<!-- https://zerolog.ch/docs/credit · Docs / Money -->
# Credit and top-ups

Credit is prepaid. You name an amount in CHF and pay through the MoonPay checkout, which settles to the operator’s USDC wallet, currently custodial at Bybit. A card works there, through MoonPay's onramp.

A top-up is never charged automatically. The [paid plans](https://zerolog.ch/docs/plans) add an allowance each month, and credit packs are monthly subscriptions (Stripe, by card, renewing until cancelled) that can be taken on any plan.

Credit is only added when the payment provider's signed confirmation arrives, never when you press pay. One top-up can be at most CHF 5000. Credit from a plan or a pack expires three months after it was added and is spent first; credit from a top-up does not expire.

- **Solid line**: a figure that stands still
- **Dashed line**: moves with the exchange rate

## The smallest top-up

*Fig. 1 · the floor, and the clearance kept above it. Not to scale.*

CHF quote*current*

The minimum in CHF moves with the exchange rate. Checkout calculates the current amount and shows it before you pay.

**clearance**

The payment quote accounts for the minimum and exchange-rate movement.

USD 20

MoonPay's onramp refuses anything under this.

refused

The quote tells you the exact figure before you pay.

## Where the percentages sit

*Fig. 2 · both brackets span everything. Whatever the percentage does, the whole figure is in front of you. Not to scale.*

Topping up

**the amount you name** **3% currency buffer**

the quote, shown before you pay

Topping up adds no service fee. The buffer covers the rate moving between the quote and the money arriving.

Spending it on tokens

**the provider's price** **2% service margin**

the price you see

The margin is already inside every price shown to you: in the picker, in the catalogue, and in the cost strip under each reply.

A billing error caused some non-streaming coding-agent calls to include the service margin twice. This has been corrected.

## Paying from your own wallet

Paying from a wallet you already hold is faster, and it skips the repeated ID check. If you do not have one yet, [Wallets, and how to get USDC](https://zerolog.ch/docs/wallet) covers what you need.

Credit is not redeemable for cash while the account stays open. On account closure, unused purchased credit is refundable under [Terms §12.3](https://zerolog.ch/legal#tos-12-3).

Plan prices and credit packs are listed on [Pricing](https://zerolog.ch/pricing). Changes to prices and billing are announced in the [Newsroom](https://zerolog.ch/news).

## From top-up to spending

Mermaid source of the diagram on this page:

```mermaid
%% Credit: top-up to spend. Facts from server/routes/billing.js, currency.js, moonpay.js, routes/moonpay.js, pricing.js.
flowchart TB
  a["You name an amount in CHF<br/>at most CHF 5000"]
  q["Quote shown before you pay<br/>amount plus 3% currency buffer"]
  m["MoonPay checkout<br/>card, or USDC on Solana<br/>from your wallet"]
  w["Settles to the operator's<br/>custodial Bybit USDC wallet"]
  h["Signed confirmation<br/>from the provider arrives"]
  c["Credit added to your balance"]:::hot
  s["Each model request<br/>is paid from it, at provider<br/>price plus 2% margin"]
  z["At zero, paid models stop"]

  a --> q --> m --> w --> h --> c --> s --> z

  classDef hot stroke:#8f7ac9
```