# Cost

URL: https://briq.cloud/docs/cost

> Per-second pricing, four sizes, one currency, and where the numbers show up.

briq bills **per second** from the moment a briq runs until its machine is down: `running`, and
`stopping` until the stop lands (a memory snapshot can take a few seconds). Pulling the image and
waiting for the healthcheck are not billed. A sleeping or stopped briq is not billed for compute, and
its volume is kept until you destroy it. Disk and outbound traffic are not billed today.

| Size | vCPU | RAM | Per hour |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `nano` | shared 1 | 512 MB | €0.01 |
| `small` | shared 1 | 2 GB | €0.045 |
| `medium` | shared 2 | 4 GB | €0.09 |
| `large` | performance 2 | 8 GB | €0.30 |

Hobby runs `large` once the team has a card on file ([pay as you go](#pay-as-you-go)); Pro and
Team run every size ([plans](#plans)).

## Currency and precision

briq bills in **euro**: the balance, every `*Cents` field of the API and every cost line are euro
cents. The pricing tables and the dashboard (per team, in Settings) can display US dollars at the
day's rate; that changes the display only.

Nothing is rounded to a cent: a `small` Postgres that lives 41 seconds is billed 41 seconds, a
fraction of a cent, and that fraction is what the API (`costCentsSoFar`) and the cost line show.

## You pay for the work, not the wait

A briq goes to sleep after its `sleep` window unused (an hour by default), so an agent that runs a
two-minute migration and moves on pays for the work and the hour after it, not for the days the
database stays around. A sleeping briq is not billed, and the next call or visit wakes it with its
data. Always on (`sleep: "never"`, Pro plan and above) is for work that must run without anyone
using it. See [Sleep](https://briq.cloud/docs/concepts/lifecycle-and-sleep#sleep).

## Credits

Every new account gets **€10** of credits on its personal team. Credits are prepaid; usage draws
them down as it runs.

* **Before anything starts** (create, start, fork, a call or visit waking a sleeping stack), the team needs
  credits for the first hour of it. Otherwise the call fails with `payment_required` (402) and
  says where to top up.
* **At zero**, the team's running briqs stop. Nothing is deleted, and visits do not wake them.
  After a top-up they are asleep, and the next call or visit wakes them. The balance can dip
  slightly below zero for the few seconds that takes.
* **Disk** is kept while a briq is stopped, up to the [plan](#plans)'s allowance for the
  whole team, running and stopped briqs together. Past it, a run with a volume is refused until
  something is destroyed. Volumes start small: 2 GB unless the spec sets `gb`, and 1 to 5 GB for
  a recipe, which takes `diskGb` for more.

Owners and admins buy credits on the dashboard's Billing page, through Stripe. Prices exclude VAT,
which is added at checkout where it applies (EU businesses with a VAT number are reverse-charged);
each purchase comes with an invoice. The credits are on the team as soon as the payment
clears.

## Pay as you go

With a card on file, the team does not stop at zero: usage past the credits is owed, and charged to
the card each month. Credits are always used first. Pro and Team pay as they go with their
subscription's card, and the usage is a line on the plan's monthly invoice: one invoice, one
charge. On Hobby, add a card on the Billing page (which also lets the team run `large`); its usage
is invoiced on the 1st of each month.

If a charge is refused, the team is back on credits until it is paid: update the card under
"Manage invoices and payment".

## Plans

Every new team starts on Hobby, which is free. Pro and Team are monthly subscriptions. The plan
does not change the prices: it sets how many agents and people a team has, the sizes it runs and
the disk it holds.

| | Hobby | Pro | Team |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | €20 / month | €100 / month |
| Included | No monthly fee | €20 of usage included every month | €100 of usage included every month |
| Agents per team | 3 | 25 | 100 |
| Members per team | Just you | 5 | 20 |
| Briq sizes | nano, small, medium briqs | Every briq size | Every briq size |
| Disk held | 10 GB | 250 GB | 1 TB |
| Always-on briqs | no | yes | yes |
| Pay as you go | With a card | yes | yes |

* **Usage included**: a paid plan's price comes back as credits for the month it pays for (the
  line under each plan's price). Your briqs spend them before any other credits, so a team that runs less than
  that pays nothing more. What is left at the end of the month does not carry over; credits you
  bought or were given are not affected. The Billing page shows how much of it is used.

* **Upgrading** takes effect at once.

* **Downgrading or cancelling** takes effect at the end of the month already paid for; nothing is
  refunded, and the team keeps its plan until then.

* **Invoices, card and billing details** are under "Manage invoices and payment" on the Billing page.

A call the plan does not allow fails with `plan_limit` (403) and says which plan allows it. Moving a
team down keeps the agents, members, briqs and disk it has; only new ones are refused.

## Caps

`dailySpendCapCents` limits each agent per day: checked before create, and the agent's briqs stop
when it is crossed. From the next UTC day they are asleep, and the next use wakes them. See [Budgets](https://briq.cloud/docs/guides/budgets).

## Where you see it

* Every API response about a briq: `costCentsSoFar` and `sleepsAt`.
* Every MCP result about a briq: `cost so far … · sleeps at HH:MM UTC unless used` (or
  `· always on`).
* `briq_quota` / `GET /v1/quota`: the agent's remaining daily spend and the team's balance.
* The dashboard: spend today, credits left, usage per team.

If briq itself has an outage, you are not billed for it: a briq is never billed past its sleep
time (its last recorded use plus its `sleep` window), or past the moment its machine stopped.