diff --git a/messages/de.json b/messages/de.json
index bc23d2f08..75230309a 100644
--- a/messages/de.json
+++ b/messages/de.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Anthropic-Schlüssel (persönlich)",
       "typeCodex": "ChatGPT-Anmeldung (persönlich)",
       "typeLocal": "Lokales Modell (persönlich)",
-      "typeGateway": "OpenAI-kompatibles Gateway (persönlich)"
+      "typeGateway": "OpenAI-kompatibles Gateway (persönlich)",
+      "spendToday": "Heute ({date}): {total} Tokens, davon {operator} auf dem Schlüssel des Betreibers."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Auswertungs-Qualität",
diff --git a/messages/en.json b/messages/en.json
index dc66aa61b..fd51ac17b 100644
--- a/messages/en.json
+++ b/messages/en.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Anthropic key (personal)",
       "typeCodex": "ChatGPT sign-in (personal)",
       "typeLocal": "Local model (personal)",
-      "typeGateway": "OpenAI-compatible gateway (personal)"
+      "typeGateway": "OpenAI-compatible gateway (personal)",
+      "spendToday": "Today ({date}): {total} tokens, {operator} of them on the operator's own key."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Insights Quality",
diff --git a/messages/es.json b/messages/es.json
index e5fddd66f..93979c8b1 100644
--- a/messages/es.json
+++ b/messages/es.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Clave de Anthropic (personal)",
       "typeCodex": "Inicio de sesión de ChatGPT (personal)",
       "typeLocal": "Modelo local (personal)",
-      "typeGateway": "Pasarela compatible con OpenAI (personal)"
+      "typeGateway": "Pasarela compatible con OpenAI (personal)",
+      "spendToday": "Hoy ({date}): {total} tokens, {operator} de ellos en la clave del operador."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Calidad de los análisis",
diff --git a/messages/fr.json b/messages/fr.json
index 1640aa7e9..35b152aa8 100644
--- a/messages/fr.json
+++ b/messages/fr.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Clé Anthropic (personnelle)",
       "typeCodex": "Connexion ChatGPT (personnelle)",
       "typeLocal": "Modèle local (personnel)",
-      "typeGateway": "Passerelle compatible OpenAI (personnelle)"
+      "typeGateway": "Passerelle compatible OpenAI (personnelle)",
+      "spendToday": "Aujourd'hui ({date}) : {total} jetons, dont {operator} sur la clé de l'opérateur."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Qualité des analyses",
diff --git a/messages/it.json b/messages/it.json
index d965b3827..3cab23814 100644
--- a/messages/it.json
+++ b/messages/it.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Chiave Anthropic (personale)",
       "typeCodex": "Accesso ChatGPT (personale)",
       "typeLocal": "Modello locale (personale)",
-      "typeGateway": "Gateway compatibile OpenAI (personale)"
+      "typeGateway": "Gateway compatibile OpenAI (personale)",
+      "spendToday": "Oggi ({date}): {total} token, di cui {operator} sulla chiave dell'operatore."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Qualità delle analisi",
diff --git a/messages/ko.json b/messages/ko.json
index 4dabc847b..6f5bb9ec2 100644
--- a/messages/ko.json
+++ b/messages/ko.json
@@ -7239,7 +7239,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Anthropic 키 (개인)",
       "typeCodex": "ChatGPT 로그인 (개인)",
       "typeLocal": "로컬 모델 (개인)",
-      "typeGateway": "OpenAI 호환 게이트웨이 (개인)"
+      "typeGateway": "OpenAI 호환 게이트웨이 (개인)",
+      "spendToday": "오늘({date}): 토큰 {total}개, 그중 {operator}개는 운영자 키에서 사용되었습니다."
     }
   },
   "achievements": {
diff --git a/messages/pl.json b/messages/pl.json
index 9769c0838..a562fe7be 100644
--- a/messages/pl.json
+++ b/messages/pl.json
@@ -6632,7 +6632,8 @@
       "typeAnthropic": "Klucz Anthropic (osobisty)",
       "typeCodex": "Logowanie ChatGPT (osobiste)",
       "typeLocal": "Model lokalny (osobisty)",
-      "typeGateway": "Brama zgodna z OpenAI (osobista)"
+      "typeGateway": "Brama zgodna z OpenAI (osobista)",
+      "spendToday": "Dzisiaj ({date}): {total} tokenów, w tym {operator} na kluczu operatora."
     },
     "aiQuality": {
       "title": "Jakość analiz",
diff --git a/src/components/admin/__tests__/provider-health-spend-today.test.tsx b/src/components/admin/__tests__/provider-health-spend-today.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f92bdc03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/admin/__tests__/provider-health-spend-today.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
+import { renderToStaticMarkup } from "react-dom/server";
+
+import { I18nProvider } from "@/lib/i18n/context";
+
+/**
+ * v1.38.19 (Wave E) — the day's spend, split by who paid for it.
+ *
+ * `/api/admin/provider-health` answers `spendToday` and nothing rendered it,
+ * which is the "the reader is the follow-up" shape the two-ended rule exists to
+ * stop. It is also the one screen that answers the question a budget refusal
+ * raises: a day at 1.24 M tokens is alarming until you can see that 151 200 of
+ * them were the instance's own key and the rest ran on the users' own plans —
+ * and it is the second figure the operator ceiling is enforced against.
+ */
+
+const mockQueryState = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  data: null as null | object,
+  isPending: false,
+  isError: false,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("@tanstack/react-query", () => ({
+  useQuery: () => ({
+    data: mockQueryState.data,
+    isPending: mockQueryState.isPending,
+    isError: mockQueryState.isError,
+  }),
+}));
+
+import { ProviderHealthSection } from "../provider-health-section";
+
+function render(data: object | null) {
+  mockQueryState.data = data;
+  mockQueryState.isPending = false;
+  mockQueryState.isError = false;
+  return renderToStaticMarkup(
+    <I18nProvider initialLocale="en">
+      <ProviderHealthSection />
+    </I18nProvider>,
+  );
+}
+
+describe("<ProviderHealthSection> — today's spend by cost owner", () => {
+  it("shows both figures and the day they belong to", () => {
+    const html = render({
+      providers: [],
+      spendToday: {
+        dateKey: "2026-09-11",
+        totalTokens: 1_240_000,
+        operatorTokens: 151_200,
+      },
+    });
+    expect(html).toContain("2026-09-11");
+    expect(html).toContain("1,240,000");
+    expect(html).toContain("151,200");
+  });
+
+  it("renders a zero day rather than hiding the readout", () => {
+    const html = render({
+      providers: [],
+      spendToday: { dateKey: "2026-09-11", totalTokens: 0, operatorTokens: 0 },
+    });
+    expect(html).toContain('data-slot="ai-spend-today"');
+  });
+
+  it("says nothing when the payload carries no spend", () => {
+    expect(render({ providers: [] })).not.toContain(
+      'data-slot="ai-spend-today"',
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/components/admin/provider-health-section.tsx b/src/components/admin/provider-health-section.tsx
index d4568c20f..fecc95556 100644
--- a/src/components/admin/provider-health-section.tsx
+++ b/src/components/admin/provider-health-section.tsx
@@ -26,6 +26,20 @@ import { formatDateTime } from "@/lib/format";
  * failure, which never had a status to record.
  */
 
