Credits and top-ups

AppHandle has no subscription. Every account gets an amount of usage each month free of charge, and a prepaid balance called credits for what goes past it. With your own model key, building costs you nothing from AppHandle; credits cover the hosted model and AI images, and anything your apps use beyond the monthly allowance.

What the monthly allowance covers

Every account gets $12 of usage each month, before any credit is touched — $10 for app usage, plus hosted AI usage:

• Handle functions, outside web requests, integration calls, AI on your own model key, and custom tools the agent uses — one allowance, measured in the same units as the price list.
• A little hosted Coder-MAX usage, so you can build before you connect a key.
• 200 emails your app sends, counted in sends rather than money.
• 2 GB of storage, shared across all of your apps together.

It renews on the first of each month and does not roll over.

What credits pay for

Credits are prepaid money, drawn down per use once the allowance is spent:

• The hosted Coder-MAX model, billed per token for what the agent uses.
• AI images generated by your app, from $0.01 per image. Always from credits. Each image model has its own price, and the picker shows what the choice costs before you confirm it.
• Anything past the allowance: extra functions, outside web requests, integration calls, own-key AI requests, emails past the included sends, and storage over 2 GB — each at the price on the pricing page.

The pricing page lists the current prices for these units. Money your app collects from its users is separate: it moves between AppHandle balances, as explained in How in-app payments work.

Where your balance is shown

What you can spend is always visible in the Desk: the sidebar chip above your account name shows the month's included allowance and then your balance. While you work in an app it appears in the top bar only when it needs attention — below the amount a build needs, or empty — and the rest of the time it is one selection away in the account menu. Select the chip to open the Credits dialog.

Add credits

1. In the Credits dialog, choose a preset — $5.00, $10.00 or $25.00 — or select Custom and type an amount.
2. Amounts are in $1 steps, and $5 is the minimum. If a custom amount is below the minimum, the field tells you to enter $5.00 or more.
3. Choose how to pay: Card or PayPal, Crypto, or BaridiMob / CCP.
4. The dialog states what lands in your balance and what it costs. Only the card and PayPal route carries a processing fee (5% + $0.50); crypto and bank transfer carry none, and the method you pick shows which it is.
5. Complete the payment. The checkout opens over the Desk while the Credits dialog steps aside, and the dialog comes back with the result when the checkout closes. Your balance updates when the payment settles, and the dialog shows Balance updated.

Where sales tax or VAT applies, the checkout adds it and shows the exact amount for your location before you pay. It is charged on top, never taken out of the credits you bought — the credits that land in your balance are always the amount you chose.

If a card payment needs your bank to verify it and that step is not completed, nothing is charged and the dialog tells you so. The same applies if a card is declined: no money moves, and you can try another card or PayPal.

The payment methods work differently:

• Card or PayPal — Visa, Mastercard and Amex, paid in the checkout that opens over the Desk. This is the only route with a processing fee, because it is the only one where a processor takes a cut. Your balance updates once the payment completes. Cards sometimes need a verification step from your bank; if that step is not completed, the top-up does not go through and no money is taken.
• Crypto — choose the network you want to send on, then the dialog creates an invoice with an address, an exact amount and a QR code. The invoice shows how long it has left before it expires, and you can select Check payment at any time, or Cancel top-up to abandon it. Send that exact amount before it expires: a different amount is not detected. Your balance updates when the transfer is confirmed.
• BaridiMob / CCP — a bank transfer in Algerian dinars. Enter your phone number and select Email me the payment details. The dialog shows the amount to send in dinars, at 1 USD = 250 DZD. Send the transfer, then email us your name and phone number; your balance is credited once the transfer is confirmed.

Top-ups are one-time. Nothing renews and nothing is charged automatically.

The balance shown in the dialog

The dialog shows your spendable balance as Current balance. If money is being held for a job you have agreed to, it shows Total instead, with a Locked for a job row underneath. Locked money is still yours; it is released when you approve the work.

The credits chip shows what is left: the monthly allowance first, then the balance. It turns amber when there is not enough hosted credit for a build to start, and red only when nothing at all is left. We also email you once when your balance drops below $2.00, so you can top up before a build or a live app is affected.

Your history

In the Credits dialog, select Activity. Recent activity shows your top-ups, payments and refunds with their amounts and dates, and groups metered charges by day so a busy day is one line instead of hundreds. It is a recent window rather than the full record: the last 50 operations, and the last 30 days of metered use. Pending crypto top-ups appear as orders with their status until they are paid or expire.

When the allowance and the balance run out

• Starting a hosted build needs at least $0.25 of credit, and the included hosted usage counts toward it. Below that, the Desk blocks the start, states the amount needed, and offers Add credits.
• If the credit runs out while a session is running, new requests are refused and the reply area shows Build paused. The changes already made are not lost, and the action you were doing continues after you top up.
• Published apps that use metered services pause when the account has no allowance and no balance left. Visitors see a page saying the app is paused, and adding credits resumes serving — as does the allowance renewing at the start of the next month.

Nothing is deleted when the balance runs out. Topping up restores access.

Where to go next

To stop paying AppHandle for model use, connect your own provider key — Build with your own model key. For the full list of what is metered, see Plans and limits.