## TL;DR
ZenRows 402 means the account ran out of credits mid-run, not that the key is invalid. Check the dashboard for remaining credits and per-request cost (JS rendering and premium proxies cost more), then either top up or rerun with cheaper request settings so the intel pipeline stops dying halfway.

## The error
```text
HTTP 402 Payment Required
{"error": "insufficient credits", "credits_remaining": 0, "request_cost": 25}
```

## Fix it
1. Open the ZenRows dashboard and confirm credits_remaining is zero and which plan the account is on. A 402 with credits left means a different billing problem.
   Expected: Expected: the dashboard shows 0 credits and the plan's credit allowance.
2. Check the request log for per-request cost. JS rendering, premium proxies, and autoparse each multiply cost, so one expensive setting can drain a plan fast.
   Expected: Expected: the log shows which parameter (js_render, premium proxy) is driving the cost per request.
3. For the immediate rerun, disable the most expensive options you do not need: turn off JS rendering for static press pages and use standard proxies where the target allows.
   Expected: Expected: the rerun's projected cost fits the remaining or renewed credit balance.
4. Add a pre-flight credit check to the pipeline: query the account balance endpoint before starting a batch and abort with a clear alert instead of dying mid-batch.
   Expected: Expected: future runs fail fast with 'insufficient credits for batch' instead of partial results.

## When to use
- Your intel scrape dies partway with a ZenRows 402 and you get partial data.
- You need to find which request settings are burning credits fastest.
- You run scheduled scrapes that must fail fast on billing instead of silently truncating.

## When not to use
- The error is 401 unauthorized - that is a bad API key, not billing.
- The error is 429 - that is rate limiting, not credits.
- You need more credits permanently - that is a purchasing decision, not a debugging one.

## Why it happens
ZenRows meters every request against the account's credit balance, and expensive features cost multiple credits each. When the balance hits zero mid-batch, subsequent requests get 402. The run's partial results are valid; only the unfetched remainder is missing.

## Variant phrasings
### zenrows 402 insufficient credits
Same failure and fix; some searchers phrase the query this way.
### zenrows payment required scrape failed
Same failure and fix; some searchers phrase the query this way.

## Edge cases
- Credits sometimes take minutes to reflect after a top-up; a rerun launched instantly can still 402.
- Autoparse and AI extraction bill per request even when the target page returns an error.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_wVU66xqSbdtWIKCfZHz5MA