Per-Key Plans

Each pool subscription mints its own unlimited API key. To isolate different users, clients, or applications, subscribe to multiple seats (one key per seat) — each key is independent, so one runaway client can’t starve the others (each key allows 1 concurrent request).

Use cases

• SaaS platform — Give each customer their own API key with appropriate limits
• Team management — Different keys for dev, staging, production
• Client billing — Track usage per client with separate keys

Creating keys with plans

From the dashboard

1. Go to API Keys
2. Click Create Key
3. Set a name (e.g. client-acme)
4. Select a subscription to attach the key to

Via API

Subscribe to a pool, reserving one or more seats (quantity) across your chosen time blocks. Each seat becomes an independent subscription you can mint a key from:

curl -X POST https://api.cheapestinference.com/api/pools/kimi26/subscribe \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mk_your_management_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"blocks": ["asia","europe","americas"], "quantity": 3}'

Then create a key for each subscription (one active key per subscription):

curl -X POST https://api.cheapestinference.com/api/keys/subscription \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mk_your_management_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "client-acme", "subscriptionId": "pledge_uuid"}'

You need an active pool subscription to create keys. (Autonomous agents can subscribe and pay with USDC in one call via POST /api/agent/subscribe-pool — see the x402 guide.)

Rate limits per key

Every pool key is unlimited during your reserved time blocks — no RPM/TPM budget cap. The only ceiling is 1 concurrent request per key, so to run requests in parallel (or isolate clients), reserve more seats and use one key each.

	Pool key
Throughput during reserved hours	Unlimited (no budget cap)
Concurrent requests per key	1
Outside reserved hours	Requests return 429

Keys are independent — one key’s concurrency does not affect other keys.

Key lifecycle

1. Create — Key is generated with the plan’s rate limits
2. Active — The platform validates the key on each request and enforces limits
3. Disable/Delete — Key is immediately revoked

When a subscription expires, its keys are automatically revoked by a background job. Other subscriptions and their keys are not affected.

Tracking keys

View all your keys and their subscription status:

curl https://api.cheapestinference.com/api/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mk_your_management_key"

Or view them in the dashboard.