diff --git a/extensions/metering/config.json b/extensions/metering/config.json
index 1624a4ee3..1f5505941 100644
--- a/extensions/metering/config.json
+++ b/extensions/metering/config.json
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
         "admin"
     ],
     "allowedGlobalUsageUsers": [
-        "06ab2f87-aef5-441b-9c60-debbb8d24dda",
-        "d8fd169b-4e93-484a-bd84-115b5a2f0ed4"
+        "nj",
+        "salazareos"
     ],
     "priority": 10
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/AIChatService.ts b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/AIChatService.ts
index ab2169c29..d9adac325 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/AIChatService.ts
+++ b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/AIChatService.ts
@@ -372,13 +372,26 @@ export class AIChatService extends BaseService {
         const text = extract_text(parameters.messages);
         const approximateTokenCount = Math.floor(((text.length / 4) + (text.split(/\s+/).length * (4 / 3))) / 2); // see https://help.openai.com/en/articles/4936856-what-are-tokens-and-how-to-count-them
         const approximateInputCost = approximateTokenCount * inputTokenCost;
-        const usageAllowed = await this.meteringService.hasEnoughCredits(actor, approximateInputCost);
+        const minimumCredits = model.minimumCredits || 0;
+        const usageAllowed = await this.meteringService.hasEnoughCredits(actor, Math.max(approximateInputCost, minimumCredits));
 
         // Handle usage limits reached case
         if ( ! usageAllowed ) {
             model = usageLimitedModel;
         }
 
+        // block non subscriber only models for non-subscribers
+        if ( model.subscriberOnly ) {
+            const eventObject = { actor, userSubscriptionId: '' };
+            await this.eventService.emit('metering:getUserSubscription', eventObject);
+            if ( ! eventObject.userSubscriptionId ) {
+                //TODO DS: register checker events when we add more of these exclusions
+                throw APIError.create('permission_denied', undefined, {
+                    message: `The model ${model.id} is only available to subscribers. Please subscribe to access this model.`,
+                });
+            }
+        }
+
         const availableCredits = await this.meteringService.getRemainingUsage(actor);
         const maxAllowedOutput =
             availableCredits - approximateInputCost;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/OpenRouterProvider.ts b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/OpenRouterProvider.ts
index 6168f8165..dd71ea068 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/OpenRouterProvider.ts
+++ b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/OpenRouterProvider.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import { kv } from '../../../../../util/kvSingleton.js';
 import { MeteringService } from '../../../../MeteringService/MeteringService.js';
 import * as OpenAIUtil from '../../../utils/OpenAIUtil.js';
 import { IChatModel, IChatProvider } from '../types.js';
+import { OPEN_ROUTER_MODEL_OVERRIDES } from './modelOverrides.js';
 
 export class OpenRouterProvider implements IChatProvider {
 
@@ -154,6 +155,7 @@ export class OpenRouterProvider implements IChatProvider {
             if ( (model.id as string).includes('openrouter/auto') ) {
                 continue;
             }
+            const overridenModel = OPEN_ROUTER_MODEL_OVERRIDES.find(m => m.id === `openrouter:${model.id}`);
             const microcentCosts = Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(model.pricing).map(([k, v]) => [k, Math.round((v as number < 0 ? 1 : v as number) * 1_000_000 * 100)])) ;
             coerced_models.push({
                 id: `openrouter:${model.id}`,
@@ -167,6 +169,7 @@ export class OpenRouterProvider implements IChatProvider {
                     tokens: 1_000_000,
                     ...microcentCosts,
                 },
+                ...overridenModel,
             });
         }
         return coerced_models;
diff --git a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/modelOverrides.ts b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/modelOverrides.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d36dedc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/OpenRouterProvider/modelOverrides.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import { toMicroCents } from '../../../../MeteringService/utils.js';
+import { IChatModel } from '../types';
+
+export const OPEN_ROUTER_MODEL_OVERRIDES: IChatModel[] = [
+    {
+        id: 'openrouter:perplexity/sonar-deep-research',
+        subscriberOnly: true,
+        minimumCredits: toMicroCents(2),
+    } as IChatModel,
+];
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/types.ts b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/types.ts
index d63d13a29..a1ec3e2dc 100644
--- a/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/types.ts
+++ b/src/backend/src/services/ai/chat/providers/types.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ export interface IChatModel<T extends ModelCost = ModelCost> extends Record<stri
     costs: T,
     context?: number,
     max_tokens: number,
+    subscriberOnly?: boolean,
+    minimumCredits?: number,
 }
 
 export type PuterMessage = Message | any; // TODO DS: type this more strictly