> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stefanbrain.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Follow the content contract in AGENTS.md.
> Treat text as the canonical explanation; video and screenshots enhance it.
> Do not publish unverified product behavior or duplicate an existing canonical article.

# Pricing

> Understand how StefanBrain bills MCP usage, REST API tokens, monthly credit, and wallet top-ups.

Your credential selects the standard billing lane. The transport alone does not.

| Credential and use | Standard billing lane |
| - | - |
| `stefan_sk_...` API key on REST | Prepaid API wallet |
| `stefan_sk_...` API key on MCP | Plan's monthly usage pool |
| `stefan_oat_...` OAuth token on REST or MCP | Plan's monthly usage pool |

MCP is for interactive work inside an assistant. Automated or machine-scale traffic must use the REST API.

<Note>
  Contracted partner accounts can have plan-pool traffic billed to the API wallet under their agreement. `account_status` does not show which lane applies; confirm it with your StefanBrain contact.
</Note>

## REST API rates

The wallet bills per token. One rate applies to every request; there is no model parameter.

| Token type | Rate per million tokens |
| - | -: |
| Input | \$3.50 |
| Cached input | \$0.35 |
| Output | \$17.50 |

* Repeated tokens in a conversation bill at the cached-input rate automatically.
* Cache writes bill as ordinary input. There is no separate write premium.
* An Agent Run that stops at the runtime's step limit (`last_error: "budget_limited"`) is not billed.
* Non-token usage, including image generation and web search, bills per use. The wallet history shows the exact charge.
* Video generation remains on its own per-minute meter.
* Wallet-billed calls and plan-pool calls remain separate. The credential and any partner billing rule select the lane for each request.

## Included credit

Your plan adds API credit to the wallet at the start of its billing cycle.

| Plan | Included API credit |
| - | -: |
| Trial | \$5 one time |
| Base | \$50 each month |
| Elite | \$100 each month |
| CA Pro | \$500 each month |

Monthly plan credit resets each cycle and is spent before purchased top-ups. Purchased top-ups remain available until spent, for a maximum of 12 months.

## When the wallet runs low

Each wallet-billed request that starts work first places a temporary hold on the wallet (currently \$4.38). A sync tool call releases it when it returns. An Agent Run, a parked `ask_stefanbrain`, or a submitted job keeps it until that work ends, for at most 8 hours.

A request returns `429 api_wallet_exhausted` when the balance minus active holds is below one hold, so a wallet can refuse new work before \$0 and each concurrent run uses one hold. The response includes `wallet.balance_cents`, `wallet.included_monthly_credit_cents`, and `wallet.resets_at`.

Responses that start billable work also return the current wallet state in these headers:

```http theme={"system"}
x-wallet-remaining-cents: 4200
x-wallet-resets-at: 2026-09-01T00:00:00.000Z
```

Requests billed to the plan pool, such as `stefan_oat_...` requests on a standard member account, do not include these headers. Error responses do not include them either.

For standard member accounts, plan-pool traffic is not affected by an empty API wallet. Wallet-routed partner traffic remains subject to the wallet.

See [Rate limits](/developers/rate-limits) for throughput limits, which are separate from wallet and key-budget limits.


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