Budget & Quota
Every license includes a monthly usage quota for AI requests. This gives everyone in the workspace fair access to all available AI models, from the economical ones up to the most powerful.
The vast majority of users never reach their quota. In practice, the limit only becomes noticeable with particularly intensive use of the most expensive premium models.
Quota per license
Section titled “Quota per license”Every license has its own monthly quota. The higher the license tier, the more room you have:
| License | Quota (multiplier) |
|---|---|
| Pro | 1x (base) |
| Business | 3x |
| Max | 20x |
| Enterprise | Individual |
We deliberately set the quotas generously. Specifically, the limit per license is chosen so that the token costs of the AI providers do not exceed the license price. Most users rarely use up their quota. This is how the model works economically for both sides: you have enough room for your daily work, and we can sustainably offer the service at a fair price.
The quota is reset on the 1st of each month.
Why no hard request count? A number like “X requests per month” would be misleading. A single long analysis with a top-tier model can consume as much quota as several hundred short everyday questions with an economical model. Instead of a number that does not hold up in practice, you can see the real usage of your workspace at any time in the Usage analytics.
Model choice influences usage
Section titled “Model choice influences usage”Not every AI request consumes the same amount of quota. In the model selector and in the model settings, you see a cost category next to each model:
| Category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| € | Economical, good for simple tasks and routine requests |
| €€ | Balanced, good balance of quality and usage |
| €€€ | High quality, significantly higher quota usage per request |
| €€€€ | Top-tier, very high quota usage per request |
The principle: Premium models (€€€ and €€€€) deliver the best results, but consume significantly more quota per request than economical models. Anyone who regularly works with the most expensive models will exhaust their quota correspondingly faster.
Tip: For everyday tasks, a € or €€ model is often enough. Reach for €€€ and €€€€ models when the highest quality really matters, for example for complex analyses, demanding coding tasks or particularly sensitive texts.
Budget sharing within the team
Section titled “Budget sharing within the team”Quotas are shared within the workspace. This means:
- Users who consume less automatically free up room for colleagues with higher demand
- A single user can use up to 200% of their own license quota, as long as the overall budget of the workspace allows it
- This ensures that unused quota does not expire, but benefits the team
Adjustment on request: The 200% limit is a default value that works well for most workspaces. If it is not enough for individual power users in your team, or if you want to set it tighter to cap usage more firmly, we can adjust the value individually per customer. Contact your 9brains representative for this.
Cost cap per agent
Section titled “Cost cap per agent”With the Agent platform, tasks can also run autonomously (via cron or webhook). To ensure that an agent never unnoticed consumes more quota than intended, every agent has its own monthly cost cap as a safety net. When the cap is reached, the agent automatically pauses and the owner is notified by email.
The preset is €10/month, which is comfortable for most use cases. You can adjust the value per agent at any time: upwards for more resource-hungry agents, downwards for an even tighter safeguard.
Configurable per agent:
- Monthly cost cap: Owner and administrators can change the value
- Early warning at utilization: Email notification at, for example, 80 % usage
- Allowed models: for example only allow economical models, no premium models for high-volume crons
- Auto-pause after 3 consecutive failures: protects against runaway configurations
Which quota a run is billed to depends on the visibility of the agent:
- Personal agents (only the owner sees them): usage is charged to the owner’s personal quota
- Shared agents (group or workspace): usage is charged to the workspace quota, even for chat runs, because a shared agent is by definition a team resource
Administrators see an overview of all agents with usage, cap and status under Settings → Usage analytics → Agents. They can override the cap per agent specifically.
Controlling usage per user
Section titled “Controlling usage per user”As an admin, you control usage in the workspace specifically where it arises. Three levers are available to you:
- License choice per person in the user management. Pro, Business or Max determine the base quota and which features (agents, integrations, API) are unlocked.
- Agent cost cap per agent in the Usage analytics. You can set the monthly cap per agent as an override and additionally restrict the allowed models per agent, for example only economical models for high-volume crons.
- Workspace cap as a global ceiling (default 200 %, adjustable on request), see Budget sharing within the team.
Which brake kicks in when?
Section titled “Which brake kicks in when?”In the workspace there are several independent brakes that safeguard usage. They act separately from each other, which is the most common point at which the question arises: “My budget has been raised, why is my agent still not running?”. The following table makes the mapping clear:
| Brake | When it kicks in | What happens | What you can do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workspace quota exhausted | When the monthly workspace pool of all licenses is used up | Low-cost mode for all users: economical models keep running, premium models are disabled until the next reset | Top up credit, upgrade license or wait until the 1st of the next month |
| Agent cost cap reached | When the monthly usage of an individual agent reaches its own cap (default €10) | The agent pauses completely, owner and admin are notified by email. Other agents and the chat keep running | Increase the cap in the Models & cost tab, or wait until the end of the month. Admins can override the value in the usage analytics |
| Auto-pause after three consecutive failures | When an autonomously triggered agent ends with an error three times in a row | The agent pauses, further cron and webhook runs are not executed. Chat runs are not affected | Check the cause in the run history, adjust the configuration and reactivate the agent in the General tab |
| Daily limit during the trial | During the 7-day trial, when the daily quota is reached | Hard limit: new AI requests pause until the daily reset | Wait until the next day or purchase a license |
Practical consequence: Increasing your personal share of the workspace pool does not help if an individual agent has reached its own cost cap. These are separate levers. If an agent unexpectedly pauses, first look at the agent cost cap in the Models & cost tab and at the status in the Usage analytics.
What happens when the quota is exhausted?
Section titled “What happens when the quota is exhausted?”Even when the quota is used up, you remain able to work:
- You keep chatting, but only with the economical models. These easily cover the vast majority of everyday questions.
- The expensive premium models remain disabled until the next quota reset. In the model selector they appear greyed out, with a note indicating when they will be available again.
- The platform remains fully usable: knowledge management, settings and reading existing chats are possible without restriction.
- A status notice with the reset date appears in the left sidebar.
If you want to use the premium models again immediately, you have two options:
- Top up credit to continue working straight away
- Upgrade to a higher license for permanently more quota (for example from Pro to Business or Max)
Otherwise, the premium models are automatically unlocked again on the 1st of the month, when the quota resets.
Note on autonomous agents: Cron or webhook agents only keep running in this state if they are configured for one of the economical models anyway. If the agent uses a premium model, it pauses until the next reset or until you adjust the model. More on this under Cost cap per agent.
Credit
Section titled “Credit”Credit is additional quota that you can purchase as a one-time purchase if needed.
- Credit is only consumed once the regular monthly quota is exhausted
- Unused credit does not expire, it remains available in the next month
- Administrators can purchase credit under Billing
Credit is particularly suitable for months with increased demand, for example during projects, quarterly closings or when new employees are intensively getting to know the platform.