> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.labelbox.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pricing

> What a session hour costs, what that price covers, and how prepaid credits pay for it.

Recursion charges by the session hour. One price covers everything a session uses, the sandbox it runs on and its model spend, and sessions are paid from a prepaid credit balance in US dollars. There are no plans, seats, or subscription fees.

Before you launch, every agent shows its estimated price per session hour, so you can decide what to run before anything starts.

<Note>
  Anyone who can open an agent can read its estimate. Buying the credits sessions run against needs the **billing**, **admin**, **owner**, or **primary owner** tenant role. See [Organizations and roles](/recursion/organizations-and-roles) and [Billing](/recursion/billing).
</Note>

## What a session hour covers

A session hour is one hour of an agent session. Its price covers the two things a session uses:

* **Compute**: the sandbox the agent runs on, sized by its CPU, memory, and any GPU.
* **Model spend**: the model's reading, thinking, and output, including tools the model provider runs, such as the provider's own web search.

Both are in the session-hour price, and nothing is billed on top of it.

One session's cost covers its whole session tree: the session and every subagent and teammate it started. A team therefore costs more per hour than a single agent. See [Multi-agent](/recursion/multi-agent) and [Teams](/recursion/teams).

### What isn't charged

* **Storage.** Transcripts and session files aren't charged. They also aren't stored permanently and are cleaned up over time, so download anything you want to keep long-term. See [Artifacts](/recursion/artifacts).
* **Saving agents and environments.** Saving uses no compute, so it works even when your balance is empty.

## What changes the price

* **Your setup.** A bigger sandbox or a more capable model costs more per hour. Lighter setups cost less.
* **How busy the agent is.** An hour in which the agent works the whole time costs more than one in which it mostly waits for you. That is why the estimate is a range rather than one figure.

Where your model usage is billed by your own model provider, the estimate says so, and the session-hour price covers compute only.

## See the estimate before you launch

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Console">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open the agent">
        In **Agents**, open the agent you want to price. Its model has to be set; until it is, the estimate asks you to pick one.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Choose the compute to price on">
        In **Estimated cost per session hour**, set **Price on compute** to a preset such as **Standard · 2 CPU / 4 GiB**, a GPU, or one of your environments.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Read the estimate">
        You get the typical price per session hour, the typical range, and what the hour costs if the agent stays busy throughout.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

If you manage billing and your balance covers less than about an hour of the agent's typical cost, **Launch session** tells you how many minutes it covers and links to **Buy credits**. You can still launch.

<Accordion title="What each figure means">
  | Figure | Meaning |
  | - | - |
  | The figure per session hour | What an hour of this agent typically costs on the compute you selected. |
  | **Typical** | The range most hours land in. |
  | **up to ... if busy all hour** | Compute plus the upper model rate, for an hour in which the agent never waits. |

  The estimate is drawn from how comparable sessions have actually run, so it sharpens as you run more. A model with no price history shows a **from** figure covering compute only. A GPU with no price is left out of the estimate, which understates the cost.
</Accordion>

## Pay with prepaid credits

Sessions run against your credit balance.

* **Prepaid, in US dollars.** Credits belong to your tenant as a whole, not to one organization, and purchased credit doesn't expire.
* **Bought by card.** Choose $50, $100, $250, or $500, or enter any whole-dollar amount from $5 to $1,000. Payments go through Stripe, and every purchase has a receipt.
* **Who can buy.** Members with the billing, admin, owner, or primary owner tenant role. Buying is a console action, not an API-key operation.
* **Before your first session.** A new tenant has no credit, so buy credits before you launch.

[Billing](/recursion/billing) has the purchase flow, card management, and every purchase status.

## When credits run out

When your balance reaches zero, new sessions, messages that start a new turn, and setup tests are refused until you buy credits. A session that is already running, or a sleeping one that wakes on its own, pauses before its next model request. Requests already in flight complete and are charged, so the balance can end slightly below zero. A paused session keeps its sandbox until the environment's idle stop, and that compute is billed too. Buy credits, then send the paused session a message to continue it.

See [When credits run out](/recursion/billing#when-credits-run-out) for what each role sees.

## Track what you spent

**Sessions** shows what each run cost, and `getSession` returns `costUsd` with a `costState` of `so_far` or `final`. Costs can take up to an hour to settle, and a sandbox that keeps running after its session ends is charged until the environment's idle stop. See [Usage and cost](/recursion/usage-and-cost).

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What is a session hour?">
    One hour of an agent session. Its price covers the compute and model spend the session uses in that hour.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why do two agents cost different amounts per hour?">
    Because the price follows the setup. An agent on a larger sandbox or a more capable model costs more per hour than a lighter one.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why is the estimate a range?">
    Because an hour costs more when the agent is working than when it is waiting. The range shows where typical hours land, and the upper figure shows an hour in which the agent works the whole time.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Am I charged while the agent is idle?">
    Model spend, no. Compute, yes, while the sandbox is up: until the environment's idle stop, or until you close the session.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I pay separately for storage, compute, or model usage?">
    No. Compute and model spend make up the session-hour price, and storage isn't charged. Nothing is billed on top.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I cap what a session spends?">
    Your credit balance is the cap. Sessions pause when it reaches zero, and **Launch session** warns you when the balance covers less than about an hour of the agent's typical cost.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I add credit?">
    Buy credits on **Billing**. Once the balance is positive, you can start new sessions and continue paused ones straight away.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Limits

| Limit | Value |
| - | - |
| One purchase | $5 to $1,000, whole dollars |
| Time for a session's cost to settle | Up to an hour |

Every other limit is on [Limits](/recursion/limits).

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Billing" href="/recursion/billing">
    Buy credits, manage cards, and keep receipts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Usage and cost" href="/recursion/usage-and-cost">
    Read what each session actually cost.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Environments" href="/recursion/environments">
    Size the compute a session-hour price is based on.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Limits" href="/recursion/limits">
    Check quotas and request limits.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>