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

# Billing

> Manage your plan, buy credit packs, open the billing portal, and understand what a task costs.

The Billing page is where you manage your subscription, top up credits, and review recent charges. Open it under **Settings → Billing**. For the underlying model — credits, runtime classes, tiers, and the admission gate — see [Billing & Credits](/concepts/billing-and-credits) and [Pricing & Tiers](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers).

## What you see

The page leads with two cards:

* **Current plan** — your [tier](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers) (Free, Starter, Pro, Max), payment state, monthly credit grant, warm-slot count, and renewal or cancellation date.
* **Credits** — your spendable balance against the monthly grant, with a **Buy credits** button. A low-balance warning appears when remaining credits fall under roughly 10% of your grant.

Below the cards, a **Recent activity** ledger lists each credit transaction (date, reason, task, credits, runtime). The reasons are `VM runtime` and `Snapshot refresh` for debits, and `Adjustment` for manual corrections. **View full usage** links to the [Usage](/guides/usage) page.

## Manage your subscription

Paid tiers are Starter ($30/mo), Pro ($75/mo), and Max (\$120/mo); Free is the default. From the Free tier you can upgrade directly to any paid tier:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Pick a plan">
    On the Billing page, choose **Upgrade to Starter / Pro / Max**. This starts a hosted checkout session.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete checkout">
    You're redirected to the payment provider. After paying, you return to the Billing page, which polls until your new plan is confirmed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Manage or cancel">
    Once you have a paid plan, **Manage billing** opens the billing portal to update payment details or cancel. A canceled plan stays active until the end of the current period.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  The billing portal becomes available only after your first paid checkout. Plan changes from a paid tier are handled in the portal rather than on the page.
</Note>

## Buy credit packs

Credit packs are one-time top-ups on any tier. Click **Buy credits** to see the available packs and start checkout for one. The packs are:

| Pack           | Credits | Price |
| -------------- | ------- | ----- |
| `credits_100`  | 100     | \$10  |
| `credits_250`  | 250     | \$25  |
| `credits_500`  | 500     | \$50  |
| `credits_1000` | 1000    | \$100 |

Pack credits expire 12 months after purchase, and are spent after your monthly grant (earliest expiry first).

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Web">
    Use **Buy credits** on the Billing page and complete checkout for a pack.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="CLI">
    ```bash theme={null}
    aether billing checkout --credit-pack credits_250 --open
    ```

    See [`aether billing`](/cli/billing) for subscription checkout, the portal, and status polling.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## What a task costs

Running a task spends VM-runtime credits at its [runtime class's](/concepts/pricing-and-tiers) per-hour rate (Medium is the reference: 1 credit = 6 minutes). Tokens are recorded but never billed. See [Billing & Credits](/concepts/billing-and-credits) for the full breakdown.

## When you're out of credits

Every task start passes through an admission gate before the agent runs. The start is refused when:

| Failure                | Meaning                                                                            |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `credits_exhausted`    | Not enough spendable credit to start — buy a credit pack or wait for your renewal. |
| `tier_forbids_vm_size` | Your tier does not allow the requested VM size — upgrade or pick a smaller size.   |
| `billing_blocked`      | Your plan is not in a billable state — update payment details in the portal.       |

A start needs at least one minute of spendable credit for the requested runtime class, so a near-zero balance cannot be exhausted on launch. See [tasks and lifecycle](/concepts/tasks-and-lifecycle) for where the gate sits in the run.