diff --git a/litellm/budget_manager.py b/litellm/budget_manager.py
index 49060117670..742f648d224 100644
--- a/litellm/budget_manager.py
+++ b/litellm/budget_manager.py
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ class BudgetManager:
         return self.user_dict[user]
 
     def projected_cost(self, model: str, messages: list, user: str):
-        prompt_tokens: Final = litellm.token_counter(model=model, messages=messages)
+        # Fixed image estimate: a budget check must never fetch remote
+        # image URLs (unbounded/chunked bodies exhaust memory, and a check
+        # should not do network I/O at all).
+        prompt_tokens: Final = litellm.token_counter(model=model, messages=messages, use_default_image_token_count=True)
         prompt_cost, _ = litellm.cost_per_token(model=model, prompt_tokens=prompt_tokens, completion_tokens=0)
         current_cost: Final = self.user_dict[user].get("current_cost", 0)
         projected_cost: Final = prompt_cost + current_cost