# Pricing, Billing, And Gas Credits PayChain pricing has two parts: your plan and your usage. Your plan sets your monthly subscription, invoice fee rate, minimum fee, payout API withdrawal quota, and included sponsored gas allowance. Usage increases when you process invoices, create payout withdrawals, or consume sponsored gas on supported networks. {% hint style="info" %} **Important note:** Sponsored gas makes supported outbound operations easier, but it does not mean unlimited network usage. PayChain still tracks sponsored gas per business. {% endhint %} ### Plan comparison | Plan | Monthly | Invoice fee | Minimum fee | Sponsored gas | Payout API withdrawals | | ---------- | ------: | ----------: | ----------: | --------------------- | ---------------------: | | Free | $0 | 0.95% | $0.10 | Fair-use included | 0 / month | | Startup | $19 | 0.70% | $0.10 | $10 / month included | 100 / month | | Growth | $99 | 0.55% | $0.05 | $35 / month included | 1,000 / month | | Scale | $499 | 0.35% | $0.05 | $150 / month included | 10,000 / month | | Enterprise | Custom | 0.15%-0.35% | Custom | Custom | Custom | Enterprise is a commercial plan, not a zero-dollar plan. Use Enterprise when the business needs custom pricing, custom payout volume, rollout support, security review, dedicated support, or negotiated gas and settlement terms. {% hint style="success" %} **Operator note:** Free and paid plans can still receive payments. Gas-credit exhaustion affects eligible sponsored outbound actions, such as sweeps or sponsored withdrawals. {% endhint %} ### Fee types * **Monthly subscription:** recurring plan cost. * **Invoice fee:** percentage fee on settled invoice volume. * **Minimum fee:** smallest fee PayChain charges on an invoice to keep small payments economically safe. * **Payout API withdrawal quota:** included API-triggered withdrawals per billing cycle. * **Standalone withdrawal fee:** product fee for withdrawals outside standard payment processing. * **Sponsored gas:** network cost PayChain sponsors for eligible outbound operations. ### Invoice fee examples These examples show the plan fee only. Network behavior and gas-credit usage depend on the rail and operation. | Plan | Invoice amount | Fee rule | PayChain fee | Merchant net | | ------- | -------------: | -------------------- | -----------: | -----------: | | Free | $10.00 | 0.95%, $0.10 minimum | $0.10 | $9.90 | | Startup | $10.00 | 0.70%, $0.10 minimum | $0.10 | $9.90 | | Startup | $100.00 | 0.70%, $0.10 minimum | $0.70 | $99.30 | | Growth | $100.00 | 0.55%, $0.05 minimum | $0.55 | $99.45 | | Scale | $1,000.00 | 0.35%, $0.05 minimum | $3.50 | $996.50 | {% hint style="info" %} **Minimum-fee note:** For very small explicit invoices, the dashboard may warn that the amount is below the recommended minimum for the plan. Explicit invoices can still be created when expected merchant net remains positive. {% endhint %} ### Sponsored gas in plain English Sponsored gas keeps outbound payment operations moving without requiring each merchant to hold native network tokens. PayChain may use shared sponsored-gas infrastructure, but usage is attributed per business before operations are submitted. ### Included gas vs prepaid gas | Credit type | How it works | | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Included gas credits | Granted by plan each billing cycle. Used first. Resets each cycle. | | Prepaid gas credits | Bought as top-ups. Used after included gas. Does not expire by default. | Consumption order: 1. Included monthly sponsored gas. 2. Prepaid gas balance. 3. Eligible sponsored outbound operations pause as `gas_blocked`. ### What uses gas credits * Automatic sweeps. * Sponsored withdrawals. * Payout API withdrawals. * ATA creation on Solana. * Token account closing or rent reclaim. * Contract execution when PayChain sponsors network cost. The standalone withdrawal fee is a product fee. Gas credits reduce only when PayChain incurs sponsored network cost. {% hint style="warning" %} **Billing note:** A withdrawal fee and sponsored gas consumption are separate things. A withdrawal can have a product fee, and gas credits only reduce when PayChain sponsors network cost. {% endhint %} ### Gas-credit examples #### Included gas first A Startup business receives $10 included sponsored gas for the billing cycle. 1. The business has $10 included gas and $0 prepaid gas. 2. A sponsored outbound operation costs $0.15. 3. PayChain records $0.15 of gas usage. 4. Included gas becomes $9.85. 5. Prepaid gas remains $0. #### Prepaid gas after included gas 1. The business has $0.20 included gas and $5 prepaid gas. 2. A sponsored withdrawal costs $0.35. 3. PayChain uses $0.20 included gas first. 4. PayChain uses $0.15 prepaid gas for the remainder. 5. Included gas becomes $0 and prepaid gas becomes $4.85. #### Gas-blocked operation 1. The business has $0 included gas and $0.02 prepaid gas. 2. A sponsored payout route leg is estimated to need $0.10. 3. PayChain keeps inbound invoice confirmation active. 4. The outbound payout operation is marked `gas_blocked`. 5. The operator buys a top-up pack. 6. PayChain resumes queued gas-blocked work oldest-first until credit is insufficient again. {% hint style="success" %} **Top-up note:** Gas top-ups do not require a plan upgrade. They restore sponsored outbound continuity for the current plan. {% endhint %} ### What does not stop when gas credits run out * Inbound payment detection. * Invoice payment confirmation. * Webhook delivery. * Dashboard access. * Billing invoice payment. * Gas top-ups. Gas exhaustion affects eligible sponsored outbound work, not payment collection. ### Top-ups Users can buy $5, $10, $25, $50, or $100 gas packs without upgrading plan. After a successful top-up, PayChain resumes gas-blocked operations for that business oldest-first until credit is insufficient again. ### Billing and usage APIs Use these endpoints if your own dashboard needs to show plan, fee, quota, gas, or top-up state. ```bash curl "$PAYCHAIN_API_URL/billing/me" \ -H "x-api-key: $PAYCHAIN_API_KEY" curl "$PAYCHAIN_API_URL/billing/usage" \ -H "x-api-key: $PAYCHAIN_API_KEY" ``` Expected billing surfaces include: * Current plan. * Invoice fee rate and minimum fee. * Payout API withdrawal quota and usage. * Included gas granted, used, and remaining. * Prepaid gas balance. * Gas top-up options. * Gas-blocked operation count. ### Billing lifecycle 1. Paid plans create a renewal invoice 5 days before cycle end. 2. If the invoice is paid, the next cycle activates and included gas is granted. 3. If unpaid at cycle end, the business enters a 14-day grace / past-due warning period. 4. During grace, product access remains unchanged and users see soft warnings. 5. If still unpaid after grace, the business downgrades to Free. Data is preserved. ### Where users see usage * Dashboard billing page. * Gas balance and top-up cards. * Payout quota usage. * Blocked settlement state. * `GET /api/v1/billing/me`. * `GET /api/v1/billing/usage`. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.paychainhq.io/paychainhq-documentation-page/pricing-billing-and-gas-credits.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. 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