# Credits and plans

> Prepaid credits (1 credit = 1 device-minute), the 60-minute signup grant, credit packs, and the Free, Dev and Team plan limits.

Source: https://akaphone-docs.pages.dev/concepts/credits-and-plans/

AkaPhone is prepaid. You buy **credits**, and running devices spend them. There is no subscription and nothing is charged to a card automatically.

**1 credit = 1 device-minute.** A device that is `running` costs 1 credit per started minute, whatever it is doing. Queued and booting time is free, and so are tasks, streaming, APK installs, snapshots and API calls. Model tokens are billed by your model provider on your own key.

## Free minutes

Every new account gets **60 credits** once, at first sign-in. That is an hour of one device. No card is needed.

## Credit packs

| Pack | Price | Credits | Per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| `250` | $10 | 250 | $0.040 |
| `1375` | $50 | 1,375 (+10%) | $0.036 |
| `6000` | $200 | 6,000 (+20%) | $0.033 |
| `team` | $199 | 6,000, plus the Team plan for 30 days | $0.033 |

Checkout is hosted by Lemon Squeezy, our merchant of record, which handles sales tax and VAT. Credits do not expire. See [Billing](https://akaphone-docs.pages.dev/guides/billing/) for buying, receipts and refunds.

## Plans

Your plan sets limits, not prices. It changes automatically with what you buy:

| | Free | Dev | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you get it | Sign up | Buy any pack | Buy the `team` pack |
| Devices at once | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Live view frame rate | 2 fps | 4 fps | 5 fps |
| Snapshots held | 1 | 5 | 20 |
| Artifact and task retention | 7 days | 30 days | 90 days |

- Your first purchase of any pack moves you from **Free** to **Dev** permanently.
- The **Team** pack sets the Team plan for 30 days. Buying it again while Team is active extends it by 30 days from the current end date. When it ends you are back on Dev, and any credits you have left stay yours.
- **Enterprise** plans with custom limits are arranged by contract.

`GET /v1/me` returns your plan, when it expires (`plan_expires_at`, Team only), your concurrency limit and your balance.

## How the meter works

- Minute 1 is charged the moment the device becomes `running`; minute *n* is charged at *ready + (n − 1) minutes*.
- Before charging a minute AkaPhone checks your balance is at least 1. If it is not, the device stops with reason `credits`.
- Viewers of the live stream get a `credits.low` event while your balance is 5 or less.
- Creating a device needs a balance of at least 1 (`402 insufficient_credits`).
- If the host running a device fails, the device becomes `lost` and minutes prepaid after the host's last heartbeat are refunded.

Usage is written to your ledger in 10-minute windows per device, so the ledger has one `usage` row per device per window rather than one per minute. `GET /v1/usage` and `used_this_month` in `GET /v1/me` include minutes not yet written, so they are always exact.

## Worked examples

- A 5-minute test run on one device: 5 credits, $0.20 at the $10 pack rate.
- Three devices for 20 minutes each in CI: 60 credits.
- A device left running and forgotten: stopped after 30 idle minutes, so at most about 31 credits.