FAQ: How does billing work on the Free (Pay-As-You-Go) plan?

Audience: customers / pricing FAQ page. Plain-language, no technical setup
required.

Quick answer

On the Free plan you pay only for what you use (pay-as-you-go). Each
chargeable API request is billed at its per-request price and deducted from your
wallet balance. There is no monthly request quota — your wallet balance is
the only limit.

If your wallet runs out of funds, requests are rejected until you top up.
You're never billed beyond what's in your wallet, so there are no surprise
charges.

What you'll see when your wallet is empty

When you try a chargeable request and your wallet doesn't have enough balance to
cover it, the API responds with:

Status code: 402

Error code: insufficient_balance

Message: describing the amount needed vs. your current balance.

The request does not run, and nothing is charged. Top up your wallet and
retry.

Common questions

How am I charged?
Per request. Each chargeable feature (for example, rate quotes and historical
downloads) has a published per-request price. We deduct that amount from your
wallet right after a successful request. Failed requests (our errors) are not
charged.

What happens when my wallet is empty?
The next chargeable request returns 402 insufficient_balance and does not run.
Add funds to your wallet, then retry — your request will go through.

How do I add funds?
Top up your wallet from the billing page. You choose the amount; we show the
total (including any applicable VAT) before you confirm.

Do I get charged a monthly fee on the Free plan?
No. There's no monthly subscription fee — you only pay for the requests you
actually make.

I make a lot of requests — is pay-as-you-go still right for me?
If your usage is high and predictable, a flat-rate Pro or Max plan is
usually cheaper and removes per-request billing entirely (you get a fixed
monthly request allowance instead). See the Pro & Max FAQ, or contact support
and we'll help you pick the best fit.

Free vs. paid plans at a glance

Plan	How you're charged	Limit	When you're blocked
Free (PAYG)	Per request, from wallet balance	Wallet balance only	`402` when wallet is empty — top up to continue
Pro	Flat monthly fee	10,000 requests / month	`429` when monthly quota is reached — resets next month
Max	Flat monthly fee	100,000 requests / month	`429` when monthly quota is reached — resets next month

Want to move off pay-as-you-go to a predictable monthly plan? Upgrade to Pro
or Max, or contact support for a custom usage plan.

FAQ: How does billing work on the Free (Pay-As-You-Go) plan?

Quick answer#

What you'll see when your wallet is empty#

Common questions#

Free vs. paid plans at a glance#

Quick answer

What you'll see when your wallet is empty

Common questions

Free vs. paid plans at a glance