+/**
+ * v1.38.19 (Wave E) — the day's spend, split by who pays for it. The operator
+ * opens this card when a surface refuses on budget, and one mixed number could
+ * not answer the question that raises: a day at 1.24 M tokens is alarming until
+ * you see that 151 200 of them were the instance's own key and the rest ran on
+ * the users' own plans. The operator ceiling is enforced against the second
+ * figure, so both belong on screen.
+ */
+interface SpendToday {
+  dateKey: string;
+  totalTokens: number;
+  operatorTokens: number;
+}
+
 interface ProviderHealthRow {
   providerType: string;
   tracked: number;
@@ -37,12 +51,18 @@ interface ProviderHealthRow {
 }
 
 export function ProviderHealthSection() {
-  const { t } = useTranslations();
+  const { t, locale } = useTranslations();
+  // Seven-digit token counts are the point of this readout; ungrouped digits
+  // are what made the mixed figure unreadable in the first place.
+  const groupDigits = (value: number): string =>
+    new Intl.NumberFormat(locale).format(value);
 
   const { data, isPending, isError } = useQuery({
     queryKey: queryKeys.adminProviderHealth(),
     queryFn: () =>
-      apiGet<{ providers: ProviderHealthRow[] }>("/api/admin/provider-health"),
+      apiGet<{ providers: ProviderHealthRow[]; spendToday: SpendToday }>(
+        "/api/admin/provider-health",
+      ),
   });
 
   const typeLabel = (type: string): string => {
@@ -67,6 +87,7 @@ export function ProviderHealthSection() {
   };
 
   const providers = data?.providers ?? [];
+  const spendToday = data?.spendToday ?? null;
 
   return (
     <SettingsCard>
@@ -75,6 +96,15 @@ export function ProviderHealthSection() {
         title={t("admin.providerHealth.title")}
         description={t("admin.providerHealth.description")}
       />
+      {spendToday ? (
+        <p className="text-muted-foreground text-sm" data-slot="ai-spend-today">
+          {t("admin.providerHealth.spendToday", {
+            date: spendToday.dateKey,
+            total: groupDigits(spendToday.totalTokens),
+            operator: groupDigits(spendToday.operatorTokens),
+          })}
+        </p>
+      ) : null}
       {isPending ? (
         <p className="text-muted-foreground text-sm">
           {t("admin.providerHealth.loading")}