# Automatic Top-Up

> URL: https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/automatic-top-up
> Updated: 2026-10-28
> Index: https://foura.ai/llms.txt

Automatic top-up buys more of an allowance before you run out of it. When your use this billing period reaches the share you picked, FourA buys the amount you chose with the card on your account, so your requests keep going while nobody is watching. Each automatic top-up is an ordinary purchase: it has its own invoice and its own row in the **Top-ups** table.

## Where to Find It

Open **Billing** in the dashboard sidebar. On the **Plan & Usage** tab, the header of the **Top-ups** table says what automatic top-up does now (**Automatic top-up is off**, or a line such as **Credits: adds 1,000,000 credits at 95%**) and holds the **Automatic top-up** button that opens its settings.

The button appears only when your plan sells at least one top-up. A plan that sells none hides the whole Top-ups table.

## Switching It On

1. Click **Automatic top-up**.
2. If your plan sells more than one top-up, pick the **Allowance**. Each allowance has its own rule.
3. Tick **Add more automatically**.
4. Set the three terms below. The dialog prices the amount on the server and shows what each top-up costs, VAT included.
5. Click **Save**.

| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---------|--------------|---------|
| When this much of the allowance is used | The share of this period's allowance that triggers a purchase: 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%. The line under it shows where you stand now. | 95% |
| Add | How much each automatic top-up buys: credits in steps of 100,000, or traffic in whole GB. | What your plan includes in one period |
| At most, in one billing period | How many automatic top-ups may run in one billing period: once, twice, 3, 5, or 10 times. | 3 times |

The three allowances:

| Allowance | What it tops up |
|-----------|-----------------|
| Credits | Your credits for the period, on a plan sold by credits |
| Bandwidth | Standard traffic: the API and the proxy port together on a plan sold by traffic, the proxy port's own gigabytes on a plan sold by credits |
| Premium traffic | Traffic through premium exits |

Automatic top-up is paid only with a saved card. The dialog names the card it charges: your default card, or the newest one when none is the default. Without a card the rule can't be saved, so add one on the **Payment Methods** tab first.

To switch it off, open the dialog, untick **Add more automatically**, and click **Save**.

## How It Decides

- The allowance is what your plan includes this billing period plus what you've bought on top: the same number the API holds you to. For credits, that's the **Hard stop** on [Usage & Limits](https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/quota).
- FourA checks every minute. Once your use reaches the share you set, it buys the amount you set, once. That purchase raises the allowance, so the next automatic top-up can only happen at the new threshold.
- Once the period's maximum is reached, nothing more is bought until the next billing period starts. The rule stays on.
- What it buys works like any top-up: it lasts twelve months as a balance, and your plan's own allowance is used first each period. See [Billing & Subscriptions](https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/billing#buying-more).

## When a Top-Up Doesn't Go Through

A charge that fails isn't tried again. The rule pauses, nothing more is bought, and the dialog shows the date and the reason:

| Reason shown | What it means |
|--------------|---------------|
| your card was declined | The bank refused the charge. |
| your bank asked to confirm the payment while you weren't there | The bank wanted the cardholder to approve the charge. |
| there was no card on your account | No saved card was on the account when the top-up ran. |
| your plan no longer offers this top-up | The plan you're on doesn't sell this allowance any more. |
| the payment couldn't be completed | The payment provider never confirmed the charge. |

Fix the cause, for example by updating the card on **Payment Methods**, then open the dialog and click **Save**. Saving switches the rule back on.

## Tips

- Keep the period maximum low. It guards against a runaway job buying again and again overnight; it isn't a budget.
- Automatic top-up adds to an allowance your plan sells. To change what's included every period, [change your plan](https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/billing#changing-plans).

## Related

- [Billing & Subscriptions](https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/billing): Buying top-ups by hand, payment methods, and invoices
- [Usage & Limits](https://foura.ai/docs/dashboard/quota): Where each allowance stands this period
- [How Your Plan Is Metered](https://foura.ai/docs/guides/plans-and-metering): Credits, traffic, and which ceiling applies to you