Billing

How Cheapa API's prepaid credit system works — deposits, deductions, and balance management.

Prepaid Credit Model

Cheapa API operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. There are no recurring charges, no seat fees, and no usage minimums. You deposit credit into your account; that credit is drawn down as you make API calls.

The flow is straightforward:

Deposit credit — Add funds to your account from cheapaapi.com/billing
Call the API — Each request deducts the token cost (input tokens + output tokens) at the model's published rate
Track spend — The dashboard shows live balance, per-request cost breakdowns, and model-level usage aggregates
Reload when needed — Your balance carries forward indefinitely; top up whenever it runs low

How Deductions Are Calculated

Token-priced models (chat / completion)

For text models — including OpenAI GPT-5, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and every open-weight option in the catalog — token cost is calculated separately for input and output, then summed:

request_cost = (input_tokens  / 1,000,000) × input_rate
             + (output_tokens / 1,000,000) × output_rate

Worked example — calling gpt-5.2 with a 500-token prompt that generates a 200-token reply:

cost = (500 / 1,000,000) × $0.525
     + (200 / 1,000,000) × $4.200
     = $0.0002625 + $0.0008400
     = $0.0011025

Every API response includes a usage field with the exact token counts so you can verify the deduction:

{
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 500,
    "completion_tokens": 200,
    "total_tokens": 700
  }
}

Per-generation models (image / video)

Generative-media models — currently nano-banana-2, nano-banana-pro (image) and veo-3.1 (video) — bill a flat fee for each successful generation, regardless of prompt length or output size:

request_cost = $0.21 per successful generation

No token-rate calculation applies. The fee is charged once per call that returns a generated asset; failed requests are not charged.

Payment Methods

We support two payment methods:

Card — All major credit and debit cards, processed securely via Stripe.
Crypto — Bitcoin, Litecoin, and USDT (TRC20), processed via Cryptomus. You'll be redirected to our secure payment partner to complete the transaction.

Top-Up Amounts

Label	Amount	Suited For
Starter	$10	Initial evaluation and exploration
Standard	$25	Light to moderate development work
Developer	$50	Active integration and testing
Team	$100	Shared team access or small projects
Growth	$250	Production workloads
Enterprise	$500	High-volume or sustained usage

Need an amount outside these tiers, or a custom arrangement? Submit a request via the contact form.

Checking Your Current Balance

From the console: Billing → Balance shows your remaining credit in real time.

Via the API:

curl https://api.cheapaapi.com/v1/dashboard/billing/credit_grants \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Zero-Balance Behaviour

When your balance is fully depleted, the next API request returns:

HTTP 402 Payment Required

The error body will indicate insufficient funds. Your API key stays valid — it will resume functioning immediately after you add more credit. No action beyond a top-up is required.

Refund and Adjustment Policy

Credit purchases are non-refundable. We recommend starting with a smaller deposit to validate your integration before committing to a larger amount.

If a technical fault on our end caused an incorrect deduction, use the contact form with the affected request IDs and timing. We review each case individually.

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