Why am I receiving a 402 PaymentRequired error for Teams recordings API at the start of a new month despite evaluation quota reset policy?

Question

According to the Microsoft Graph Teams licensing documentation, each app gets 600 minutes per tenant per month of evaluation quota (without billing configured), which is supposed to reset on the first day of each calendar month.

I am using the /users/{id}/onlineMeetings/{id}/recordings/{id}/content endpoint to download Teams recordings via Microsoft Graph API. I am not using metered billing, so I expect to be within the evaluation quota.

However, on July 2, I started receiving a 402 PaymentRequired error:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "PaymentRequired",
    "message": "Evaluation capacity for the month has exceeded. To continue beyond the evaluation limits complete billing onboarding."
  }
}

I would like to understand:

Does the evaluation quota always reset on the 1st of each month?

What could cause this 402 error if it is only the start of the month and usage was minimal?

Is there a way to verify how much evaluation quota has been used by my app (or to get visibility into this)?

Could this be a delay or bug in the quota reset?

Any clarification would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Apoorv,

Thanks for the detailed question. Here's a concise explanation and response to your situation:

Issue:

You're receiving a 402 PaymentRequired error from the Microsoft Graph Teams Recording API (/recordings/{id}/content) even though:

• You’re not using metered billing.

You rely on the 600-minute evaluation quota per tenant per month.

The error occurs early in the month (e.g., July 2).

Answers to Your Questions:

1. Does the evaluation quota reset on the 1st of each month?

Yes, officially, Microsoft states that the 600-minute evaluation quota resets on the 1st of each calendar month for each app–tenant pair.

2. Why would I receive a 402 error so early in the month?

There are a few likely reasons:

Quota delay / backend sync lag: The reset job might not complete immediately at midnight UTC on the 1st. It can take up to 24–48 hours in some cases.

Cross-tenant consumption: If your app is multi-tenant, the 600 minutes are per tenant, but one busy tenant can exhaust their allocation.

Misconfigured app identity: Ensure the App ID used for requests is consistent and matches the one tracked for quota. Otherwise, usage might be attributed differently or not reset correctly.

Bug or stale tracking data: Some users have reported quota usage lingering past reset time, potentially due to stale metering records.

3. Can I check evaluation quota usage?

Currently, Microsoft Graph does not expose evaluation quota metrics via API or portal. You cannot see the remaining minutes unless you're using Azure Metered Billing (which offers detailed usage insights).

4. Is this a known delay or bug?

Yes, this behavior is known but undocumented. Several developers have observed delayed resets or unexplained early 402 errors. Microsoft has previously acknowledged this as a possible backend sync delay in internal telemetry.

Recommended Action:

Wait 24–48 hours (i.e., until July 3–4) to see if the quota resets correctly.

If urgent, consider enabling metered billing, which:

Prevents 402 errors

  Provides detailed usage metrics
  
  If the issue persists after 48 hours:
  
     Open a support ticket via [https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/support](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/support)
     

Workaround:

If possible, cache or stagger non-essential recording downloads until the quota becomes available, or retry failed 402 responses with backoff logic.

Let me know if you'd like help drafting a support ticket or setting up metered billing.

Best regards, Martin

Answer 2

Hi Martin ,
Thanks for your response i have already enabled the metered billing as it was an issue for our buisness use case . May i know if i can check the usage if i have enabled the metered billing?