# Billing and paying for usage

> Bolts are the unit of usage. Add a payment method on the workspace's Billing and Usage tab to top up.

Work an agent does costs bolts. Bolts are Bolter's unit of usage, and they cover
the model calls, tool runs, and any computers an agent needs.

## Checking a balance

An agent can check its owner's balance and recent spend itself. Ask it how many
bolts you have left and it will tell you.

## Adding a payment method

Billing is per workspace, not per agent or per person: the people you invite
to a workspace cost nothing extra, so colleagues join free. Roles are covered
in [Workspaces, accounts, and limits](https://bolter.chat/help/workspaces). An owner or admin opens the workspace's Billing and Usage tab and
adds a card there. When Bolter asks for a card while you are on your phone, tap
the Action needed pill, then Email me the billing link: we send your account's
email address a link that opens that workspace's Billing and Usage tab, so you
can add the card on your computer. Once a card is on file, the workspace
tops up automatically rather than stopping mid-task.

A payment method is required before the first real charge, or to top up. A
free trial does not need one to start.

A free trial starts with no card and nothing charged. The day before it ends
you get a notification and an email. If a card is on file, they say the date
and the amount the card is charged then. If not, they ask you to add a card
to stay on your plan, otherwise the workspace moves to the Free plan on that
date; the Add a card button on the Billing and Usage tab saves one, with your
billing address, and charges nothing that day. The Billing and Usage tab
shows the same Add a card button, with the trial's end date, for the whole
trial. The plan's first charge is made when the trial ends (on day 8 of a
7-day trial). If that charge is declined, it is tried once more a few minutes
later; if that fails too, or no card is on file by then, your workspace moves
to the Free plan right away. A trial has no grace period, and you can choose a
plan again at any time. If you cancel during the trial, it runs to its end
and the workspace then moves to the Free plan with nothing charged.

During a trial you can switch between Core and Power at no cost. The trial
moves to the new plan, keeps its end date, and gets that plan's trial share of
bolts, less what you have already used. Credit you bought during the trial
stays. When the trial ends, the new plan is charged at its own price.
If you have already used more than the smaller plan's trial share, a move to
it takes effect when the trial ends instead.

If you use up the trial's bolts, or want the full plan straight away,
Start my paid plan now on the Billing and Usage tab ends the trial and starts
the paid month that day. It charges the plan's monthly price (the saved card,
or a Stripe page if none is saved) and gives the plan's full monthly bolts.
If the card is declined, nothing changes and the trial keeps running.

If a promo code granted your workspace free months, the reminder comes one
week before your first charge is due. If no card is on file by the charge
date, no charge is made and no new bolts are added. Your workspace keeps the
bolts and credit it has left for a grace period, and the Billing and Usage tab
names the exact date it moves to the Free plan if you still have not added a
card. Adding a card before that date charges within minutes and restores your
plan with a fresh month of bolts.

## How many computers can run at once

Each plan sets how many of an agent's computers can be running at the same
time across a workspace: one on the Free plan, six on Core, and twenty on
Power. A workspace billed to another workspace shares that workspace's plan
and its limit. A computer that is asleep does not count.

When the limit is reached, the next computer an agent tries to start is
refused, and the agent tells you which plan set the limit and links to the
Billing and Usage tab, where an owner or admin can upgrade. The other way
through is to stop a computer that nothing needs any more.

## Presentation exports

Exporting a presentation to PowerPoint (.pptx) or PDF needs a paid plan, or a
free trial of one. Those files are built on our servers, on a computer of their
own. On the Free plan the Export menu still offers a self contained web page
(.html), and choosing PowerPoint or PDF explains the plan. An owner or admin
gets an Open Billing button that goes straight to the Billing and Usage tab,
and everyone else is told who can upgrade. A workspace billed to another workspace
follows that workspace's plan.

## Who can change billing

Only workspace owners and admins can see or change billing. A plain member of a
workspace cannot, and an agent can never add or change a payment method on your
behalf. If an agent tells you it added a card, that is wrong; the only way is
through the Billing and Usage tab yourself.

## Daily spend limits

Each agent has its own daily spend limit, so one agent cannot quietly spend the
whole workspace balance. Open the agent, go to Advanced and then Usage, and pick
one of three options:

- **Default** keeps whatever the platform default is. An agent left on Default
  follows that default if it ever changes.
- **Custom amount** is a figure you choose, in dollars per day.
- **No limit** switches the limit off. The agent can then spend until the
  workspace is out of bolts.

An agent stops when it reaches its limit, mid-task if it has to, and tells you
where it got to. It starts again at midnight UTC. If it stops in a chat you are
watching, the note it leaves names the limit it hit and links to the setting.

When the whole workspace runs out of bolts, its agents stop responding and
each affected chat shows a banner at the top saying which agents can't respond.
Nothing is posted into the conversation, so chats don't jump up your chat list.
The banner goes away by itself as soon as credit is added. Workspace owners and
admins also get one notification naming the workspace, once per outage;
clicking it opens the workspace's Billing tab, and adding credit or upgrading
clears it until the next time the workspace runs out.

Only workspace owners and admins, or the person who created the agent, can
change a limit.

## Seeing what your agents spend

The Billing and Usage tab shows the workspace's spend for the last 30 days in
bolts: totals for today, the last week, and the whole window, a chart of spend
per day split between model work and computers, and a table of bolts per agent
with the same split. Choose Show $ to see the dollar equivalent beside each
figure. Each agent's own view is under Advanced and then Usage on its profile,
with the same chart, a per-day table, and a list of its recent charges.

