How Billing Works
Credits, when you're charged, and how to see every cent — no surprises.
Pixio API bills with credits. The rule that makes everything else easy to reason about:
1 credit = 1 cent (USD). 100 credits = $1. Always.
You spend credits on GPU time, by the second, at the rate of whichever GPU you picked. Nothing else on the platform consumes credits.
Where credits come from
| Source | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Monthly included credits | Every paid plan includes a monthly credit allowance (see Plans). Granted at the start of each billing cycle. Unused included credits reset at the next cycle — they don't roll over. |
| Top-ups | Buy extra credits any time from the Plans page. Top-up credits are permanent — they never expire and are spent after included credits. |
| Admin adjustments | Support can grant or correct credits directly; these appear in your usage like any other credit movement. |
When you're charged
This is the part most people ask about, so here it is precisely:
API & deployment runs — charged when the run finishes
The moment a run reaches a final state — success, failed, cancelled, or timed out — its GPU seconds are debited. Within about a second of the run ending, the charge is on your account.
A cancelled or failed run is billed for the time it actually used, not the full job. A run cancelled after 30 seconds costs 30 seconds.
Workspace sessions — charged once, when the session closes
A session (interactive ComfyUI in the browser) bills its total wall-clock time in a single charge when you close it — from session start to session end, including time spent editing, reading logs, or idle.
The meter runs while a session is open, even if you're not generating anything. Close sessions when you walk away. Runs you execute inside a session are not billed separately — they're covered by the session's wall-clock charge.
What you are NOT charged for
- Cold starts before your run is assigned — queue time is free
- Warm containers between API runs — if we keep a GPU warm to speed up your next request, that idle time is on us
- Storage, uploads, workflows, machine builds — included in your plan
Watching your money move
The Usage page shows everything:
- Usage — total spent this billing period, with a per-day, per-GPU breakdown chart
- Credit Balance — what you have left, live
- ⏳ In progress — an amber live estimate of charges accruing right now for anything currently running. This updates every ~15 seconds, so you're never wondering whether the meter is on. When the run/session finishes, this amount moves into Usage.
Just finished a run and the balance looks unchanged? Hard-refresh — balances are cached for a few seconds. Session charges appear only after the session closes.
Running out of credits
- With a positive balance you can always start work. If a running job takes your balance below zero, that job completes — we never kill your work mid-run over billing.
- At a balance of $0 or below, new runs and sessions are refused until the balance is positive again — via a top-up, your next monthly grant, or support.
- Negative balances are never invoiced or auto-charged. The account simply pauses until you're back above zero.
Invoices & payment
Subscriptions and top-ups are handled by Stripe. Manage → Billing Portal on the Plans page gives you invoices, payment methods, and plan changes — standard Stripe portal, no email required.