# Pricing

AI Gateway uses a pay-as-you-go model with no markups. Purchase [AI Gateway Credits](#top-up-your-ai-gateway-credits) and Vercel automatically deducts charges from your balance.

## Free and paid tiers

AI Gateway offers both a free tier and a paid tier for AI Gateway Credits. **For the paid tier, AI Gateway provides tokens with zero markup, including when you bring your own key.**

### Free tier

Every Vercel team account includes $5 of free usage per month, allowing you to explore AI Gateway without upfront costs.

How it works:

- **$5 monthly credit**: you'll receive $5 AI Gateway Credits every 30 days after you make your first AI Gateway request.
- **Model flexibility**: choose from any available models, your free credits work across our entire model catalog.
- **No commitment**: you can stay on the free tier as long as you do not purchase AI Gateway Credits through AI Gateway.

### Moving to paid tier

You can purchase AI Gateway Credits and move to a paid account, enabling you to run larger workloads.

Once you purchase AI Gateway Credits, your account transitions to our pay-as-you-go model:

- **No lock-in**: purchase AI Gateway Credits as you use them, with no obligation to renew your commitment.
- **No free tier**: once you create a paid account, you will not receive $5 of AI Gateway Credits per month.

## AI Gateway Rates

Whether you use a free or paid account, you'll pay the AI Gateway rates listed in the Models section of the [**AI Gateway**](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway\&title=Go+to+AI+Gateway) tab for each request. AI Gateway bases its rates on the provider's list price.

The charge for each request depends on the AI provider and model you select, and the number of input and output tokens processed. **You're responsible for any payment processing fees that may apply.**

### Finding model pricing

You can find the most up-to-date pricing for all models in two places:

- [**AI Gateway Model List**](/ai-gateway/models): Browse all available models with pricing information
- [**AI Gateway Dashboard**](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway%2Fmodels\&title=AI+Gateway+Models): View models directly in your Vercel dashboard

When you click on a model, you can see the full pricing breakdown including variations across different providers that offer the same model.

## Using a custom API key

AI Gateway also supports [using a custom API key](/docs/ai-gateway/authentication-and-byok/byok) for any provider listed in our catalog.
If you use a custom API key, there is no markup or fee from AI Gateway.

## View your AI Gateway Credits balance

To view your balance:

1. Go to the [**AI Gateway**](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway\&title=Go+to+AI+Gateway) tab of your Vercel dashboard.
2. On the upper right corner, you will see your AI Gateway Credits balance displayed.

## Top up your AI Gateway Credits

To add AI Gateway Credits:

1. Go to the [**AI Gateway**](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway\&title=Go+to+AI+Gateway) tab of your Vercel dashboard.
2. In the upper right corner, click on the button that shows your AI Gateway Credits balance.
3. In the dialog that appears, you can select the amount of AI Gateway Credits you want to add.
4. Click on **Continue to Payment**.
5. Choose your payment method and click on **Confirm and Pay** to complete your purchase.

## Configure auto top-up

You can configure auto top-up to automatically add AI Gateway Credits when your balance falls below a threshold.

To enable auto top-up:

1. Go to the [**AI Gateway**](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway\&title=Go+to+AI+Gateway) tab of your Vercel dashboard.
2. In the upper right corner, click on the button that shows your AI Gateway Credits balance.
3. Click the **Change** button next to auto top-up (disabled by default).
4. Configure your preferred threshold and top-up amount.
5. Click **Save** to apply your settings.

When your balance drops below the threshold, AI Gateway automatically charges your payment method and adds the configured amount to your balance.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
title: "Advanced Features"
description: "Advanced Anthropic API features including extended thinking and web search."
last_updated: "2026-02-03T02:58:35.939Z"
source: "https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/sdks-and-apis/anthropic-compat/advanced"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------