Billing & Credits

nRouter is credit-based: you buy credits, and every request settles against your balance. The Billing page (/billing) is where you top up, pick a plan, and manage payment.

Credit balance

The balance card shows your available credits (your balance minus any in-flight reservations), alongside lifetime purchased, credits used (including fees), and currently reserved amounts. A progress bar shows how much of your purchased credits you've consumed.

Buying credits

Top up from a quick-select menu — $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 — or enter a custom amount (from $5 up to $25,000 per transaction). Buying redirects you to Stripe Checkout.

The platform fee is added on top at checkout — you receive 100% of the credits you buy. The platform fee is a flat 4% of the credits. A $100 purchase credits your account with the full $100 and costs $104.00; the $5 minimum costs $5.20.

Plans

See the Pricing page as the live source for current plan tiers, pricing, and limits.

Every feature is available on every plan — plans differ in their included monthly nrouter/auto usage allowance, organization throughput limits, and log retention, never the feature set. Subscriptions are billed monthly.

Usage allowances and windows

Monthly subscriptions (Starter, Pro, Max) include a monthly usage allowance for nrouter/auto (where nRouter picks the model; Starter $60/mo, Pro $100/mo, Max $400/mo) evaluated at list price.

• Window pacing: Allowances are metered across sub-windows:
  • Starter ($60/mo): up to $1.50 every 8 hours, $3 a day, $18 a week, $60 a month
  • Pro ($100/mo): up to $2.50 every 8 hours, $5 a day, $30 a week, $100 a month
  • Max ($400/mo): up to $10 every 8 hours, $20 a day, $120 a week, $400 a month
• Reset and expiry: Unused allowance expires when each window resets. It never carries over between windows and has no cash value.
• Named models vs nrouter/auto: When a request names a specific model (e.g. openai/gpt-4o), the call is paid from your pay-as-you-go credit balance. An nrouter/auto request whose allowance is used up is refused with plan_allowance_exhausted until the window resets; name a model to keep going on credits.
• Credit top-ups: Credit top-ups on every plan carry the standard platform fee of 4% added on top at checkout.
• Upgrading: Upgrading shows a side-by-side comparison and a confirmation dialog before redirecting to Stripe.

Auto top-up

Enable auto top-up so you never run dry: set a threshold (e.g. top up when the balance drops below $10) and a top-up amount. The amount must be at least the threshold. Auto top-up requires a saved payment method and owner/admin permission.

Payment methods & the Stripe portal

Manage Subscription and Manage Payment Methods open the Stripe Customer Portal in a new tab, where you can add or remove cards and manage your subscription. Card details are handled entirely by Stripe (PCI-compliant) — nRouter never stores them.

If a payment fails, a banner appears with an Update Payment action.

Invoices

The invoice table lists every invoice — number, date, amount, and status (Paid, Open, Void, Draft, Failed). Download the PDF or open the hosted invoice, and use Load more to page through history.

Out of credits and allowance errors

When your balance is exhausted or an allowance limit is reached, LLM requests return HTTP 402:

• insufficient_credits: Not enough credits to fulfill the request. Top up manually or rely on auto top-up to resume.
• plan_required: Only plan subscribers can use nrouter/auto, or the plan's usage allowance is paused pending payment. Named models are paid from credits.
• plan_allowance_exhausted: The plan's usage allowance for this billing period is used up. It resets at the next billing period (check the x-nr-allowance-reset response header for seconds until reset).

If rate limits are exceeded, requests return HTTP 429 (rate_limit_exceeded or tpm_limit_exceeded), with x-nr-limit-source indicating whether the limit was triggered by key, plan, plan_window_h8, plan_window_day, plan_window_week, or capacity. See Budget Controls for how budgets and rate limits interact with credits.

Who can change billing

The Billing page is available to organization owners and admins. Only owners (and proxy-admins) can buy credits, upgrade or change plans, and manage payment methods; owners and admins can additionally view invoices, forecasts, and the credit ledger, and change auto top-up. Members and viewers don't see Billing in their sidebar — their cost and usage visibility lives in Reports → Advanced, scoped to their own activity.

Next steps

• Budget Controls — Cap spend with org, team, and key budgets
• Analytics & Reports — Track where credits go
• Creating an Account — Your first credits at signup

FAQ

How do credits work, and what does "available credits" mean?

nRouter is credit-based: you buy credits and every request settles against your balance. Your available credits are your balance minus any in-flight reservations, so the number reflects what you can actually spend right now, not counting requests already reserved but not yet settled.

Who on my team can buy credits or change billing settings?

Only owners can buy credits, upgrade or change plans, and manage payment methods; owners and admins can additionally view invoices and the credit ledger and change auto top-up. Members and viewers don't have Billing in their sidebar — for cost monitoring they use the own-scoped reports under Reports → Advanced.

Does the platform fee come out of the credits I buy?

No. The platform fee is added on top at checkout, so you receive 100% of the credits you purchase. The platform fee is a flat 4% of the credits: $100 of credits costs $104.00, and the $5 minimum costs $5.20.

Which plan should I pick, and does a higher tier unlock more features?

All features are available on every plan — we never paywall security, routing, or governance capabilities. Plans differ in their included monthly nrouter/auto usage allowance (Starter $60/mo, Pro $100/mo, Max $400/mo), organization rate limits (RPM/TPM/TPS), and log retention (1 week on Pay as you go and Starter, 2 weeks on Pro, 30 days on Max). Subscriptions are monthly only. Credit purchases on all plans carry the flat 4% platform fee added on top, with a $5 minimum on Pay as you go. For live details and full specifications, see the Pricing page.

What is the minimum and maximum I can buy in one transaction?

You can top up from the quick-select menu ($5 up to $5,000) or enter a custom amount from $5 up to $25,000 per transaction. Buying redirects you to Stripe Checkout.

How does auto top-up work?

Enable auto top-up to avoid running dry: set a threshold (e.g. top up when your balance drops below $10) and a top-up amount, where the amount must be at least the threshold. On Pay as you go, auto top-up amounts are $50, $100, then in $50 steps (minimum $50). It requires a saved payment method and owner/admin permission.

What happens when I run out of credits or allowance?

When your credit balance is exhausted, LLM requests return HTTP 402 (insufficient_credits). When an nrouter/auto monthly plan allowance is exhausted, requests return HTTP 402 (plan_allowance_exhausted) with x-nr-allowance-reset showing seconds until reset; a request that names a model keeps going on your pay-as-you-go credits. Top up manually or rely on auto top-up to resume — see Budget Controls for how budgets and rate limits interact with credits.

How do budgets and rate limits relate to my credit balance?

Your credit balance is the overall pool that requests settle against, while budgets and rate limits are separate controls that cap spend and throughput at the org, team, and key level. See Budget Controls for how they combine with your balance.

Can I download invoices and receipts?

Yes. The invoice table lists every invoice — number, date, amount, and status (Paid, Open, Void, Draft, or Failed) — and you can download the PDF, open the hosted invoice, and use Load more to page through your history.

Where are my card details stored, and what if a payment fails?

Card details are handled entirely by Stripe (PCI-compliant) — nRouter never stores them, and you add or remove cards through the Stripe Customer Portal via Manage Payment Methods. If a payment fails, a banner appears with an Update Payment action.