Build Tiers and Rate Limits
Together AI uses a system of Build Tiers to reward customers as they continue to use our service. The more you do on Together, the higher your limits are! There are 5 build tiers. If you find yourself running into rate limits once you’re on Build Tier 5, a Scale or Enterprise plan may be a better fit for your needs.Required Spend and Rate Limits
You can move up to the next build tier by paying your monthly bill, or by purchasing credits. Build Tiers are based on lifetime spend.| Build Tiers | Total Spend | LLMs | Embeddings | Re-rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build Tier 1 | $5.00 | 600 RPM | 3000 RPM | 500,000 |
| Build Tier 2 | $50.00 | 1800 RPM | 5000 RPM | 1,500,000 |
| Build Tier 3 | $100.00 | 3000 RPM | 5000 RPM | 2,000,000 |
| Build Tier 4 | $250.00 | 4500 RPM | 10,000 RPM | 3,000,000 |
| Build Tier 5 | $1000.00 | 6000 RPM | 10,000 RPM | 5,000,000 |
Model Access by Build Tier
Some models have minimum Build Tier requirements beyond the standard rate limits.Image Models
- Build Tier 1 and above: Access to Flux.1 [schnell] (free and Turbo), Flux.1 Dev, Flux.1 Canny, Flux.1 Depth, Flux.1 Redux, and Flux.1 Kontext [dev]
- Build Tier 2 and above: Access to Flux Pro models, including Flux.1 [pro] and Flux1.1 [pro]
Important Note About Build Tier Access Restrictions
Even with a positive balance and no usage limit set, you may still encounter access restrictions due to Build Tier requirements. Build tiers are determined by actual account spend (purchased credits or platform usage), not free credits. Key points to remember:- Free credits don’t count toward tier upgrades
- Build Tier 1 requires $5 of actual account spend
- Build Tier 2 requires $50 of actual account spend
- Some premium models (including Flux Pro 1.1, Flux Pro 1, and other high-end models) are restricted to Build Tier 2 or higher
- Access restrictions apply regardless of your credit balance or usage limit settings
- If you’re seeing “Free tier” access errors despite having credits, you may need to purchase credits to upgrade to Build Tier 1
- If you encounter “tier access” errors for premium models, you may need Build Tier 2 status ($50 total spend)
Exceptions
Sometimes due to the popularity of a model we may need to implement custom rate limits or access restrictions. These exceptions will be listed in our documentation. Keep in mind that once the limit is hit and enforced, any usage of Together AI services will be blocked until you increase the limit or buy a credit pack.Understanding Credit Types and Account Tiers
Important: Having credits in your balance doesn’t automatically upgrade your account tier. There are two types of credits:- Free credits - Promotional credits granted to your account
- Purchased credits - Credits you’ve bought with real money
Build Tier Update Delay After Purchase
Purchasing Together AI credits can take up to 15 minutes for our backend to finish updating your account’s Build Tier and grant any new model access that comes with it. This delay is normal and does not affect the credits themselves; they are already reserved for you.What you may notice while the update is in progress
- Your credit balance in the dashboard may still show the old amount.
- Tier-restricted models (for example, Flux.Kontext) remain grayed out or return “insufficient tier” errors.
- API calls that require the new tier will continue to be rejected with HTTP 403 until propagation is complete.
What you should do
- Wait up to 15 minutes after your payment confirmation email arrives.
- Refresh the billing page or re-query the
/v1/modelsendpoint after the 15-minute mark. - If nothing changes, clear your browser cache or log out and back in to rule out a stale UI state.