Pricing
There is no subscription. Every message pays its own way from your balance, and you can see what things cost before and after every request.
Before you send
The model picker shows each model's live rate in dollars per million tokens (input · output). The rate already includes the protocol fee — the number you see is the number you pay.
If an operator discounts cached input — prompt tokens it can serve from a cache, common when you keep chatting in one conversation — the model's pricing detail adds a Cached input line showing that lower rate, so you can see the discount before you send (some operators make cached reads free). Models without a cache discount simply don't show the line.
When you send, a maximum for that message is briefly held from your balance — never more than the rate you were quoted — and whatever the reply doesn't use comes back when it settles. So the amount held while a message is in flight is normally larger than what you actually pay; the difference is returned, not spent.
After each message
Every assistant reply shows what it actually cost in its footer (for a short chat turn, typically a fraction of a cent). Hover the amount to see the breakdown: the operator's base charge plus the protocol fee, along with the number of tokens billed. If the operator's model served part of your prompt from its cache — common when you keep chatting in the same conversation — the hover also shows how many tokens were cached (discounted), billed at the operator's lower cache rate.
Charges are backed by operator-signed receipts and settled on-chain against your balance — pricing isn't a number we make up after the fact; it's verifiable. Before each request your client gets a signed price ceiling, and it rejects any receipt that exceeds it — see how a request is paid.
Free models
Some operators serve a model at no charge — it shows a rate of $0 and the reply's footer bills nothing. Free messages are limited to 20 per day per account, so everyone gets a turn. The day is counted from your first free message rather than at midnight: send one at 3pm and your allowance refreshes at 3pm tomorrow.
If you run out, you'll see a message saying so and when your free messages come back. Trying a different operator won't help — the limit follows your account, not the operator. Paid models are unaffected, so you can keep chatting on those at any time.
Free messages aren't billed, but they do need your account to be set up on-chain. A small, refundable deposit backs each request while it's in flight and comes back when it settles, and your very first free message sets aside a one-off fraction of a cent in ALGO that isn't returned — it's what keeps your daily allowance tied to your account. The app handles both for you when you fund. See Funding.
Image generation
Image generation is priced per image. When a request allows image output, the cost of your configured image budget (see Settings) is reserved up front and anything unused is refunded — so a request that allows up to 4 images but produces 1 only pays for 1.
Where the money lives
Your balance is dollars (USDC) in a wallet only you control — see Funding for deposits and withdrawals, and Why use crypto? for why that matters.