diff --git a/litellm/proxy/auth/user_api_key_auth.py b/litellm/proxy/auth/user_api_key_auth.py
index 2ebfc2aab14..764bd60b82b 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/auth/user_api_key_auth.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/auth/user_api_key_auth.py
@@ -3051,8 +3051,8 @@ async def validate_resolved_virtual_key(  # noqa: C901  # Preserve ordering of e
                     user_obj=user_obj,
                 )
 
-                # Check 5. Token Spend is under budget
-                if RouteChecks.is_llm_api_route(route=route):
+                # Check 5. Token Spend is under budget (discovery routes are OpenAI routes, so they need the route_skips_budget_checks exemption too, #48809)
+                if RouteChecks.is_llm_api_route(route=route) and not route_skips_budget_checks(route=route):
                     await virtual_key_max_budget_check(
                         valid_token=valid_token,
                         proxy_logging_obj=proxy_logging_obj,