Billing

CheapAI bills against the customer key balance and stops at zero.

The customer key is the balance carrier. Top-ups credit the same key. The API stops at zero balance. Cache reads and writes are priced from the input price of the requested CheapAI model.

Balance rules

  • Payment confirmation creates or credits the customer key.
  • Top-ups credit the same key, not a second key.
  • When balance hits zero, the API returns 429 out of balance.

Pricing formula

Base request cost follows the CheapAI prices shown on the public pricing table and model docs.

  • Input: requested input tokens x CheapAI input price
  • Output: completion tokens x CheapAI output price
  • Cache read: 25% of the CheapAI input price
  • Cache write: 125% of the CheapAI input price

Dashboard reflection

The personal dashboard shows the same key, current balance, request count, recent requests, and model breakdown that the runtime writes during real usage.

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