QuickBooks Online API costs: CorePlus credits and overage explained
Intuit now meters the QuickBooks Online API. If you build on it, here is how CorePlus billing works, where the free tier cuts you off, and what the paid tiers cost.
What changed
Intuit's App Partner Program introduced metered CorePlus billing, live since 1 November 2025. It followed a transition period from 28 July to 31 October 2025 during which CorePlus usage carried a 100% discount, so the meter ran but nothing was charged.
The free Builder tier hard-blocks at 500,000 calls
The free Builder tier hard-blocks once it exceeds 500,000 CorePlus calls per month. Crucially, this is a block, not a throttle: requests fail — they are not slowed down — and stay failing until the next billing cycle resets the counter. For a production integration, hitting that ceiling means an outage, not a slowdown.
Paid tiers and overage
| Tier | Price / month | Included credits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder (free) | $0 | up to 500,000 calls | Hard-blocks above the limit |
| Silver | $300 | ~1,000,000 CorePlus credits | Overage ~$3.50 per 1,000 calls above allocation |
| Gold | $1,700 | ~10,000,000 CorePlus credits | Requires ~500+ active connections |
| Platinum | $4,500 | ~75,000,000 CorePlus credits | Requires ~3,000+ active connections |
Silver is $300/month for roughly 1,000,000 CorePlus credits, with overage of around $3.50 per 1,000 calls above the allocation. Gold is $1,700/month for roughly 10,000,000 credits and requires about 500+ active connections; Platinum is $4,500/month for roughly 75,000,000 credits and requires about 3,000+.
Tier prices, credit allocations and connection thresholds are approximate; verify current rates on the platform's developer pricing page.
Why the bill is hard to predict: workspace-level aggregation
Usage is aggregated at the workspace level, across all of a workspace's production apps. There is no native per-company (per-realm) cost breakdown — the API usage chart shows a single workspace total. Intuit's own optimization guidance acknowledges this by telling developers to track per-realm usage themselves. In other words, the platform expects you to instrument attribution, because it does not provide it.
Closing the per-tenant gap
Tracking per-realm usage yourself is exactly the gap that per-tenant API cost attribution fills. By emitting one lightweight usage event per call — keyed to the realm — you can rank companies by CorePlus consumption, spot the one approaching the Builder block or the Silver overage, and set a pre-overage alert before it costs you. Tierguard does this for QuickBooks Online; the same approach covers the Xero API and its egress overage.
See which company drives your CorePlus bill
Attribute every API call to the realm that made it, and get alerted before the Builder block or the Silver overage hits.
Create a free accountFAQ
What happens when the free Builder tier hits 500,000 CorePlus calls?
The free Builder tier hard-blocks once 500,000 CorePlus calls per month are exceeded. Requests fail rather than being throttled, and stay blocked until the next billing cycle.
How much does QuickBooks Online API overage cost on Silver?
Silver is $300 per month for roughly 1,000,000 CorePlus credits, with overage around $3.50 per 1,000 calls above the allocation. Gold is $1,700 per month (~10,000,000 CorePlus credits, ~500+ active connections) and Platinum $4,500 per month (~75,000,000 credits, ~3,000+).
Does QuickBooks show per-company API cost?
No. Usage is aggregated at the workspace level across a workspace's production apps. There is no native per-company (per-realm) cost breakdown; Intuit's own optimization guidance tells developers to track per-realm usage themselves.