Usage limits and credits

Capping AI consumption in Aimogen Pro per user, guest, role and membership plan, with a separate pool for text-to-speech.

Usage limits are the control that stops a public AI feature becoming an unbounded bill.

System & Logs › AI Usage Limits and Text-to-Speech Limits

Global limits#

Leaving a credit field blank disables that limit.

Credit types#

For a paid service, price is usually right. For a consumer-facing allowance, queries is easiest to communicate.

Absolute versus relative time frames#

The distinction matters more than it looks.

Absolute — a day means the calendar day. Everyone resets at midnight. Predictable, and a heavy user can exhaust their allowance in the first hour.

Relative — a day means the last 24 hours, rolling. Smoother, and harder for a user to reason about.

Absolute is easier to explain; relative is better at preventing bursts.

Rules#

Beyond the global limits, rules apply different allowances to different people. Stored in aiomatic_Limit_Rules.

Membership integration is covered in Membership plugins.

Text-to-speech limits#

Speech has its own pool, configured identically. This matters because speech is billed per character and adds up much faster than people expect: a 1,500-word article is roughly 9,000 characters.

Set it separately, and set it lower than you first think.

Per-shortcode caps#

Many front-end shortcodes accept user_token_cap_per_day, a per-placement daily cap independent of the global limits:

[aimogen-image-generator-form user_token_cap_per_day="5000"]

Useful when one tool should be more constrained than the rest.

Rate limiting is separate#

Usage limits cap the total. Rate limiting caps the speed.

AI Chatbot › Limitations › Limit User Messages - Max Requests / Time Window is the rate limit. Set both: a limit of ten messages per minute is invisible to a real visitor and stops automated abuse.

Showing credits to users#

[aimogen-user-remaining-credits-text]
[aimogen-user-remaining-credits-bar]

Showing a balance makes a limit feel like a fair allowance rather than an arbitrary refusal.

IP detection#

IP-based limits and blocks depend on correct IP detection. Behind a CDN or reverse proxy, every visitor may appear to come from one address, which makes per-IP logic useless.

add_filter( 'aiomatic_get_ip', function ( $ip ) {
    if ( ! empty( $_SERVER['HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP'] ) ) {
        return sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_SERVER['HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP'] ) );
    }
    return $ip;
} );

Blocking entirely#

Limits apply everywhere#

Every request path is covered: the chatbot, forms, shortcodes, the REST API, the PHP API and WP-CLI.

That is usually what you want. If an internal integration should not be limited, add its user to Full Access Users.

A public-ready baseline#

Enable Global Usage Limits:      on
Max Guest Credits:               a low number, type price or queries
Time Frame:                      day
Absolute Timeframe:              on
Max User Credits:                sized to your plan
Text-to-Speech Limits:           enabled and lower
Chatbot rate limit:              10 messages per 60 seconds
Provider spend cap:              set in every provider dashboard

The provider cap is the only limit the plugin cannot bypass. Set it.

Common problems#

Limits do not apply. Enable Global Usage Limits is off, or the user is in Full Access Users.

Everyone hits the limit at once. All traffic appears as one IP. Fix IP detection.

A member is blocked with credits remaining. A global limit also applies. Both are enforced; the stricter wins.

Usage is not counted. Enable Usage Tracking is off under Settings › Statistics.

Related#

• Controlling cost
• Membership plugins
• Front-end AI tools