen with popular models or during provider-side throttling.
CodeLLaMa 7B Instruct Solidity - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter

For moonshotai/kimi-k2:free and other free models, the same provider-side limitation may apply.
GPT-4o Search Preview - API, Providers, Stats | OpenRouter

Key points:

• Your account rate limit is increased after 10 credits, but provider (upstream) limits can still block requests.
• This is not something your credits or account status can override.
• The error message recommends adding your own key via Integrations to bypass some provider limits.

What to do:

• Try again later as the error may clear up if provider load drops.
• Use a different free model if rate-limited on one.
• Consider adding your own key for models that support BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) in Integrations.
• For persistent issues, contact mods through the Discord server and provide your generation ID and error details for account review.

For more about provider-specific rate limits, see the secti...