How to Manage AI Tokens
Understand AI token allocation, usage tracking, monthly limits, and how to optimize your AI spending
How to Manage AI Tokens
AI providers charge based on tokens — small units of text (roughly 4 characters or ¾ of a word). Course37 tracks every token used across all AI features so you can monitor and control costs.
Platform Token Allocation
Every organization gets 200,000 free tokens per month from Course37's shared AI pool.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly Allocation | 200,000 tokens |
| Reset Date | 1st of every month |
| Applies To | Organizations without their own API keys |
| When Exhausted | AI features pause until next month |
These platform tokens use Course37's own API keys. Once you add your own provider API keys, all AI calls go through your account with no platform token limits.
Viewing Token Usage
- Go to Settings → Integrations
- Scroll to AI Usage section
- You'll see:
- Tokens Used This Month — current usage vs allocation
- Usage by Feature — breakdown by question generation, grading, student chat, etc.
- Daily Usage Graph — track usage trends
How Tokens Are Tracked
Course37 tracks tokens at every AI interaction:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Input Tokens | Tokens sent to the AI (your prompt + context) |
| Output Tokens | Tokens the AI generates (response) |
| Total Tokens | Input + Output (this is what counts toward your usage) |
Every AI message stores its token count, so you can audit usage at any time.
Token Usage by Feature
| Feature | Typical Tokens | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MCQ Generation (5 questions) | ~2,000 | From topic text |
| Essay Grading | ~3,000 | Depends on essay length |
| Student AI Chat (1 message) | ~800-1,500 | Depends on conversation history |
| Content Suggestion | ~300-500 | Short suggestions |
| Translation | ~1,000+ | Depends on text length |
Optimizing Token Usage
- Use smaller models for students —
gpt-4o-minior Groq'sllama-3.1-8buse fewer tokens per response - Set a custom prompt — Concise prompts save input tokens on every message
- Use Groq for student chat — Groq's open-source models are the cheapest per token
- Monitor weekly — Check usage dashboard to catch unexpected spikes
Using Your Own API Keys vs Platform Tokens
| Platform Tokens | Your Own API Keys | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Limit | 200,000 tokens | Unlimited (provider limits) |
| Cost | Free (included) | Billed by your provider |
| Models Available | Platform default | Any model your key supports |
| Speed | Shared pool | Dedicated to your account |
| Best For | Getting started, low usage | Production, high student volume |
Recommendation: Start with platform tokens to try AI features. When you have 50+ active students using AI chat, add your own Groq or OpenAI key.
Related Articles
- How to Setup AI Providers — Add API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq
- How to Setup Student AI Chat — Enable AI for students
- How to Add Questions — AI question generation