# How billing works

> You pay by the second only while an endpoint is awake and ready; starting a GPU, loading the model and sleeping are never billed.

Source: https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/
Updated: 2026-11-09

BitsRun bills like a taxi meter that only runs while you are in the car. An endpoint costs money only while it is awake and ready to answer. Everything else is free.


- Asleep: Free
- Starting a GPU: Free
- Loading the model: Free
- Answering requests: Billed per second
- Waiting before sleep: Billed, you pick 60 s to 1 h


## The short version

- **Billed:** every second from the moment the model is ready until it goes back to sleep.
- **Never billed:** sleeping, starting a GPU, downloading and loading the model, waiting for a free GPU, and a model that fails to load.
- **Prepaid:** you add credit first, and usage draws from that balance. You never get a surprise bill. At $0, endpoints stop.
- **No subscription needed:** Pay as you go has no monthly fee. Plans are optional.

## What "awake" means

An endpoint wakes when a request arrives (or when you select **Start**). It answers requests for as long as they keep coming. After the last request, it waits a little in case another one arrives, then sleeps. That wait is the **Sleep after** setting:

- You pick it per endpoint, from 60 seconds to 1 hour. The default is 2 minutes.
- The wait is billed, because the GPU stays reserved for you and the next request is answered instantly.
- A shorter wait costs less but means more cold starts. A longer wait costs more but keeps the model warm between bursts.

Change it on the endpoint's **Settings**, or with `bitsrun update <endpoint> --idle 5m`. See [Sleep, always-on and priority](https://bitsrun.com/docs/endpoints/sleep-and-always-on/).

> [!NOTE]
> The 60-second minimum is there so a long streaming answer is never cut off in the middle. While an answer is still streaming, the endpoint counts as busy, whatever the setting.

## GPU prices

| GPU | Memory | Per second | Per hour | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA L4 | 24 GB | $0.000264 | $0.95 | 7 to 14B models compressed, any embedding model |
| NVIDIA L40S | 48 GB | $0.000889 | $3.20 | 14 to 32B compressed, 8 to 14B at full precision |
| 4x NVIDIA L4 | 96 GB | $0.002367 | $8.52 | 27 to 32B at full precision, 70B at 4-bit |

The dashboard picks the smallest GPU that fits your model and shows the price before you deploy. The [model sizer](https://bitsrun.com/docs/models/model-sizer/) explains how it decides.

## Always-on and priority

Two optional settings change the rate of one endpoint:

| Setting | What it does | L4 | L40S | 4x L4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Sleeps when idle, wakes on the next request | $0.95/h | $3.20/h | $8.52/h |
| Always-on | Keeps one copy running all the time: no cold starts, billed every second it is on, even with no requests | $1.62/h (about $1,180 a month) | $5.44/h (about $3,974 a month) | $9.37/h (about $6,843 a month) |
| Priority | A cold start launches on a dedicated GPU right away instead of waiting for a lower-cost one | $1.62/h | $5.44/h | Not offered |

Per second, always-on costs $0.000449 (L4), $0.001512 (L40S) and $0.002604 (4x L4); priority costs $0.000449 (L4) and $0.001512 (L40S). Turning always-on on needs at least one day of credit at its rate. Priority applies from the endpoint's next start.

## Worked examples

**One quick question.** Your L4 endpoint is asleep. You send one request; the model starts (free) and answers in 20 seconds, then waits 2 minutes before sleeping.

```text
Billed: 20 s answering + 120 s waiting = 140 s
140 s x $0.000264 = $0.037
```

**A support chat during office hours.** Requests come in all day, never more than 2 minutes apart, 8 hours a day, 22 working days a month, on an L4. The endpoint sleeps nights and weekends.

```text
8 h x 22 days = 176 h awake
176 h x $0.95 = $167.20 a month
(always-on would be about $1,180 a month)
```

**A nightly batch job.** Every night a script embeds new documents for 15 minutes on an L4, with a 60-second sleep setting.

```text
(15 min + 1 min) x 30 nights = 480 min = 8 h
8 h x $0.95 = $7.60 a month
```

**A bigger model for an hour.** You test a 32B model on an L40S for an hour, then leave it (2-minute sleep setting).

```text
3,600 s + 120 s = 3,720 s
3,720 s x $0.000889 = $3.31
```

## Other charges

- **Model storage:** models you upload, and gated or private Hugging Face models copied into your account, are free up to your plan's amount (10 GB on Pay as you go), then $0.05 per GB a month. Models from Ollama and public Hugging Face repos are not stored in your account and cost nothing to keep. See [Model storage](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/storage/).
- **Plans:** Pro ($29 a month) and Business ($299 a month) add the same amount as credit each month. See [Plans](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/plans/).

There are no charges for requests, tokens, bandwidth, API keys or idle endpoints that are asleep.

## When your balance runs out

At $0 or below, running endpoints stop within seconds and requests get `402 payment_required`. Nothing is deleted right away: endpoints and keys stay, and work again as soon as you add credit. Stored models are kept for 7 days below $0 (we email you twice), then deleted. To avoid this, set up a balance email or a monthly top-up; see [Add credit and auto top-up](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/credit/).

## Pages in this section

- [Plans](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/plans/): Pay as you go, Pro and Business
- [Add credit and auto top-up](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/credit/): top-ups, bonuses, balance emails, refunds
- [Model storage](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/storage/): what counts and what it costs
- [Usage and costs](https://bitsrun.com/docs/billing/usage/): see where the money went