> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hyperbolic.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Billing and Payments
> Manage billing, payment methods, credits, and pricing tiers
## Compute credits
You can purchase compute credits at any time (minimum \$5). Credits are
always 1:1 with the dollar amount purchased, sit in your account as a
positive balance until used, and **never expire**.
## How credits are used
Your balance decreases as you use services:
| Service | Billing basis |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Serverless inference | Per API call |
| GPU instances | On-demand: hourly · Reserved: up-front |
| Storage volumes | Hourly, per GB of capacity |
| Private Cloud | Custom contract — billed separately, not from credits |
## Fund your account
### Balance requirements
You must maintain a positive account balance to continue using eligible Hyperbolic services.
If your balance reaches zero or becomes negative:
* You may be unable to launch new GPU instances.
* Running GPU instances may be terminated.
* Storage Volumes may be terminated after the applicable grace period.
* Workloads may be interrupted.
* Data stored directly on terminated instances may be permanently lost.
Configure [Auto Top-Up](/docs/general/auto-top-up) to help maintain a positive balance and reduce the risk of service interruption.
### Add funds to your account
To purchase compute credits:
1. Sign in to the Hyperbolic dashboard.
2. Select Deposit in the upper-right corner.
3. Enter the amount you want to add.
4. Complete checkout.
Your account balance updates after the payment is processed.
### Billing and balance troubleshooting
Did you make sure to deposit at least \$5, one-time? You will need to do this in order to become a “pro” plan user - while inference services are available to free plans, you will need to become a “pro” user to create GPU instances.
There is no minimum charge for on-demand instances, but you are required to have a balance high enough to cover at least one hour of instance runtime at instance creation. This one hour of instance runtime includes the hourly cost of all your pending and running instances plus the new instance you intend to create.
Did your account balance run out? Make sure to always keep a comfortable balance in your account to avoid automatic resource termination.
Did you enable [Auto Top-Up](/docs/general/auto-top-up)? This feature helps keep your account balance positive and avoids automatic resource termination.
Make sure that your Auto Top-Up is actually enabled - it must both be configured and enabled in order to work.
Make sure the default payment method configured in your Auto Top-Up settings is active, valid, and not overdrafted or locked.
Are your settings appropriate for your account activity? If the top-up amount or the top-up threshold is too low, Auto Top-Up may not have been able to keep up with your account spend. Auto Top-Up re-evaluates your balance every 10 minutes at most. We recommend setting the top-up threshold equal to 72h of usage, and a top-up amount equal to 24h of usage to prevent surprises and to give plenty of time to remedy any issues.
Did a payment fail? Auto Top-Up is conservative and will avoid double-charging, overdrafting, or triggering account locks and fraud rules on your payment methods. If a payment fails, Auto Top-Up is probably backing off and retrying later. Keep an eye on your notifications! We will notify you when any charge fails.