# Understanding and managing your API billing

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).


https://help.circle.so/p/sso-and-integrations/api/understanding-and-managing-your-api-billing

Category: [SSO and integrations](https://help.circle.so/p/sso-and-integrations) › [API](https://help.circle.so/p/sso-and-integrations/api)

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_Last updated: April 6, 2026_

Your community’s API billing is designed to be flexible and adapt as your needs grow. This article explains how API billing and overages work for your community.

## **About API billing**

If your community is on a Business plan or above, you have access to the **Admin API** and **Headless API** , each with specific usage limits. If your API usage exceeds the limit included in your plan, **overage charges** will automatically apply for the excess usage to the following API tokens:

- **Admin API (v1 & v2)** – Excludes Zapier tokens

- **Headless API**

This automatic overage billing works similarly for both Admin API and Headless API.

### **API limits**
 ![](https://assets-v2.circle.so/1bywxiz0lhsiu9peys0xjejxzyjr)

\* **MAU (Monthly Active Users):** When a member is authenticated and interacts with the community’s custom-built community features, they will be counted as MAU.

> ℹ️ **Note** : If you are on a legacy Professional plan that includes access to the Admin API, your community will be subject to the API limits and overage charges of the Business plan. If you cancel your legacy plan, you will lose access to the Admin API. To regain access, you will need to upgrade to a Business plan or higher.

### **API overage pricing**
 ![](https://assets-v2.circle.so/2vjusf9kh3zvcsxxcsqzqf4eh9p6)

\* **MAU (Monthly Active Users):** When a member is authenticated and interacts with the community’s custom-built community features, they will be counted as MAU.

## **How API overage charges work**

API usage is tracked **monthly,** and overages are calculated at the end of each billing cycle and **charged on the next billing cycle**.

Here’s how the billing works:

- **Monthly vs. annual community plans** : Both Admin and Headless API overages are billed **monthly** , regardless of whether your community plan is monthly or annual. 

- **Exceeding your allocated API limit:** 

Here’s an example of what API billing would look like:

 ![](https://assets-v2.circle.so/6t0oq0zmxx14ojz44rxoc66ci4ih)

## **Overage visibility and alerts**

On the [**Overview**](https://help.circle.so/p/sso-and-integrations/api/monitor-your-api-usage) page within your Developers dashboard, you can see both Admin and Headless API usage for your current billing cycle out of the total limit, in the **API usage** section. You can also track which endpoint is being utilized the most looking at its requests and total consumption of overall usage.

When you reach 90% of your API limit within a billing cycle, an email notification is also sent to all community admins to inform them about the usage.

This dashboard visibility and email alert help you look into your usage and make informed decisions.

## **Stopping API overages**

[Revoking](https://help.circle.so/p/sso-and-integrations/api/manage-api-tokens-and-whitelisted-domains) your API tokens stops triggering new API calls.

If you no longer need an API token or want to prevent it from exceeding your usage limits, you can revoke the token and remove it from your community.

If you are no longer exceeding your API limits, you won’t be billed for overages. However, you will still see an API subscription listed with a **$0 charge** on your invoice.

### Canceling API subscription

If you're no longer using APIs and wish to completely remove the API subscription from your invoices, please reach out to Circle support.