Tokens and billing

Claudech is prepaid. You hold a balance of Claudech tokens, every request debits exactly what it used, and you can always see the cost of a request in its response. There are no invoices after the fact and no way to run up a bill you did not fund.

Claudech tokens#

A request is priced from the published model rates: $0.50 input, $0.010 cached input, and $1.90 output per million model tokens. That dollar cost is stored on your balance as Claudech tokens, at 1,000,000 Claudech tokens = $0.50. Packages and monthly plans sell tokens at that same rate, so the prices above are what you pay. Quarterly and annual plans cost less.

Claudech tokens are not the same as the model tokens counted in usage.prompt_tokens and usage.completion_tokens. Model tokens measure text; Claudech tokens measure money. The conversion goes through each model's published price:

cost_usd   = prompt_tokens        × input_price  / 1,000,000
           + cached_prompt_tokens × cached_price / 1,000,000   (instead of input_price for those tokens)
           + completion_tokens    × output_price / 1,000,000   (reasoning tokens are completion tokens)

claud_tokens_debited = ceil(cost_usd / 0.0000005)

Example. A claude-opus-5-5 request with 1,200 prompt tokens (400 of them cached) and 300 completion tokens at $0.50 / $1.90 / $0.010 per million:

input   800 × 0.50  / 1e6 = $0.000400
cached  400 × 0.010 / 1e6 = $0.000004
output  300 × 1.90  / 1e6 = $0.000570
total                      = $0.000974  →  1,948 Claudech tokens

Every response reports both numbers: usage.claud_tokens_debited and usage.claud_cost_usd (non-streaming) or the final claud event (streaming). Current prices per model are on the Models page and in GET /v1/models.

How a request is charged#

1. Estimate. Before calling the model, Claudech estimates the prompt size and assumes the maximum possible output (max_tokens or the model default) to compute a worst-case cost, adds a 20% safety margin, and reserves that many Claudech tokens from your balance. If you do not have enough, the request fails immediately with 402 insufficient_balance and nothing is charged. Reserved tokens appear as reserved_tokens in your balance while the request runs.
2. Run. The model generates the response.
3. Settle. The reservation is replaced by the exact cost based on the provider's real token counts. The difference is released within milliseconds.

Consequences worth knowing:

• Setting a realistic max_tokens lets you make requests with a smaller balance, because the reservation is smaller.
• Requests that fail before producing output (4xx, provider errors, rate limits) are never billed.
• If a stream is cancelled or fails part-way, you pay only for tokens actually generated.
• A small minimum balance (1,000 Claudech tokens, $0.0005) is required to start any request.

Where tokens come from#

Your balance has two buckets, drawn down in this order:

GET /v1/billing/balance and GET /v1/account break the balance down by bucket, and GET /v1/billing/ledger returns every credit and debit as a double-entry ledger you can reconcile against your own records.

Plans#

Plans set your monthly allowance and rate limits. Every model and the full context window are available on every plan. You can compare them on the Pricing page. Upgrading takes effect immediately: the new allowance is granted at once and the higher limits apply to the next request.

Token packages#

Packages are the way to add headroom beyond your plan or to use Claudech without a subscription. Purchased tokens never expire and stack with any plan. Buy them under Billing.

Paying#

You can pay with PayPal, a credit or debit card, or cryptocurrency. Every method works for plans, token packages and custom amounts, and an email address is the only thing an account needs.

PayPal and cards#

• PayPal: pay with your PayPal balance or any card or bank account linked to your PayPal account.
• Credit and debit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, through PayPal's secure card checkout. You do not need a PayPal account.
• Card and PayPal details are entered on PayPal's checkout and handled by PayPal. Claudech never sees or stores your full card number or PayPal login.
• Tokens are credited as soon as PayPal confirms the payment.

Cryptocurrency#

Crypto payments go straight to Claudech with no third-party processor and no KYC: there is no identity verification, no card on file and no billing address to enter.

• How it works: choose a plan or package, pick an asset, and you receive a unique deposit address and exact amount quoted at the current market rate. The quote is valid for 30 minutes. Send the payment; tokens are credited automatically once the network reaches the required confirmations (from 1–2 blocks on Bitcoin to about a minute on fast EVM chains).
• Underpayments within a small tolerance (0.5%) are accepted as paid. Larger shortfalls are held for review; open a support ticket with the invoice ID and we will credit the amount received. Overpayments are credited in full at the quoted rate.
• Every payment and the tokens it produced are listed under Billing and in the ledger.

Claudech's payment addresses are derived from watch-only keys: the platform never holds private keys, and funds go straight to cold storage.

Low balance and cost protection#

• You receive an email when your balance drops below 100,000 tokens ($0.05), and the dashboard shows a warning. Adjust the threshold or turn it off in Settings.
• Because the system is prepaid, there is no overdraft: when the balance runs out, requests fail with 402 insufficient_balance until you top up. Nothing else changes; keys and conversations remain intact.
• Watch x-claud-balance on non-streaming responses (or balance_tokens in the stream's claud event) to top up before your users notice.

No refunds#

All purchases are final and are not refunded, whichever way you pay. Crypto payments cannot be reversed once they confirm on-chain, so double-check the network and amount before you send. If you believe a request was billed incorrectly, send the request_id to support; every request's cost breakdown is recorded and we will correct any error.

Reference#

• GET /v1/billing/balance: current balance, buckets and token rate.
• GET /v1/billing/ledger: every credit and debit.
• GET /v1/usage: token counts and cost by day, month and model.