Error messages

You've hit your usage limit

You've hit your usage limit

This is what Cursor shows in the chat when a request is blocked by your plan's allowance:

You've hit your usage limit

Depending on your plan and version you might see one of its siblings instead. In July some users got "You're out of usage. Switch to auto, Auto, or Composer 2.5, or ask your admin to increase your limit to continue." Paid users who run out of the Other Models pool may instead see a banner like "Switched to grok-4.6 after reaching Other Models usage limit", with the chat carrying on under a different model. As of September 25, 2026 the Cursor forum has 83 topics with "usage limit" in the title.

Cursor's two usage pools

The models and pricing page says Pro, Pro Plus and Ultra come with two usage pools, "each resetting with your monthly billing cycle":

• Cursor Models: Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5 and Composer 2.5, with much more included usage.
• Other Models: third-party models like Claude, GPT and Gemini, "charged at the model's API price".

Usage is metered by what each request costs to run, so raw token counts can mislead. A Cursor staffer explained in August that cache reads are cheap, output and reasoning cost more, and Fast variants cost more again. Once the Cursor Models allowance is gone, further use of those models is billed to the Other Models pool. Both meters are in Cursor's settings under Plan & Usage, and cursor.com/dashboard/usage lists each request's cost.

What still works after the limit

Running out of Other Models doesn't lock you out. A staff reply on August 3 said named models "stop being available and Cursor will suggest switching to Auto. Auto keeps working, it might be a bit slower sometimes due to the queue." On September 2 another said Composer and Cursor Grok "should still work even with 'Other Models' used up", since they come from the separate pool.

One wrinkle with Auto. It has Cost, Balance and Intelligence modes, and Cursor said on August 10 that Balance "stays paused once you hit the cap". Pick Auto, then set it to Cost. (In July the Switch to auto button in the banner picked the paused one, which is why some people went round in circles. Cursor says that was fixed server-side.)

If you'd rather stay on the model you chose, turn on on-demand usage in the dashboard. Staff said on September 16 that with it on, "the chat will continue on the model you selected" instead of switching.

On a team plan

If the message mentions your admin, the cap is the team's. Cursor's advice to one user in July was that the admin can raise the team's usage limit or turn on additional usage in the dashboard, and that it frees up at the start of the next billing cycle.

Free plan: the percentage can be wrong

This is the one that confused us most. Free users report hitting "You've hit your usage limit" while Plan & Usage says 51% used. Cursor's answer on September 5 and 6, 2026 was that the limit is working correctly and the counter is what's off. It "underreports usage on the Free plan, so it can show around 50 to 60% even when you've actually hit the limit." Free usage is one shared pool, and a single heavy Grok 4.6 session can use it up. Reinstalling won't help. You wait for the reset date shown in settings, or upgrade.