OpenRouter max_tokens error

Questions
1

Hey all, I’m getting the error below even though my OpenRouter account has funds and does not have a token limit set as far as I can tell. I have used the account for much larger requests than the one I’m currently processing but for some reason it’s giving me this output. Not sure why this is happening!

ERROR: This request requires more credits, or fewer max_tokens. You requested up to 65536 tokens, but can only afford 51722. To increase, visit https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys and create a key with a higher total limit

What is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version

    2.4.8 (Cloud)

    Time

    2/19/2026, 4:53:18 PM

  • Database : Supabase

  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):

  • Running n8n via n8n cloud

  • Operating system: Mac OS

2

Reduce max_tokens (Quick Fix)

Set a lower max_tokens value in your OpenRouter node:

  1. Click on your Open Router node

  2. Go to Options → Maximum Tokens

  3. Set it to 50,000 or lower (to stay under your 51,722 limit)

This should work immediately without changing your API key.

Try this immediately:

  1. Edit your Open Router node

  2. Add under Options: Maximum Tokens = 8000

  3. Re-run your workflow

This should work right away since 8,000 < 51,722 (your current limit).

Does this help!

3

That worked! Thanks. Any advice on if I should make this Token limit 8000 vs 50000. Is this limiting the depth of the answer? I’m still not sure why the issue has only just come up

4

Glad that fixed it, set it to 8,000.

5

Kindly mark as the solution if it helped.

6

Hi, it worked but then the next day it gives a new error: Payment required - perhaps check your payment details?

This request requires more credits, or fewer max_tokens. You requested up to 8000 tokens, but can only afford 7786. To increase, visit https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys and create a key with a higher total limit… but the key has lots of space left. I created a new key and tried again and it’s the same issue. No clue what’s going on to cause this. I’ve tried with different models within Open Router too.

It works if I set the limit to <7786 — but why is this even occurring? I don’t want it to keep coming up and breaking my automation requiring me to go in and adjust the max_tokens