AI plans, accounts and API credits: what are you buying?
A working login may not include a paid plan. A chat plan may not include API access. Choose the service before comparing prices.
Choose the service before the price.
Products for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Cursor may be basic accounts, accounts with a paid plan, renewals on your own account, codes or shared seats. A login does not establish paid access, and a shared seat is not an independently controlled account.
Find the plan name, features and account control in the delivery description. Shared access also raises questions about chat history, privacy and administrator permissions.
A month from activation, or a month left?
Time may start at activation or payment, or a listing may sell the remaining period on an account. An annual plan shown as a monthly average may require an annual payment. Codes can have their own redemption deadline.
Read what support covers: lost subscriptions, failed logins and account restrictions may be treated differently. Replacement and refund calculations matter as much as the headline price.
API face value is only part of the cost.
Chat subscriptions and API usage are separate products. A third-party dollar balance can be an internal billing unit, rather than funds in an official account or a withdrawable balance.
Model source, usage multipliers, input, output and cache pricing, expiry and refunds determine the cost. Check data handling too, and do not give passwords or sessions to an untrusted third party.
Official references
Rules can change. Use the terms for your chosen product and provider.