Buy prepaid credits (USD) via Stripe → each API call deducts cost from balance by model token rates → no subscription. No OpenRouter-style platform fee on purchases. GPT & Claude −50% vs official; others −25%. New accounts get $5 on signup.
Understand how Boundless charges for API usage.
Overview
Purchase Credits → Make API Calls → Tokens Deducted → Balance Updated
All amounts in USD.
Step-by-Step
1. Add Credits
Dashboard → Billing → Add Credits
- Pay via Stripe (card)
- No OpenRouter-style platform fee — full purchase amount (plus any pack bonus credits) is credited
- Credits appear within minutes
Example: Pay $100 on a standard top-up → receive $100 credits (Builder/Startup packs may include bonus credits)
2. Make Requests
Each API call consumes tokens. Cost formula:
cost = (input_tokens / 1,000,000 × input_price)
+ (output_tokens / 1,000,000 × output_price)
3. View Charges
Dashboard → Activity:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Time | UTC timestamp |
| Model | Model used |
| Input tokens | Prompt tokens |
| Output tokens | Completion tokens |
| Cost | USD (4 decimal places) |
| Latency | ms |
| Status | success / error |
4. Balance Updates
Balance decreases in real time after each successful request.
Example Calculation
Model: deepseek-v4-flash ($1.00 input, $2.00 output per 1M tokens — Boundless rate $0.75 / $1.50)
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Input tokens | 500 |
| Output tokens | 200 |
| Input cost | 500/1M × $0.75 = $0.000375 |
| Output cost | 200/1M × $1.50 = $0.0003 |
| Total | $0.000675 |
When You Are NOT Charged
- Request fails with 4xx (bad request, auth error)
- Request fails before provider processes (no tokens)
- Zero completion tokens on provider error
See Error Codes.
Spend Controls
| Control | Location |
|---|---|
| Hard spend cap | Settings → Spend Limits |
| Budget alerts | Settings → Notifications |
| Per-key limit | API Keys → Key Settings |
| Auto-recharge | Billing → Auto-Recharge |
Recommended: Set hard cap before production.
Welcome Credits
$5 on signup — Google, GitHub, or email:
- Deducted same as purchased credits
- Non-refundable
- Starter models only until first purchase
Invoices
- Stripe email receipt per purchase
- Dashboard → Billing → Download invoices
- Usage reports do not replace tax invoices