## Promo codes and trials

When you sign up, the plans step offers three plans. Free needs no card and
has no trial. Core and Power each start with a 7-day free trial, with no card
needed: the trial starts as soon as you continue, and you are asked for a card
the day before it ends. Each paid plan shows what it costs per month after the
trial, which is the figure Billing and Usage later shows as your next charge.
During the trial the workspace gets a week's share of the plan's monthly
bolts, and each plan says how much: for example 11,667 bolts for 7 days on
Core, then 50,000 a month. Free trials are for new accounts: if you already
had one, a paid plan starts right away and is charged that day.

If you sign up in the Bolter phone app, the app opens your browser to finish:
you choose your name and your plan there, then tap Return to Bolter to carry
on in the app. If the app is not on that device, choose Continue in the
browser instead.

If you have a promo code, enter it on the plans step, or sign up through a
creator's link that carries their code. A code's free time replaces the 7-day
trial. Codes apply to paid plans, so Free cannot be picked while one is
applied; many codes work on Core or Power, and you can switch between them
and keep the code. If a code covers only one plan, picking another plan takes
the code off and that plan starts with the usual 7-day trial. Remove takes a
code off and brings Free back. A referral link offers a free month of Power
instead, as described in [Referring others and earning referral credit](https://bolter.chat/help/referrals).

To redeem a code later, go to your workspace's Billing and Usage tab. A code
that gives free time on a plan needs no card to redeem; add one before the
free time ends to stay on the plan. Billing and Usage
shows the plan you are on, any discount that will price your next renewal,
and the date and amount of that renewal; a free period shows up there as a
renewal that is not charged rather than as a separate line.

Each code works once per workspace, so entering one that has already been
applied reports that the workspace has already used it. That message is about
the code, not about your plan: whatever it granted the first time is still in
effect.

One free-months or discount code applies at a time. If your workspace already
has one, including a free trial, a second one of that kind is declined for as
long as that first discount sits on the workspace, which can be longer than
the free time it paid for. Codes that add credit or unlock a plan are not
affected by this.

For earning referral credit by referring others, see [Referring others and earning referral credit](https://bolter.chat/help/referrals).

## Complimentary months from the Bolter team

The Bolter team can give a workspace free months of a paid plan, for example
to make up for a problem. Billing and Usage then says the plan is
complimentary until a date, and renewals until that date are not charged.
Nobody in the workspace has to do anything, and no card is needed.

Any discount, free code or referral credit the workspace has waits until the
complimentary months are over, and then applies as before.

If the complimentary months moved the workspace up to a bigger plan, it goes
back to the plan it was on when they end, and nothing is charged for the
bigger plan. To stay on the bigger plan instead, pick it in the plan list on
Billing and Usage; from then on it renews at that plan's price.

## Billing to another workspace

A workspace can be billed to another workspace instead of using its own plan.
When a workspace is billed to another workspace, all usage charges go to the
other workspace's billing, and the workspace's own plan is not used and will
not renew.

### Setting it up

When you create a workspace, the Billing section in the create dialog lets you
choose "This workspace's own plan (Free)" or pick another workspace you admin
to bill usage to. You can only pick workspaces where you are an owner or admin
and that are not themselves billed to another workspace. If you pick another
workspace, the new workspace uses that workspace's plan for all usage, and its
own plan stays on Free without ever charging.

If you already have a workspace, you can attach it to another workspace's
billing from the workspace's Billing and Usage tab. The Attach to another
workspace's billing action shows when you have workspaces that are eligible.

### What you see

When a workspace is billed to another workspace, its Billing and Usage tab
shows a notice at the top naming the other workspace and whether its agents
can currently run. Your workspace's own plan below is shown but dimmed, with
all actions disabled except Manage payment method, and promo codes cannot be
entered. If your own plan is on a
paid tier, the renewal line says the plan ends on its date and will not renew
while billed elsewhere, and that the workspace moves to Free with nothing
charged.

The Billing and Usage tab also shows how many bolts were billed to the other
workspace this cycle for this workspace's own usage.

If you are an owner or admin of the workspace being billed to, you see a
Workspaces billed here section listing the workspaces whose usage is charged
to this one, with each workspace's spend this cycle.

The Invoices list on the workspace being billed to also shows a daily usage
line for each workspace billed to it, such as "Usage in Design team", with the
bolts that workspace used that day. Usage from a workspace that has since been
deleted still shows, as "Usage in a deleted workspace". The billed workspace's
own Invoices list shows only its own plan and credit activity.

### Who can attach and detach

Only workspace owners and admins can attach or detach. You must be an owner
or admin of both workspaces to attach them. You can detach if you are an
owner or admin of either workspace.

### Detaching

Detach from the Billing and Usage tab of either workspace. When you detach,
the workspace goes back to using its own plan and balance. If the workspace's
own plan was on a paid tier, it stays on that tier but will not charge until
the next renewal; if it was on Free, it stays on Free. Nothing is charged when
you detach.

## Your balance never goes below zero

Because usage is measured after a piece of work finishes, an agent can sometimes
cost slightly more than you had left. When that happens Bolter absorbs the
difference. Your balance stops at zero, so a top-up arrives whole instead of
partly paying off an overdraft.

Source: https://bolter.chat/help/billing