Spend ceilings and limits
What a FluxRouter spend ceiling is, how it protects you from runaway cost, how paid ceilings rise over time with cleared spend and account age, and how to request more.
A spend ceiling is the maximum your account can route in a calendar month. It exists to protect you from runaway cost (a loop, a leaked key, an over-eager script) and to keep the platform safe from abuse. When your monthly spend reaches the ceiling, further requests are blocked with an HTTP 402 until the next reset or until the ceiling is raised.
What is a spend ceiling?
It is a monthly cap on how much your account can spend on routing. Think of it as a safety limit, not a target. Normal usage stays well under it; the ceiling is there so a runaway process can't quietly rack up a large bill before you notice.
- On the Free plan, the ceiling is the $1 monthly cap, and it is a hard stop. See The Free plan.
- On paid plans, the ceiling starts modest and rises over time as you build a payment history.
How does the ceiling protect me?
If something goes wrong (an infinite retry loop, a key committed to a public repo, a misconfigured job), the ceiling caps the damage. Instead of an unbounded bill, your account stops at the ceiling and returns a 402, which is a clear, recoverable signal that something needs attention. See What a 402 error means.
Does my ceiling go up over time?
Yes, on paid plans. Your ceiling starts modest and rises as you build a payment history. In general terms, it grows with your cleared spend (usage that has been successfully paid and not disputed) and with your account age. The longer you have been a paying customer in good standing, the higher your ceiling climbs.
This mirrors how the major model providers handle usage limits: new accounts start with a conservative cap, and the cap increases automatically as the account establishes a track record. You don't need to do anything special; the ceiling rises on its own as cleared spend and account age accrue.
Enterprise accounts are governed by their contract rather than this automatic schedule.
How do I request a higher ceiling?
For most accounts the ceiling rises automatically over time, so the usual path is simply to keep using the platform and let it grow with your cleared spend and account age. If you have a near-term need that exceeds your current ceiling (a launch, a batch job, a traffic spike), contact support or your account rep to discuss raising it ahead of the automatic schedule. Enterprise customers can set a custom ceiling as part of their contract.
Where do I see my current ceiling and usage?
Your current spend and remaining headroom are in the dashboard. See Reading your usage and invoices.